1 Timothy 3

Alright, well tonight, as we start out, we're going to get back into the book of 1 Timothy. But we've already received a couple of questions. And as you know, for those here in the room, if you have any questions, we can get them sent up. But we also have questions that have already come off of the web. And so we thought, rather than wait until the very end and then try to get them all in in just maybe a few minutes, and then jump into the book of 1 Timothy. In fact, we'll be starting in chapter 3 once we get there. But to start, Mr. Stiver is going to go ahead with the... Okay, thank you. Welcome, everybody. It's always exciting to sit down and study through God's Word and find the answers to the questions that face us, as well as to learn the great lessons as we will be this evening in 1 Timothy 3 and 4. First of all, we have a question from Howard. And I might suggest, when you do submit Bible questions via the Internet, if you wouldn't mind putting a little bit of where you're from, I'd love to have something a little bit in context. And one of the questioners actually did tonight. We'll get to that in a minute. First question is simply this. I have yet heard, I think, yet to hear, or seen a message on drinking. Is it a sin? Drinking to addiction, not to drunkenness. Okay, so I think the question essentially is not a sin to drink alcohol. I mean, Jesus used wine for the Passover. He wouldn't have done that if that was a sin. However, the issue, I think, really gets down to what, in fact, is the sin with regard to alcohol, and then, in principle, mind-altering drugs of any kind. First of all, let's just go to 1 Corinthians 6. Here's a list of some of the common sins that our age is plagued with, and frankly, that all ages of humanity have been plagued with. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Paul had a way of getting the point across. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards. Okay, drunkenness is a sin, and it is a character flaw. Now, what's the difference between addiction and drunkenness? Well, drunkenness, as I said, when you drink to get drunk, then that's a sin. God says to keep control of your mind, and that is not controlling your mind.

Now, what about addiction? Alcohol addiction, which is what an alcoholic, a full-fledged alcoholic, is addicted to the alcohol. Well, alcoholism has been found over the modern research is, in fact, a disease that is caused by being drunk too much. So drunkenness, a sin leads to the disease. Then you've got two things to deal with. Not just the character flaw of lusting after the alcohol and drinking to where, you know, you're, with all due respects, a blithering idiot, because that's what drunkenness leads to.

It does not lead to having a godly focus on life at all. When you do that too often, for some it doesn't take very often, it leads to a physical addiction to the alcohol. Then the addiction has to be dealt with, as well as the care of the sin and striving to overcome. But then addiction, the addiction to the alcohol is going to require some support, typically, from others. And there's a lot that's been written on that.

So we won't get into that in detail, but the sin is drunkenness. Now you say, well, what about drug addictions? Using, you know, marijuana or cocaine or heroin or methamphetamine. I don't know why you want to do that. Or, how about hillbilly heroin? It's OxyContin. It is a prescription drug that has the effect of heroin.

And it is intensely addictive. Well, you're doing the same thing as getting drunk. What it is when you're taking the drugs is, it is doing the same thing alcohol does, when it's taken to excess. Instant drunkenness. It's a sin. Marijuana the same way. It more or less operates closer to the speed of alcohol itself. But any of the mind-altering drugs, when they're taken, as they say, recreationally, their purpose is to come up with the effect of being drunk.

And that's a sin. And they lead to addiction, and then you've got to deal with the addiction as well as with the character problem. So, don't do those things. Alcohol is the one drug that God certainly recommends as being legal to use from the perspective of His law, but not to use to the point of drunkenness. Maybe as just a side point, as a little teaser for what's going to come, just a little bit further as we get into 1 Timothy 3, it talks about those that are given to wine.

That's right. We'll talk about that when we get there as well. Okay, next question real quickly. This comes from Ivan in the UK. And thank you, Ivan, for telling us where you're from. I occasionally donate blood to the Red Cross for the purpose of saving lives.

The Bible tells us that life is in the blood. What does God think about blood donation, like I do? Is it a sin? Well, you're right. The life is in the blood. That's Leviticus. I think it's 1911, but don't quote me on that. Go Google it and look it up. And it's stated in other places as well, the life is in the blood, and that's why you donate it, because it helps people to survive who are needing to have blood after an accident or in the course of treating for an illness of some kind.

That's not a sin to do. Christ's blood was shed for us in a very different way to heal something a whole lot worse than any physical malady that we might have. And he was willing to pour out his blood for us, and so sometimes where you have the opportunity and you have healthy blood, you certainly is within your prerogative under God's law to donate some for others.

The last one is a good one. What ten countries will be in the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire? And he said, I believe the Great Britain will be there also, but as the Bibles somehow tell us that the UK will either step out or will be kicked out. So am I a bit confused about how they will be included in this empire also?

And that's a really good question. Will those in the resurrection of the Roman Empire actually be in the, you know, the last resurrection will include nations that are descended from the tribes of Israel? Based on the prophecies about the tribes of Israel, there's not going to be much left of them to be evolved in the Holy Roman Empire or the resurrected Roman Empire.

That will include Great Britain, of course. Which ten nations will be there? Is it ten nations or ten groups of nations? You know, bear in mind the national boundaries we have are always the boundaries that have existed in the past. And where does God group people together? That will all become clear as time goes on.

Great Britain may be involved, as it is in the European Union at the moment, but what will that lead to later? Things have a way of changing. So that's all we can say on that at this point, but keep monitoring the news and watching the prophecies being fulfilled.

Okay. I wonder if he has the ten kings in mind, where they could be ten nations, but they could be just ten kings, just ten rulers. Yeah, the ten kings, the ten rulers, revelation. That's right. It could be a number of different things. So some of it's always interesting that we have to wait to see exactly how some of these things will play out, to see how they actually will be fulfilled.

All right. Well, if you want to turn over to 1 Timothy chapter 3 is where we'll pick it up. We left off with that in our last Bible study long before the feast. And in chapter 3, I thought I might just give you a little bit of an introduction as we get into what in... Timothy, this letter that was written to Timothy is called a pastoral epistle. So it's a pastor's letter, a letter written to a pastor.

So here's the apostle Paul writing to this young minister, Timothy, and he's giving him lots of instructions. And as we get into chapter 3, he starts to tell Timothy about the qualities that are needed to serve in the ministry. And so he talks about an elder, an episcopose.

He talks a little bit about an overseer. He also talks about deacons and deaconesses. And it's interesting as he gets into this discussion of the qualities that are needed to serve in that capacity, it certainly is a reminder that it's different than the Old Testament. It's something that's different. It's not just we've revised the Old Testament. It's not just a new version because ministers today are not priests. We are not serving in a Levitical function at all. There's not a priest that's found that's serving the Church of God in the New Testament, so you won't find it there.

And so no wonder Paul has to map this out then for Timothy. He's a young man that's still learning the ropes, I guess you could say a little bit. And so Paul's talking about how the Church functions and how should Timothy then appoint leaders in the Church. And so he begins to get into that in chapter 3. And it's also an interesting comparison. If he was only locked into this Old Testament point of view, it was by birthright.

What tribe were you of? Only those descendants of Levi could serve in the priesthood. But in the New Testament, this physical lineage, that's not important at all. That doesn't matter. And so it comes down to the qualities.

As you begin to think about these qualities, it's not that these qualities are the ones that set this person apart so that they're showing that they're righteous enough to be a minister. Because that's not really the indication. I mean, who is righteous enough to even be a part of God's family? I mean, none of us are.

When you think about the righteousness that we have, we know that passage that says, our righteousness is as filthy rags. And so we're not qualified in that sense. But these are qualities that the church can use. And I think when we approach it from that perspective, then it gives us a proper idea of who serves in the church. And so when you begin to think about, well, why do we need this?

Why do we need a listing of these different traits, these different character traits, these, if you want to call them, qualifications? Why do we need this special listing? And I just jotted down a couple of things that came to mind as I thought about this, when it comes to ways to give and ways to serve.

Certainly in the church, God has a set of standards. And deal with people. God said, take that gospel to the world. And as we deal with people, there has to be a standard that's set. That God expects the highest standards for the church. And so that's expected of his ministry, that the ministry should set the proper example with the highest standards that represent God.

So certainly that would be a place to start. And it's interesting as you think about these, a second thing that came to mind was that there has to be the church that's led by example. Christ didn't just say, well, this is what you're supposed to do. Do all these wonderful things and don't follow my example, but you ought to do these great things. Christ set the example, didn't he?

He lived a righteous life. He lived a sin-free life. He said, follow me. And so the church should be led by example as well. And so the ministry is supposed to set that top quality example that Christ set. So Paul delineates those things here. And it's also interesting as we read through these characteristics, I can't but help keep in the back of my mind that every one of these in some way or other relates back to service.

You know, a third aspect of the listing of these qualities is that it's a reminder that in the ministry, the deacons, the deaconesses, these are positions of service. It's not all about me. It's not about prestige. It's not about influence. It's not about power. It's not about authority in that sense. Although some of those things about authority can certainly come to play, but first and foremost, the concept of service is the thing that shows the most.

And so that's important to keep in mind as we go through these different things as well. And certainly, whenever lists like this appear, I don't know if you're like me, sometimes you can't help but read through these and say, you know, I've got to work on that one.

You know, maybe I've got this one a little bit under control, but boy, that next one, I've really got to get a handle. I've got to grow in grace and knowledge in this area or that area. And I think in those terms, can we measure our lives by this listing that Paul gives? And I think, boy, we sure can. We can see the needs in our life. We can see the areas that we need to grow.

And so for greater service, these are things that we have to continue to build in our lives and to become more Christ-like. And so they're important qualities that we have that I think as ministers, when we think about qualities of those who are put in positions of greater service, they're qualities that are important to God. Would He have inspired His Word to have these contained in them if they weren't important to God as well? Now, when we think about that, it's easy to be taken in by somebody that's a smooth talker. Anybody bought something from a salesman who really had to talk down and they convinced you that this was just the greatest thing in the world and you've got to have it and you said, yes, I do, and here's my wallet.

Sometimes you can be taken in by those. You can be taken in by a personality, a powerful, charismatic person. But these qualities bring us back to who we are rather than just who we appear to be. And so I think that's another reason that these qualities are important to God because it indicates, all right, I'm not going to be swayed by personality. I'm not going to be swayed by appearances, but it's the character that really counts. And so these qualities are important to God. And another aspect to this listing of different qualities, we also begin to understand the role of the ministry.

What is the role of the ministry? What is the proper role? How should ministers relate to members? What is their function? How does that relationship with the ministry have different character traits that Paul rehearses here? We see that it's to be a close, serving relationship. And that keeps coming back to the top of the list when you see the characteristics that are identified here.

And so that proper role of the ministry is delineated throughout chapter 3 in 1 Timothy. And then it's also interesting that some of the categories, some of the things that are listed here, not in a bad way, but they're really not for everyone. One of the ones that comes to mind as I look at the list is there's this one that says that they're apt to teach.

Some people are good teachers. They convey God's Word in ways that really are memorable, that really make it come to life. I think of some of the stories Mr. Stivers told that really make Scripture just jump out at you and you can remember a spiritual lesson because of the way that they bring it out. And so some of these qualities, I think, begin to show that they can serve in an effective way, not because they're such great people, but God's given them some gifts that can be used for greater service.

And so I think that's an aspect that it's a wonderful opportunity to give, to serve God and serve His people. And so by extension, I think we all have to step back and say, you know, while these things apply to the ministry and they apply to deacons or deaconesses, don't they really apply to all of us, though? Isn't really this what we're striving for? If we were to identify character traits of Jesus Christ, boy, these would be among those character traits of Jesus Christ.

Now, we're all told, not just the ministers and not just the deacons and not just the deacons, we're all told to have the same mind that was in Christ, to have the same attitude, to have the same approach. We're to be like Christ. We're to let Christ live in us and through us. We're supposed to be crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, He's living through us. So these character traits, even though they're directed at Timothy to apply to the ministry, they're also applying to all of us, every one of us. So I think that's where we can all read through these things and identify where we're at on these things and how we can continue to grow.

So I think as we delve into this, let's not forget that in one way or another, these things can apply to each and every one of us as well. Alright, with that, we'll turn it over as we go through some of the verse-by-verse exposition to Mr. Stiver. I'll lead us off with that. Okay. In chapter 3, then, of Timothy, we'll start in verse 1. Actually, I'm going to cover all the way through verse 7.

These are specifically what we tend to refer to as the qualifications for elders. A word on the subject of elders, you'll find that they use the word bishop here, which translates as overseer, and it also means elder in application. And then there's another term that's used, which when you compare with Acts chapter 20 verse 17, also Titus has a list, a very similar list to this in Titus chapter 1. There's another Hebrew or Greek word, presbyter, from which the presbyterians borrowed their name. And the episcopists, which meant overseer, or another word for elder, was used by the episcopalians to name the Church of England.

So elder governed churches, essentially, is what that meant, which, you know, that's a principle that is, in fact, a sound from the Scripture. So this is a faithful saying. It can also be rendered in the Greek. Faithful is the saying. So we're going to look at a saying. I don't know who concocted the saying. Maybe Paul just made it up as a summary teaching. I've known people who could make up wise sayings on the spur of the moment. Benjamin Franklin could do that. Other people, you know, sometimes could as well. I try now and then. That doesn't really usually work very well.

I like to borrow ones that have been tested by time. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. Unfortunately, that has been misapplied from time to time, down through our years of experience in God's Church. Some people think that they just have to be ordained and they promote themselves to the ministry. They want to be ordained as an elder. And if the ministry present in the congregation, the elders and the pastor, see that, that is the first reason why they should not be ordained. Because they want the position.

When you look at what a bishop or an elder, overseer, pastor is just one of the job descriptions of that. When you look at what they do, it's a good work. It is a good work. It's doing God's work. So, it's natural. Sometimes there are young people coming up in the faith and they begin to turn their hearts to God early on. I think some miss that point and they don't do it until later. But the ones who do it early on, they admire if they had a good pastor, they admire him, they admire the elders. They can almost see themselves someday taking responsibility like that and serving in that way. And that's a good thing for them to see that. And it's a natural, organic way of looking up to those who set a good example. The point, though, is that it is not the honor associated with it, the glory of leadership, but the work. The work itself of serving God's people, preaching the gospel, to look to that and desire that. We all have a responsibility to participate in it in a sense. The Greek for desire there, he desires a good work, is actually to stretch oneself forward to grasp, reach forward to pick it up. We all have a hand in serving and enabling those who are the ordained ministry to serve more effectively and to reach further with the gospel and with caring for the church. It's important to understand that this verse is, as Jameson Faucet and Brown put it in their commentary, utterly distinct from ambitious desires after office in the church. Utterly distinct. It is not ambition for the glory of the position and the leadership. As I said, somebody who wants to be ordained and promotes themselves to be ordained, if the ministry locally is keeping their eyes open, that's the first reason why they won't do it. Their person is calling himself rather than letting Christ do the calling to that position of responsibility. Then we go to the list of character traits of what an elder should be, and therefore, as Mr. Meyers pointed out, this is a good checklist for us all. A bishop must be blameless. It means above reproach. It doesn't lead a wrong kind of life. The husband of one wife. Now that's a whole other subject onto itself, but the Greek can be rendered a one-woman kind of man. Or, as I believe it was George Jones, the great commentator of country music, put it, Stand by my woman man. I think it was George Jones, but don't quote me on that. Tammy Wynette, his wife, was the one who came out with a song, Stand by your man, so he then had an answer song sometime later called, I'm a Stand by my woman man.

Okay, so much for country music. However, it is an interesting saying. And as I said, I borrow interesting sayings and wise sayings from those when I find them. But that means that it is a man who is dedicated to his wife, or if he's not yet married, his wife to be, whoever she may be. You know, he's not a person who in any way entertains any sort of sexual deviancy from the faithfulness taught in Scripture. And by the commandment, you shall not commit adultery. He's a man who's absolutely dedicated sexually, in that sense, dedicated to family and to marriage as institutions and to his wife, if he has one or when he will have one, or maybe one that he had in it, you know, that he's a widower in his memory. So that's a vital quality that has to be there. And we see so much, so often, in the world today among those who are in some way serving in the ministry of whatever church it happens to be or politically, which has similar leadership overtones, that sexual fidelity isn't a part of their life at all. Sad thing.

Temperate, of course, means being mature in Christian conduct. This is not specifically speaking about how to use alcohol. That gets covered here in a minute. Sober-minded means, again, being orderly in one's thinking and faithfulness to what God is teaching and through His Word. Sober is to ever be ever on the watch as sober men can be, alone can be. Not silly, not sort of shallow thinking, but thinking flopfully, soberly, in that sense, seriously from time to time. Don't be over-serious. Somebody who is over-serious usually takes himself too seriously, and then there's a pitfall you're going to fall in the other side of the ditch, the other side of the road, rather.

The ditches are on each side of the road. Then we go on sober-minded of good behavior. He just generally does the right thing. He's got a positive character, hospitable. In other words, his home is used to show hospitality and to serve others. And that's important.

We don't just serve on the Sabbath. I think sometimes in our age we've sort of evolved that. We need to rethink that. We do everything on the Sabbath, and we don't really do anything during the rest of the week as far as fellowship and having folks into our home. That's the way the church was built in our era. That's the way it was built in the book of Acts. Interaction throughout the week, whenever possible. Sometimes we try to run too fast in our age, and we overlook those great lessons.

Then we come to the equality, as Mr. Meyers alluded to earlier, able to teach. In the King James, apt to teach. And of course, then the joke is, so what is he apt to teach? Well, you gotta know. Literally, that's important. That's a little bit humorous, but it's also important. What is he apt to teach? What's he gonna say if he's an elder? Is he gonna teach the truth, or is he gonna concoct his own doctrines? Being apt to teach is really a critical factor. The commentaries I've been comparing can be rendered in the sense of being able to teach.

That is what it says here. But there's another element of that. The reverse side of that coin is to be teachable. And when we're looking at qualities of character, it kind of leans more that way than being apt to teach. We have some elders who can teach individually, I know of years over the years, some who really don't ever preach, or almost never preach, because that's not their strength.

Their strength is encouraging and supporting and working with people one-to-one. There's a need for both kinds of elders in the church. So the need for a man who is teachable is critically important when it comes to being the elder. If we look at both of them, first of all, generally speaking, we're looking for somebody who is learned. He knows God's Word. That has to be there. He's knowledgeable in that sense and can make the truth clear. Maybe it's only on the individual basis. He isn't a preacher so much as he is a teacher at the individual level.

And then we look for a minute at the teachable quality. And this is critically important. We've gone through some, as Robert E. Lee referred to the war between the states, recent unpleasantness. And I was thinking today as I was sort of doing an inventory of the decades of our experience in God's church and promoting the kingdom of God, which is what we've been called to do. Every time that we have something like we've gone through recently, gradually it settles out.

But then the main body, which we find ourselves faithfully sticking with and carrying on with the work that needs to be done. But there is a destabilization for those who have any kind of an inkling toward intellectual pride. What we have typically found is when we go through something like we've gone through, then those who can be destabilized, allow themselves to be, or imagine themselves as being a bit more intellectual or doctrinally skilled than they are, we will see destabilization and we will anticipate this.

Because you have a trust that is broken, then there are still some frayed edges. And there's a tendency to embrace false teachings, to begin to promote them even within the membership, sometimes even within the... Wrong practices as far as the customs of the church. Sort of an independent spirit, oh I can't trust anybody to lead me, so I've got to lead myself. Whoa, whoa, whoa, you just cut yourself loose. You're going into orbit about what? Yourself? That's not a good orbit to be in.

We typically have seen in the past recent decades the rise of what I would call Judaizing. Wanting to use Hebrew is the only way to speak about God's name. It's not taught by the Bible. God created all the languages. He did not give. The Tower of Babel was only a tower of confusion for the builders. It wasn't for God. He just organized everybody and sent them off on their way. From God's perspective, that was organization. To Nimrod, that was confusion. He couldn't lead them. Didn't have them under his boot anymore. So there's a tendency toward Judaizing in various ways. Judaism is not the true religion, and it hasn't been for 2,000 years. So that's not the route to go.

Calendar issues come up. That's related. And people begin to think that they know the calendar. When establishing the calendar for the keeping of the annual Holy Days is the duty of the church as an organized body. It's our duty then to worship together. The weekly Sabbath is a foregone. Everybody understands the weekly cycle. It's completely involved or completely immersed in virtually all societies around the world.

But the annual calendar, that's more complex. So we have those who come up with their theories on that. And systematically, that has been an issue that pops up after times like we've just gone through. Another issue that is typically a hard one, where I have no idea, because it is such a departure from the truth, is the divinity of Christ.

And there will be some who will begin to think that Jesus really isn't God. Crazy! But it happened, and it happened back in the first century as well. Those issues popped up because somebody wanted to set himself up to be... In our case, we tend to look at Herbert W. Armstrong, who Christ used to really found the movement of the church that we're a part of, of God's church historically.

And I call it the HWA wannabesen. It won't sound like he sounded. Now, that will gradually dissipate the further we get from his lifetime, but it's been 26 or so years. Let me show you just a couple quick scriptures. Bear in mind, 2 Peter chapter 1 is counterbalance. 2 Peter 1. Because there is this tendency to not be teachable, we can fall into a deadly trap spiritually. We don't want to do that. And this is the teaching. Here it is.

Oh, 2 Peter. Oh, well, no, 1 Peter isn't going to do it, so I have to go to 2 Peter. Here it is.

Verse 19, and through about 2021. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, Peter is saying, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. God's law, which his entire word is his law in the general sense, is a light. It's a lamp. Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this verse that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation.

Now, private interpretation meant that it wasn't concocted by the individual. He goes on to say, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by his spirit. God inspired prophecy. Bear in mind, in the New Testament, prophecy doesn't just mean foretelling future events. Frankly, it didn't in the Old Testament either. It has a larger application. It means to tell the counsel of God, to expound what God is saying. But prophecy is not a private interpretation, and those that come up with their private interpretations of this prophecy, or that part of God's way of life, or this part of the Bible, and they ignore any cross-examination by the other elders, then what do they have to teach? The wrong things. We have to be teachable in order to be able to teach. So this is a critically important one. The other point is in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. If you could just wheel the pages over there real quickly.

It's a principle and a statement by the Apostle Paul as he was addressing another subject, which is speaking in other languages, and confusion during the church service.

That because, you know, that was the wrong thing as well. Now he told them, because they didn't have their services organized, they all wanted to talk at the same time, apparently. For you in verse 31, you can all prophesy one by one. You know, you have this message, then you have that message. We've always done that. Our services are organized like that. We have a short message when that one's done, and we have announcements. And when that's done, we have a sermon, a long message. And we have the prayers, and we have the songs in between. So that all may learn and all may be encouraged, and the spirits of the prophets were subject to the prophets. Self-control. Not looking for something to take you over, as in the glossal area or the charismatic movement of today. That's not from God's spirit. But notice verse 33, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

God is not the author of confusion. Huge principle. And when it comes to being teachable, we need to realize that it is in the churches of the saints where God is working through His people, where the body of the church is, the mother of us all, is what the church is referred to.

Jerusalem above is like, and the church are symbolic one or the other. And we look to what the mother teaches, how we understand the scriptures, and let it be cross-examined by the elders. So getting back to Timothy, then, when that able-to-teach phrase is really important, as far as an elder goes, but it's also important for us all. Not given to wine.

I grew up in the American West. Where I grew up, there was a reservation of one of the tribes, Native American tribes. I had a lot of good friends there. My mother taught school there for 17 years during her school teaching career. At the time that she was teaching, the adult alcoholism rate on the reservation was 80%. That's eight-zero percent. You had an alcoholic culture. It was not good. I think it's a little better now. Based on the reports, I haven't seen what the statistics say, but from the reports, I think that there has been some improvement, and I'm thankful for that. They certainly needed that. The problem is that most of the American Indian tribes genetically addict quickly to alcohol, if they're not very careful.

Easily addict to it. Other cultures, there are certain other cultures that addict easily, and some cultures don't addict easily. They get drunk, but they don't get addicted easily to the alcohol. Well, in the ministry, wine or alcohol, being the primary alcoholic beverage, and a common beverage, part of a diet, you can't be given to it. God gave it as a blessing, if used in moderation, but not beyond that. Now, further, there needs to be emotional stability and emotional control in the individual. Not violent, and not a striker, is what that is. Not somebody who will haul off and hit somebody, but not even who think about it. Not violent. A non-fighter, the Greek can be rendered. Not greedy for money. You think, well, how is that emotional control? Did you ever get the bug to buy a car?

A used car, and there's no turning back. The salesman had pushed your emotional button, and you weren't thinking you're just feeling it. And you bought it. And then you replaced the transmission. And then you replaced the flywheel. And then you had to have the engine overhauled.

And then the tires fell off. And you wished you hadn't been bitten by that foolish emotional bug to buy that, you know, piece of scrap iron. Or scrap plastic, as it mostly is today.

Greed is like that. It's an emotional, you know, lust for something. To counteract that, we are to be gentle. Not greedy and grasping. Not quarrelsome. Now, this gets more to the conversational element. Do we always want to argue with people? Or do we want to listen, and encourage, and learn from people? Quarrelsome people learn little, because they're always arguing. And we don't want that in the ministry. And we don't want to be that personally. Not covetous. Always wanting something. One who rules his own house well. Not only must be a stand-by-my-woman man, but he must be one who is a good dad and loves his children, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? He needs to know how to care for his family, to love his wife, love his children. If he has some, love, you know, the kids generally, the youth generally. But that's got to be a critical factor in selecting someone to be a leader within the church. But we all need to be that way. We all need to love family. The whole concept. And realize that we as a church are a family. Now sometimes kids disappoint parents, so that that's in a whole other story. But the way that the children are listened to and loved and cared for is a testament of the character of the man who's being considered for an elder. And then number six, not a novice, not a beginner. Some people get the rush, you know, they come into the church and they want to be a beginner and they say, well yeah, well the Apostle Paul had been in the church very long, well let me see. Paul came in, he was converted on the road to Damascus, and he started preaching right away. Do you know why? Because Paul was a rabbi of significant repute and he could preach at any synagogue just about that didn't know that he had changed his mind. And so he did in Damascus. And then he went back and he taught in Jerusalem.

He met with Peter and James and John, who were the pillars of the church at the time, the apostles.

He ended up in Arabia, as he points out in Galatians chapter one or chapter two, for three years where Christ taught him personally. So Paul was one who was, as an apostle, was sort of born out of time, out of the ordinary role of the twelve. But he was given essentially the same kind of instruction for most of three years, personally by Christ. How did he do that? Well, he could manifest himself physically, did that with Abraham. He did that with the apostles when he had the cooked the fish and bread dinner on the Sea of Galilee. You know, he did that numerous times so he could just do that. And he did. And then Paul was still a novice. So back to Tarsus, he went, where he came from. And he spent a good few years there, until Barnabas got to thinking about him, guided, and off he hied himself to Tarsus, which was up in the southern edge of Turkey today, or northern Syria, and found Paul and said, stop calling yourself Saul, start calling yourself Paul. That's your Greek name, anyway. He had two names. Saul was his Hebrew name, Paul was his Greek name. It was convenient, they sort of sounded like. And so down he came, and then he ended up being ordained an apostle there in Antioch, in Syria, and then he and Barnabas started their work. But he wasn't a novice. He was an experienced man in many respects. Lest, and here's the reason why. If you're a novice and you're promoted too quickly, you're in jeopardy. Pride will enter. And pride can't be a driving force in a minister.

He'll follow the same condemnation as the devil. Go back to Isaiah chapter 14 verses 12 to 15. That's one of the prophecies about the rebellion of Satan. And you will count five I's of what Lucifer said he would do. I will ascend to the heavens. I will go above the clouds. I will, you know, be in the sides of the north. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I, I, I, I, I, I. Pride, pride, pride, pride, pride. Beware. You listen to yourself talk. Beware how often you say, I and me.

Modern amount is okay, but when it gets too much, it isn't. Moreover, you must have a good testimony among those who are outside, who aren't in the church. In other words, a really good reputation in the faith and outside the faith. That's, that's a huge one because some people can put an act on. They're good at it. They can put an act on when they're around the people they want to impress, but when they aren't, they don't care. Yeah, we have celebrities and such that are classic examples of that, political leaders sometimes. So you have to have someone whose, whose reputation is absolutely sterling inside and outside the church. Again, the devil will go after that reputation if it is not a good one. Those are the qualifications for elders. They're also qualifications for us. Now, Mr. Myers will take up the qualifications for deacons. All right. Thank you, Mr. Stiver. If Paul doesn't leave out any area of service when it comes to the leadership, and so he transitions here in verse 8 to not talking about the overseers or those that have the leadership function in the church as far as the overall care of the congregation. But now he focuses on other areas of service, and he talks about the deacons. So he starts out, verse 8, by saying, Likewise, deacons. And this is the Greek word diakonos. And it can literally just mean a servant, but primarily his focus is on those who serve or those who wait on tables, those who do the physical aspects of serving God's people.

And so there are certain qualifications and characteristics that those who do the physical jobs in the church, that they should have as well. And so he focuses on the deacons. And we can go back to Acts 6 and look at the first deacons that were chosen and what the church went through in order to choose those deacons. And Paul recorded some things there, or Luke did, as far as how those deacons were chosen. And it's interesting to make a comparison sometimes. You might sit down and look at Acts 6 and the instructions to the people of who they should put forward as deacons, those that would wait on the tables, those that would serve the widows, those that would do the physical aspects of the church. And then compare that list to what we have here in 1 Timothy 3.

And so he starts to talk about those. And it's interesting that he starts with saying that they must be reverent. One who is going to even serve in a physical capacity in the church has to be someone that's respected. It doesn't mean reverent in the sense of the image that sometimes conjured up in wrong religion, not in that way. He's saying someone that's respectable, a respectable person, a person who has good character, someone that is worthy of respect. And he says that part of that respect is shown in the fact that they're not double-tongued. They're not saying one thing and then doing another thing. Or they're putting on one aspect of their character to this person and in a different way they act. Or they're doing things that they're gossiping. Sometimes that can have an effect in that regard when you look at this word for double-tongue. One that sounds religious in one aspect sounds like they're someone that's right with God, and then they'll turn around and say things that aren't appropriate. You see? So they're not going to do that. The word here is an interesting Greek word that we get our word dialogue from. So in our dialogue and what we say, we're straight up all the time. We say what we mean, we mean what we say, we're not going behind people's backs, we're not gossiping, we're not putting on a show. But what we say is really who we are. And so that's the word for double-tongue there. Then once again he comes back to this same phrase or a similar phrase that we found in verse 3 where he says that a deacon should not be given to much wine. And the way the Greek is mapped out here, it's even a stronger phrase than the first one that we read in verse 3. It could actually mean to be addicted to wine. That is unacceptable, to be addicted, someone who is not addicted. Their life isn't focused around, where's my next drink coming from? That's kind of the attitude of someone who has to have it, an alcoholic has to have it. Where am I going to get it from? And so then they hide their bottles out in the garage, or they do different things that they know where their next drink is coming from because they've got it all set up. They've got a plan for it. And he say that's unacceptable when it comes to a leader in the church. They can't be concerned about that. That can't be at the forefront of their mind. And so they cannot be addicted, or cannot be given to much wine. And then he also says they can't be greedy for money. So they're not involved in the sense that it has to be given. That's the forefront. I'll get it any way I can. I can get it dishonestly. I'll get it that way. I'm eager to know where my money is coming from. And so the word in a sense takes that connotation of being greedy for it. Not just to have money, but that I've got to have more and can never be satisfied with what I have to begin with. And so he says that greediness, that greed for money.

Now it's also interesting. He says there is a spiritual aspect of things, even in those who physically serve the church. He says they should be holding the mystery of faith with a pure conscience. Holding the mystery of faith. Now you might read that initially and say, well, what is this mystery that it's talking about? And the word itself doesn't mean something that's mysterious in the sense that I can't know what it is. You know, it's so mysterious, nobody can understand it. The word doesn't mean that kind of mystery because God's word, while it's mysterious, it is revealed truth. And that's the mystery of it, that God reveals truth. You can't just learn it. It's not something I can pick up a book and automatically understand spiritual truth. God has to open our mind to it so it's revealed truth. God reveals His truth.

Part of the mystery of that truth is the whole plan of God. God's plan, that God is bringing man into His family. God has to reveal that truth, and it takes faith to believe in that truth. And so God divinely reveals those things to His people. And so we hold that. We're hanging on to it. He uses this image of a vessel, in a sense, that God pours out His understanding and His knowledge and His wisdom to us, and it's like a very special vessel or a vase that we can hold that truth in. And we're going to protect that, and we're going to guard it, and we're going to watch over it, and we're not going to accidentally knock it over or misuse it. We're going to keep that precious truth of God that He's revealed to us, and we're going to hold on to it. We're going to keep it safe. And so that's an expectation of a deacon. And he says how to do that? We're to do it with a pure conscience, a pure conscience. And that's an interesting phrase as well, that our conscience is pure. You know, our character is clean. The word can mean free from stains. And when I think about that, you know, in modern terms, I thought of an example of when you cook. You know, how many of you, when you cook a meal, you use your pots and your pans, and they put a substance on your pot or your pan so that things don't stick, right? Sometimes, I think there's a fancy chemical name for it, but... Butter. Yeah, butter. It helps. But then when the butter scalds and it sticks to the pan, they have Teflon, right? That they could put on a pan or different things. And it's an interesting thing. We used to have the Teflon president, and none of the accusations would stick to him. And so I think of that in this regard. You know, are we a Teflon Christian, or are we a Velcro Christian? You know, Velcro sticks to everything. Everything can be held against us, and we stick. Or maybe you've seen this commercial recently, you've got this person who's representing the dust on the floor. Have you seen this one?

And they're a piece of dust, and they're just looking for something to hold on to, and they won't stick to anything. But when the, I think it's a Swiffer, is that what it is? Comes along, wow, this is great, and they stick to it.

Well, what this is referring to, it's talking about sin. You know, does sin stick to us? Are we like Velcro when it comes to our sins and our faults? Or are we more like Teflon? You see, he's saying this mystery of faith has to be with a pure conscience. We need to be like Teflon. The only way that's possible, though, is only through God's forgiveness. You know, when we repent, and we change, and we go before God, He forgives us. And then we can have a pure conscience. Things aren't going to stick to us. You know, the penalty of death doesn't stick to us because we've already repented and changed and put it into God's hands, and He's forgiven us. So this idea of being free from shame, free from stains, being clear, being clean, comes from that very idea that through repentance we can have a pure conscience. And what a mystery that is, what an unknowable thing that is to most of mankind at this point. That is a mysterious thing to them. God needs to open their minds, and eventually He will reveal that to them so then they can make that choice to have a pure conscience. Now, as He talks about the deacons here, He also draws in this idea of not being a novice. Remember, we read that about the elders, that they're not to be a novice. He brings in that same kind of a thought here in verse 10, where He says, let them also be first tested. Let them be tested so that they have to be experienced people. To serve even in a physical capacity in the church, they should be experienced before they're placed into that office. And it's an interesting word that's used for testing, to be tested. It's from the Greek word, dokimazo. Dokimazo, to be tested. And it's a positive kind of testing. You know, we've probably all taken tests where we fear, oh no, I've got to take this exam, and I don't know my stuff, and they're going to find all the things I don't know.

And so we think of it in a negative way. You ever think of tests like that? I don't know, well no, it's a test. But this form of testing is actually found, is looking to find the good, find the positive things, finding instead of what we don't know, to find out what we know. That word is used in that sense, so that He says, let them be tested, and let them serve as deacons. So we're looking for the positive traits. We're looking for those positive characteristics. In fact, in the Roman world, this word was used in the banking world. I suppose if we wanted a modern equivalent. In the banking world, there were people that you could call dokimazos. I'm doing this fairly loosely, but just to make the point. There were dokimazos in Rome, or someone that would be referred to in that way, who was a money changer, because of all the trading that would go on. People from various areas of the world would come in, and they would have to trade, and they needed the proper currency. So they'd have to trade for Roman coins, or whatever it might be for the right type of currency. And a dokimazo would be the money changer that would make sure that they had what they needed when it came to the proper currency. Now, the thing that was really interesting about the dokimazo was this was a man who was tested. The dokimazo was in other words, he would take that coin and make sure it was legitimate. Because if you've ever seen Roman coins, people could take those things, they could file them down, so it wouldn't be worth what you thought it would be worth. And so they'd try to pass it off that it was worth more. Well, the dokimazo would examine that coin, he would test that coin, and make sure that you got the right value, the full value, for that particular coin. And so that's an important concept as we think about a deacon in the church. You know, they're supposed to be of full value. The other thing the money changers would do is make sure you weren't getting something that was counterfeit.

And that makes an interesting image in our mind. What is a deacon supposed to be? Not supposed to be a fake, not supposed to be a fraud. They're not supposed to be a counterfeit. They have to be the real deal. That's what it comes down to. And so let them first be tested. Are they the real deal? Are they true? Are they right? Are they of the godly character that's necessary? Do they hold the faith true and sure? Let them be tested. Let's see that they are. And let them then be approved. So the dokimazo would say, yep, that's legit. That's the right thing. That's true value. That's not a counterfeit. All right, you can count on that. And the same thing applies there when it comes to the leadership. Let them be tested and then let them serve, being found blameless. Right? They're unacute. You can't say they're counterfeit because I've found them of full value. And of course, who's the only one that can put value in our life? You know, we have the ultimate one who examines us and we can go to and he can take the guilt away. Right? We can be found blameless. We're not to be blamed because Christ took the blame, didn't he? He took our sin upon himself. And so we can be found blameless when we put our life into his hand. So we're not accountable for that sin any longer because it's been forgiven. And so let the deacon be tested and then let them serve.

All right, now Paul doesn't stop there. In fact, I'm going to turn it back to Mr. Stiver. How are we doing on time? We're doing pretty well. Turn it back to Mr. Stiver because it's not just stopping with the elders and with the deacons. There's even more. That's exactly right. We'll look at verses 11 through 13. Right in the middle of this, it says, in like manner in the King James, or likewise in the New King James, their wives must be reverent, not slanderous, temperate, and faithful in all things. Likewise, their wives. Now, some have said, well, there's no such, you know, position as a deaconess, a female deacon, in that sense. But these are just the wives of the deacons.

I think the reasoning, carefully reasoning that and analyzing what it says doesn't show that to be the case. And in fact, our custom and practice of ordaining deaconesses for specific service, you know, in the type of service similar to what the men do, except what women do better.

Usually that's cooking, organizing household, and sometimes even organizing, you know, parts of the church hall. Okay, so one of the commentators brings out, I think, some really good reasons why this is a shift. Not just talking about deacons' wives, but talking about the women. Their wives can be rendered the women, that is, the deaconesses, according to, again, I'm using Jamison, Fossett, and Brown as a commentary here for this section. They say, for there is no reason that special rules would be laid down as to the wives of deacons, and not also as to the wives of bishops or elders. And their wives weren't mentioned in the previous section, were they? So that's one of the points why it points toward actual deaconesses, and as another office for the ladies. In like manner, that phrasing denotes, again, a transition to another class of persons, of individuals that serve in another way.

And then you look at the way the flow goes. Naturally, after specifying the qualifications of the deacon, Paul passes on to those who are of a kindred office, the deaconesses. And that would be serving as an example, like Phoebe did. Phoebe is mentioned in Romans 16 and verse 1. Chapter 16 of Romans is just totally fascinating, because you get a real insight into how God organized the church through Paul and the other apostles. And she was mentioned specifically as a servant of the church in Centria. And the servant in the Greek is deaconess, because it's female, a female deacon. So, therefore, the point is here in Timothy, is that it is talking about deacons, or deaconesses in this particular verse.

Not just deacons, but also deaconesses. Now, you think, yeah, but so often it's the deacon's wife ends up as a deaconess. And, in fact, quite often that's the case. Not always, mind you, but quite often. It isn't necessary for the wife of a deacon to be a deaconess. You know, we're all going to be serving in various ways, but quite often that has happened over the years. And then there have been lots of other times, I think, in my old mother's instance. She was ordained a deaconess. My father was not a deacon. He was never ordained as a deacon. He served as a faithful church member, but my mom served as a deaconess, organizing the kitchen and various and sundry other things for many years. Now we look at the qualifications. You'll find that they're mostly similar to what they were for the deacons. Reverend, you know, being respectful, holding God, of course, in the greatest reverence. But Reverend Carey is when you transmit it to people, it's deep respect, being respectful of others. Not slanderers, and that was something that's also mentioned for men. Temperate, here the word temperate was used in the King James as sober, and it speaks in this instance to actually being sober, not given to much wine. And then faithful in all things.

So essentially, they are the same fundamental character qualifications of a deacon.

Only with such modifications as the difference of sex would suggest.

The men and women have their various ways of things that we have to be watchful about, because we simply, the men operate with one side of their brain more than women. They operate with both sides of their brain. You know, our brains are significantly different. I mean, the modern liberals finally realized that about 10 years ago. Up to that point, since feminism started, they were trying to say that men and women were the same, and that a child is only a man or a woman, depending on how they are socially conditioned when they're young. And they did some tragic experiments with young children during that time, some people did. They don't know what they're talking about. They rejected God's word as their authority, so what do they know? No more than evolutionists know about how man came about. Then they decided, they found out, when somebody started doing brain mapping in the 80s, wow, there is a difference between men and women.

And one of the things that is brought out by that, boys and girls have similar connections between the two hemispheres of their brain. You know, brains are in half, so if somebody says, well, I've got half a mind to tell you something, that might be the case. Got half a mind. But then, as the the the infants develop and grow, the neural connectors between the two halves of the brain start growing. And when they have finished growing, the girl will have twice as many neural connectors between the hemispheres as the boy. Thus, men tend to be more one-track thinkers, generally speaking, and women tend to be more global thinkers. They're using both sides of the brain. And you think, well, yeah, it's better to be both sides of the brain. So in defense of the men, they have a role. They focus on getting something done, providing for their family, getting up, and as they jargon it in America, get her done. Whatever has to be done, but mainly to provide for that family, they stay focused on that. And that's why marriage is a team effort.

The wife comes in behind, and she's got his sides and his back.

You know, when you think of a team, a married husband and wife, who work as a team, live as a team, love as a team, and raise a family as a team, that's the way God wired their brains to work like that. Now he wired rest of the body that's distinctly different, too, but we won't comment on that this evening. But that's the beauty of he made them male and female. So there are some female applications. The deaconesses are better at than the men. Sometimes it's cooking, not always occasionally get a guy who doesn't burn his butter in the skillet. That's not me.

Okay. Faithful in all things, of course, is trustworthy in respect to everything that comes up, whether it's management of the finances of the church, you know, helping counting offerings and us stealing the money. You know, people who have sticky fingers have sticky fingers all the time until they overcome that sin. Now we switch back, actually, from there we double back in verse 12 to deacons. They need to be stand by my woman men as well. Husbands of one wife ruling their children in their house as well. They have to be good husbands and good dads.

Natural husbands and dads. And if they aren't, that isn't natural to them, some people just inherit it and their professional mom or professional dad. You just wonder, where did they learn that sense? Usually it's from their parents or the grandparents, but whatever the case, that is going to be a qualification. If the person doesn't have it, we all need to develop it. Those who have served well as deacons in the principle, the same will apply for the deaconess, obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Some people, you know, I've heard this saying, somebody said, well, I'm just a deacon. I'm never going to do anything more than be a deacon, kind of bemoaning it. And of course, the question is, so what is it you wanted to be? You want to be the pastor general? We talked about that before. To be a deacon and serve well, or deaconess and serve well, or church member and serve well is a fantastic thing. And Jesus Christ watches. I think it not wise that we should denigrate the role of those first six men and then the women who were to be ordained in similar positions as time went by out of Acts chapter 6.

They were picked for their service. Some of them went on to be in the ministry, Philip.

Prime example. Ended up as a powerful evangelist. But he started as a deacon. Others probably lived their lives serving as deacons in the church. Good for them. Great boldness in Christ. They enabled the spiritual ministry to be able to go forward and do more. The fact that there were deacons in the churches that Paul pastored enabled him to help build those churches and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to more of the public and eventually to move on. And the Philippians, they were really the only ones that sort of thought broader than the other congregations he established. Naturally, they would come and track him down with tithes. Tithing offering money to help with Paul's ministry. They would track him down wherever he was, including once when he was in prison in Rome. And I bet you that some of the times that was sent by the hand of deacons, men who were trusted servants who could go and do that. So the role of a deacon, the role of a deaconess is a wonderful service to God's people and to God the Father and to Jesus Christ and never denigrated. And always try to emulate it. If we can serve to that level, whether we're ordained or not, that's what this life is made of. And from there we go on to a great mystery.

All right, thanks. Going on to verse 14, Paul starts to get a little personal with Timothy. He says, these things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly.

Remember Paul thought of Timothy as his son, and perhaps not even just his son in the faith, but that they were very close. They were very close. And so that comes out here. He says, if I'm delayed, I write to you so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself. So remember, that comes back to one of the purposes for writing this letter, is Paul is reminding Timothy, instructing Timothy on how to be a good minister. How to be a good minister. So he says, how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. And some translations even say the household of God. So you might check various translations to see how that's termed. And I think that is such a wonderful expression when you realize what that's referring to.

It's not just that we're a church or we're a social club, or that we get together on the sabbath and that we're this congregation, but he's talking about God's household. God's household. God is the father of that household. Jesus Christ is the elder brother of that household. So what is the household of God? What is the house of God? Well, it's God's family. We're God's family. God's church is His family. So he says how you can conduct yourself in the household of God, God's house.

And he talks about the conduct in the household. Now we all grew up in various households. I know in the household I grew up in, there were certain rules and certain things that were enforced if you didn't obey those rules, if you didn't follow what was done. One of my mother's favorite things was the chore chart, and she had a whole graph of all our responsibilities of what we were supposed to do and how they were supposed to be fulfilled. And I kind of remember things that came into effect if we didn't do some of those things. And so as my mom mapped out certain responsibilities for the children, here God's mapping out our responsibilities in the family of God. And there are family responsibilities, how we conduct ourselves in God's family. And it's amazing the way that he puts this in the terminology to Timothy. He says this house of God, this household it says, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. And so God's house, his family, he says, is the church of God. There's the name of the church, the church of the living God. Kind of referring back to what is it, verse 5, he also refers to that. How will he take care of the church of God? That's where our name comes from. God's church is the church of God. And it's interesting, who is the truth? If you look at what he refers to here, he says the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. So he's not referring to the ultimate master of truth, which of course Christ is truth, right? And he refers to the Bible is truth, right? Your word is truth. John 17, 17 certainly tells us that. But it's amazing here that he refers to you.

Are you the truth? He says, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

So as a member of God's church, I'm to be the pillar and the ground of the truth. The ground, meaning the foundation. The foundation for God's truth should be a part of who I am as a member of the family, as a member of the church. It says the foundation should be in us. And in order for a structure to be built that is strong and sure, you've got to have that strong foundation. And then he refers to the pillar. What does the pillar do? The pillar holds up the roof. It holds up the whole structure. And so we're to be pillars in the church of God. As individuals, as members of God's family, we're to be the foundation and that pillar that holds up the truth. That's us. We're supposed to be filled so much with Christ that we are living examples of the truth. And so that's an amazing thing to think about. How much do we fulfill that function in the house of God? So he imagines the structure in the house, not only referring to the household, but the structure of the truth is held up by each of us as individuals in the body of Christ. We are the church. We are founded on Christ and we are pillars in that church that are holding up the very structure of God's way. What a powerful example for us that we are to be representatives of the truth of God. So if someone said to you, where do I find the truth? Well, hopefully they could look at you and your life, your example, how you deal with people. The kind of person that you are should be a representation of the truth. So hopefully they wouldn't have to go to the Bible to find what truth is, that they could look to your life and your example, how you act, the things that you do, what you say, how you keep the Sabbath, what your habits are when it comes to God's way. It should be a living example. Of course, we refer to the Bible as the truth, no doubt, but it should be evident in our lives then as well. So he says that to Timothy. He says it to us by extension. And then he summarizes things in this last verse of the chapter. He says, and without controversy. So in other words, there's no question about what I'm going to say. This is absolute fact. You can't argue with this in other words. He says, great is the mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery of godliness. What is that referring to? Well, we're back to that Mysterion again, not something that can't be known, but something that God has to reveal. God has to reveal godliness. Ultimate godliness is when we are spirit in the kingdom of God.

So in other words, he's referring overall to the plan. God's plan is an amazing thing that God has to open our minds to understand His truth. And then he summarizes the plan here.

Many translations will have a colon there, the little two dots. The summary statement follows then. He says, God was manifested in the flesh. The Logos, the Word became flesh. Jesus Christ, God with us, Emmanuel. He was justified in the spirit. God was shown through the example of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Spirit, he says, justified in the Spirit, endorsed, approved, shown to be the Son of God. Then he says, seen by angels. Interesting word here. It doesn't mean just that angels noticed Christ, but actually that they were very interested and they were observing everything that was going on. There's other passages in the Bible that indicate that angels are just looking into God's plan. They're looking at humanity. They're looking at the example that Christ set to gain a better understanding of the plan of God. Which is an interesting word that's used there. So they're observing all that's going on. Not just that they saw Christ, but observing what happened. And then what happened? As Christ lived his life, sacrificed his life, that Messiah, that plan of God then was preached among the Gentiles. It wasn't just for the Jews, but the plan was that the gospel would be preached to the entire world. And then he says, believed on in the world, received up in glory. You see, men came to have their minds open to the truth, and ultimately Christ was resurrected at the right hand of the Father. And ultimately that's our goal, to be resurrected so that we can be a part of the family of God. And so here we just have this synopsis of what the gospel is all about here right at the end of chapter 3. In fact, some scholars think that this last little section here, this last little verse, it's actually an ancient hymn. That this might have been a song at one point, part of an early Christian hymn. These would have been the lyrics to that music.

Interesting to think about that oftentimes as we sing our hymns in church, we forget the words that we're saying sometimes. And those words can be such powerful things when we think about what we're singing. And so to take those words out of the song and just look at them, wow, this is a powerful, powerful representation of what the gospel is all about.

All right, Mr. Steiber. I think we'll probably don't really have time to jump into the next chapter. We'll save that one. But we do have one more question that was sent in. Ah, we got two more questions sent in. All right, I'll talk faster.

Well, maybe better. This is a long one. Okay, I'll give you time.

No, that's okay. I do appreciate, or we do appreciate very much, the questions that those of you who are watching online send in. This one is a creative thinking question. The comment is this, could what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians about his being brought up into paradise be sort of something that will happen to us who are chosen as the first fruits to be in the place of safety. So, it's a place of safety question is really what it is. The Apostle Paul was given a tremendous amount of knowledge, sayings, and maybe referring to what I commented earlier, and also came back to earth from the third heaven. Thank you ahead of time for your answer. Okay, let's go to 2 Corinthians 12. This is what he's referring to in 2 Corinthians and read what in fact happened here. It is doubtless, verse 1, it starts in verse 1, it is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come divisions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body or I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, as in a vision, God knows. Such a one was caught up into the third heaven. I know such a man whether in the body or out of the body I do not know. God knows how he was caught up in paradise, another reference to the third heaven. And you think, okay, third heaven, let me give you the definitions here. Take a big breath. You just breathed part of the first heaven, air, the atmosphere of the earth. Second heaven, deep space. The third heaven is where God's throne is.

It has a spiritual address. Deep space has a spiritual or physical address, and so does our atmosphere have a physical address. So those are the three heavens in the Bible. He was caught up into paradise, which is the third heaven where God's throne was, and he heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast, yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me, what he sees me to be or hears from me. What Paul is saying in a roundabout way is that he had this vision. He didn't go to the third heaven. No man is ascended into heaven except the Son, a man who came down from heaven. That's in the book of John. Christ himself said that. So he didn't go to the third heaven, but he saw the vision, and it was amazing, awesome. It rendered him mostly speechless, which is not surprising because, you know, it did that for Isaiah, too. He saw a similar vision. In Ezekiel, when he saw a similar vision, and John, John the apostle, I mean, the entire book of Revelation is that. John in vision is seeing the third heaven and all the things happening around it. So Paul also saw it, and it was truly amazing. So the question is, could this be the sort of thing that might actually happen in the place of safety? So now let's define what the place of safety is. We don't often talk about that. We used to talk about it quite a lot, but it'll happen. It'll be there. There is one, and let's find out what it is. Revelation 3, verse 10.

This is in Christ's teaching about prophecy, in essence, for the church in Philadelphia. There was a literal church in Philadelphia in Asia Minor back in that day, specifically. And we haven't analyzed this as being lessened, all of chapter 2 and chapter 3, lessons for all of us down through the ages, all true Christians. But, we've also analyzed this from a historical perspective, that these churches were represented in prophecy, seven historical eras of the church leading up to the return of Christ.

Thus, this would be the Philadelphia era. Everybody wants to be in the Philadelphia era. Of course, if you read about the Philadelphia era, you'd want to be.

They're the ones that get the least scolding and the most praise. And that's good.

But as soon as you get prideful about thinking you're in the Philadelphia era and bragging about it, whoa, you just switched! Eris! Not good. So, be humble.

Indeed, in verse 9, I will say to those who are the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews that are not but lie, or spiritual Jews that are not but lie, indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you.

Because, now verse 10 is the key, because you have kept my command to persevere.

In spite of the pressures of the society around you, spite of the heresies that kept circulating among you, you have kept my command to persevere. I will also keep you from the hour of trial. Now, let me see. There was a televangelist years ago, maybe not that many years ago, that had the hour of power. And so that was the name of his program, the hour of power. Well, this is the hour of trial. It doesn't even rhyme. Maybe it didn't greek, but it doesn't rhyme in English. The hour of trial, which will come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Okay, so we think, so what's the hour of trial?

Well, it has another name. It's called the Great Tribulation. It is not a happy time.

It's World War III, or World War, the worst that's ever been. As Paul, or as Christ said in Matthew 24, which is the Olivet prophecy, which is all about that time leading up to his return, you know, it will be the worst time the world has ever experienced. The worst. No parallel in the history of nations. The hour of trial. And I will, because you kept my command to persevere, I will keep you from the hour of trial. I'll protect you from that. So there is some kind of protection. So now we go back into Revelation 12, and we begin to understand this a little bit better. In chapter 12, we come up to a time when the early church was persecuted, and God protected the church for when you bring out the 1260 days into an annual fulfillment a day for a year. It would be 1260 years up through the Middle Ages. It talks about how Satan attacked the woman who was giving birth to the male child. That was Christ, of course, was the male child, the church being symbolizing the woman. And the woman fled, in verse 6, into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there for 1260 days, or 1260 years in her case. And then we come down to the end of the age when you don't have 1260 years left for the prophecy to be that. And then Satan, there's this war broke out in heaven in verse 7, and the archangel Michael and the holy angels fought against the dragon that Satan and his demons beat them, thrashed them.

Now the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth in verse 13. He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. That's the church down the timeline historically, the true church. But the woman is given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time.

A time and times and half a time. And before it was 1260 days. If you take 30 days per month, that's 42 months, divide that by 12, it comes out three and a half years. A time, a times, and half a time. Three and a half years. Same timeframe. Now the wings of a great eagle. Does that mean that those who are going to flee to the place of safety or end up there have to fly? Maybe. But bear in mind, the Israelites were taken out on the wings of an eagle too when they went through the Exodus, chapter 19, verse 4. It could be symbolic language, or it could be literal, or it could be literally symbolic, or symbolically literal, one or the other. It could be both ways.

So the serpent, she's in a place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time. So we call it the place of safety because that's a description. It's actually a place of nourishment.

So what kind of nourishment? Well, physical for starters, because it is a zone for survival for some in the church. So that there will be some who are alive and remain, as Paul said, who will be caught up to the Lord in the air when they're resurrected. The dead in Christ will rise first, and then those of us who are alive and remain will be changed and caught up with the Lord in the air. We'll always be with the Lord, which doesn't mean we'll go back to heaven. It doesn't mean we'll hover around the earth for an undetermined amount of time. It means that we'll go to the Mount of Olives because there's a little fracas down there that has to be taken care of. And Christ is about to take care of it at that time. Now, so will we have visions of the Third Heaven during the place of safety time? It doesn't specify that. Stress is a fact that will be physical survival and nourishment. Logically, though, it would also be a time for extensive teaching and training. In fact, one of our evangelists in years past referred to the place of safety as a place of final training. And logically, it would be that. There's no indication of a vision like Paul had in Revelation 2 Corinthians 12. I mean, will there be a need for that vision when we will literally experience eternal life in the Kingdom of God at the resurrection when Christ returns? I mean, we're in a countdown. But there will be a time of instruction. It will undoubtedly be amazing. I don't know if it'll be as amazing as what Paul said because he doesn't know if it would be as amazing as what he said, but what he saw, rather. But it will be amazing and awesome and impressive and a phenomenal time. And, you know, it'll be the time of destiny that we've been looking forward to. We'd like to be in the place of final training. Some will be martyred, however. Bear in mind, that's an honor if you're martyred for the right reason. If you're martyred as a last chance to get you to repent, that's not quite as honorable. There will be some in that category, too. So that's the teaching about the place of final training, the place of safety, as we sometimes have called it, and what Paul experienced in his vision. I hope that answers the question, and now you have the long question to answer.

All right. Well, maybe what I'll do is just save it. Well, I think I could just touch on it for just a moment and just get to the gist of the question, and perhaps I could talk to Nick at a future time.

But basically, the question comes down. He says we were talking about trusting elders, trusting ministers, and that sort of thing. And he says, do we not all have the responsibility to choose the path we think God is leading us down? Should we not trust in only God? We're to be teachable, and God has given us many wonderful teachers, but are we not to compare all things taught against Scripture? The answer is yes, absolutely we are. I don't have time to go over a number of the passages at the moment, but just one perhaps that might be helpful is one we'll come to when we finally get to the second letter of Paul to Timothy. Second Timothy 2.15 says, be diligent to present yourselves approved to God. The Old King James says, study to show yourself approved, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And so all of us should come to the point that we can rightly understand God's word. Now, part of the challenge is that the elders, the ministry and the church, are to be rightly dividing the truth. And so certainly there to be the ones, if there's something that goes against Scripture, we've got to be like the early disciples where they said, we must obey God rather than man. It's got to come down to that. So we've got to know our Bibles well enough. And yet at the same time, we've got to be like the Bereans. The Bereans who studied, they didn't study to put the minister down or catch him or trip him up, but they studied to be sure these things were so. And that's a little bit different in approach and attitude than it is in, oh, I'm trying to catch him in something that he misspoke or missed or that sort of thing. But certainly we've got to work out our own salvation. We've got to rightly divide the word of truth. And when there's ever a question, we should go to those who have the experience, those who have, and gain their understanding, their insight, and then compare that to Scripture. And so hopefully that can be our guide then to making right decisions in our life. And in fact, in the very next Bible study, the beginning of 1 Timothy 4, it addresses that principle and the need for it because of the things that will be happening and have been happening in the faith, but will be happening as we grow closer to the end of this age. All right. Well, we've done it again. We've gone overtime, which seems easy to do. We'll look forward to next time. I believe it's two weeks from tonight is our next Bible study. We'll continue on in the book of 1 Timothy. So we hope you'll be back with us here in the room. And for those of you on the Web, thanks for joining us, and we'll look forward to the next time that we meet together. Good night, everybody. Good night.