Friday 17th March - 1 Timothy 3

Today’s chapter is 1 Timothy 3

Tom writes:

Leadership is biblical. That’s the first thing to assert. Paul whistled around the Mediterranean appointing and anointing leaders and building his churches upon them. Leadership is a noble thing that God always uses to achieve his purposes. If you aren’t submitted to an “elder” you are outside of the desires of God for your life. Frothing along, kind of attached to a church and using pick-and-mix teaching online (no matter how good) is always going to lead to immaturity. God does things through leaders and if you want an effective, healthy life, you need an elder sitting over you. The character of that elder will therefore be crucial; if you are going to submit to someone, you really want to be able to trust them! God knows that. That is why, for God, the central requirement for leadership is not great communication skills or creative ideas… but proven character. Paul calls out four different aspects of character that are important - i) hospitality and gentleness, even when opposed, ii) following through on commitments with those closest to them iii) being able to cope with the stresses of life without blowing up over booze or bling and iv) submitting themselves to the leadership of God.

Paul only wants people leading who are proven to be like that. It is a sad realisation that pretty much all of the broader church’s problems have sprung out of leaders being appointed who don’t carry these four characteristics. And - it is a sad fact that if they don’t sound like your leader right now… things will probably end badly for you. Find someone else to follow! But, if you find a church leader / small group leader / mentor who leans towards gentleness and faithfulness, towards self-control and humility before God then you can feel good about submitting to them. In fact, you can feel more than good; from experience I can tell you that if you follow someone like this, you still thrive even when they get things wrong. Even if your leader isn’t perfect or might upset you, even if someone else makes a bigger splash on social media or wears snazzier sneakers - if your leader is a person of good character then God will pour blessings into your life through them. God loves good leaders .God always uses good leaders to advance his purposes in people’s lives.

Question for reflection

Might God be calling you to leadership? If so, what kind of leader will you be?