In 1 Timothy 3, Paul gives Timothy a picture of the qualities that should characterize Christian leaders: integrity, hospitality, wisdom, gentleness, self-control, and a good reputation both inside and outside the church. Today we consider what those qualities might mean for Christian leadership in our own time, especially in an age of social media influencers and outrage-driven conversations. Is being combative really a sign of faithfulness? What if the church valued gentleness and empathy as much as it values having the “right” answers? Paul reminds us that our witness matters—and that the way we treat people outside the church is part of how we show them the love of a God they cannot see.
Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.
You can read today’s passage here.
Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.
Subscribe through Spotify -
Subscribe through Apple Podcasts -
Or, if you’d like to read the transcript of the video, keep reading!
Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Friday morning. I hope you’re doing well. I hope you’ve had a good week, and I hope you’ve got some great plans for the weekend.
We’re excited here in Starkville. Mississippi State has a home game Saturday night, and Holly and I are going to go. We’re excited to go to our first State football game.
I’ve been to a State football game before. I’ve been to several baseball games over the last year, but it’s been a long, long, long, long time since I’ve been to a football game. I think the last one may have been when we were in Philadelphia—or maybe it was in DeSoto County. I went to a game with some friends.
So I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to hang out with some church friends, see some people, and enjoy the game.
And if you’re coming up to StarkVegas for the weekend for the football game, bring your church clothes! It’s a late game Saturday night, so stay over. Go to bed, wake up, get your coffee, and come worship with us at First UMC on Sunday morning.
We’d love to have you.
I always like to say that we want to be everybody’s second-favorite church. Your favorite church is your home church—the church where you worship most weekends.
But Historical First is always glad to be your second-favorite church when you’re in town for a football game!
Today we’re going to be reading from 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 7.
Paul says that anyone who aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. And then he begins to describe what that person should look like: above reproach, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
Paul talks about managing one’s household well. He says that if someone doesn’t know how to manage their own household, how can they take care of God’s church?
He says that they shouldn’t be a recent convert, and they should also be well thought of by outsiders.
There are a couple of interesting things here in the Greek.
The word translated “bishop” in the NRSV is episkopos. That’s where we get our word “bishop.” Other translations will often use the word “overseer.”
There’s another word that appears in the New Testament, presbyteros, which is where we get words like “presbyter” and “priest,” and it’s connected to the office we would call an elder.
In the United Methodist Church, my official designation is an elder in full connection in the Mississippi Annual Conference.
So these words have become titles that we use in different Christian traditions.
The word here in 1 Timothy is often translated “bishop,” but “overseer” is also a helpful translation because the idea is someone who has a responsibility for oversight and leadership within the church.
It’s a little bit of a “from above” role, if you will—someone who is watching over the church and helping provide leadership.
And every church has different systems of government.
The word we use for church government is polity.
I happen to like our United Methodist system. I like the connectional nature of our church. I think there is a lot of good theology behind it.
But I also don’t believe the Bible lays out only one particular form of church government.
The Bible doesn’t talk about charge conference.
The Bible doesn’t lay out the United Methodist Book of Discipline.
Those are structures that our tradition has developed based upon our theology and our understanding of Scripture.
That doesn’t make them unbiblical. It simply means that the Bible does not prescribe one particular organizational structure for every Christian church for all time.
So when Paul talks about an episkopos, I think “bishop” is a perfectly reasonable translation.
But if your church doesn’t have bishops, that doesn’t mean you can ignore this passage.
Because, in one way or another, every clergy person has some responsibility for oversight.
And Paul gives us a pretty good picture of what that leadership should look like.
Above reproach.
Temperate.
Sensible.
Respectable.
Hospitable.
Able to teach.
Not violent.
Not quarrelsome.
Not a lover of money.
And then I really like verse 7:
The leader should be well thought of by outsiders.
I think that is incredibly important.
One of the greatest temptations—and maybe one of the greatest challenges—the church faces right now is the influence of influencers.
And I realize the irony of saying that while you’re either watching this on Facebook or YouTube or listening to it on a podcast!
But there are a lot of people influencing Christianity today who aren’t connected to a local congregation. They’re not necessarily connected to a local church. They may not be accountable to a denomination or any particular Christian community.
And that can create some real problems.
Someone asked me the other night in Bible study, “Why does it seem like fear is such a common thing when it comes to teaching repentance and things like that?”
And I think part of the answer is that we have developed a culture of shock.
If you’re my age—or maybe a little older—you may remember the term “shock jock.”
These were radio personalities, usually morning hosts, who would say outrageous things simply to get a reaction.
And I think we have something similar happening in parts of Christian media today.
There are Christian influencers who say outrageous things simply because outrageous things get attention.
They say something shocking.
People get angry.
People respond.
The algorithm notices.
And suddenly they have more followers.
And sometimes it almost becomes a badge of honor to be despised by people outside the church.
“If people outside the church don’t like me, that must mean I’m standing up for Jesus.”
“If they’re criticizing me, that must mean I’m being persecuted.”
“If they disagree with me, that must mean I’m right.”
But Paul says something different.
Paul says that a leader should be well thought of by outsiders.
Now, that doesn’t mean everyone is going to like us.
It doesn’t mean that we should compromise the gospel just to make people happy.
Jesus certainly didn’t do that.
But there is a difference between being faithful and being quarrelsome.
There is a difference between standing for something and simply being combative.
There is a difference between having convictions and being mean.
And I wonder what the church would look like if we really took Paul seriously here.
What if we sought out leaders who were above reproach?
What if we valued temperance?
What if we valued wisdom?
What if we valued hospitality?
What if we valued gentleness?
What if our preachers were gentle?
Why do we sometimes act as though being quarrelsome is a virtue in a preacher?
Why do we sometimes think that the preacher who argues the loudest must be the preacher who is most faithful?
Why don’t we aspire to gentleness?
Why don’t we see empathy as a Christian virtue?
Why don’t we want our clergy to be people who are respected by those outside the church?
Paul isn’t saying that everyone is going to agree with us.
The world is always going to have different values than we do.
People are going to have different likes and dislikes.
People are going to disagree with us.
That’s okay.
But if we harden ourselves against the outside world, and if our only posture toward the world is combativeness, then we’re going to have a hard time sharing the gospel with that world.
I’ve said this in Bible study before, and it’s one of my favorite thoughts:
It’s really hard for people to believe that a God they cannot see loves them when a church they can see doesn’t seem to like them.
Think about that.
If the only thing someone experiences from the church is anger, hostility, judgment, and quarrelsomeness, why would they believe that the God we proclaim is a God of love?
Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t have convictions.
We should.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t stand for what we believe.
We should.
But the way we live those convictions matters.
Paul tells us that these are qualities we should look for in our leaders.
And frankly, I think they’re qualities all of us should aspire to.
Gentleness.
Empathy.
Hospitality.
Wisdom.
Faithfulness.
A good reputation.
Not quarrelsome.
Not violent.
Not driven by money or ego.
Those are good virtues for our leaders.
And they’re good virtues for all of us.
So be careful about the voices that tell you that being coarse, angry, combative, or constantly outraged is somehow a sign of Christian faithfulness.
Blessed are the meek, Jesus says, for they will inherit the earth.
Maybe gentleness is stronger than we think.
Maybe kindness is more powerful than we think.
Maybe hospitality is a better witness than outrage.
And maybe the church doesn’t need more people trying to win arguments.
Maybe we need more people who look like Jesus.
Hey, thanks for being with me today.
Have a great weekend.
And if you’re coming to Starkville for the football game, come see us Sunday morning at Historical First. We’d love to have you worship with us.
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you Sunday.
Thanks!