3:3
“Not given to drunkenness, not violent ...” These requirements might seem obvious to us, but we forget the background from which converts were coming from. People were being saved from a godless society, one without godly immoral foundations. In the West we have had godly foundations to our society for many centuries, but in recent times we have been rejecting and abandoning these foundations with ever increasing haste. So this teaches us three things. The first is that the good news of Jesus Christ can reach into such a society. The second is that when it does so things get messy. Thirdly, part of the gospel is teaching people to “obey all I have commanded” (Matt 28:19,20). The gospel produces a gentle spirit in a person. Also we should not be lovers of money.
By the way, while it is imperative that a leader meets these requirements, we should all aim for them as well.
3:4,5
A leader in the church has responsibility for looking after people, for helping to bring people up in the faith. So how well, or otherwise, we manage our own families is a key indicator of our suitability for leadership. If someone’s home life is chaotic, then it is is almost certainly a bad idea to put them in charge of a church! However, the man is to run his own family “in a manner worthy of full respect”. Someone may be utterly dictatorial, a tyrant in their own family, and so get some form of “obedience” from his children, but that is not the way it is to be in God’s family. Jesus warned us not to “lord it over them” (Matt 20:25). We exercise discipline, but there is no room for tyrants.
No comments:
Post a Comment