Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Everywhere I go, I hear the same thing. There's a leadership crisis in the church. Pastors are hurting. church leaders are hurting.
What's it look like to be a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ? How do you do it? It's never been more difficult to lead, so we want to help leaders grow. That's today. Leadership in the church has never been more under fire.
and the qualifications Paul lays out in 1 Timothy 3 couldn't be more countercultural. Today, Chip Ingram opens chapter 3 and asks, If you set your heart on being a godly man or woman, what would that actually look like? I'm Dave Druy, and this is Living on the Edge. We're in a series called You Can Make Disciples: Personal Coaching from the Apostle Paul. And let me remind you that all of these Bible teachings can be found or shared online at livingonthege.org.
Well now here's Chip with today's message titled, Step In.
So we're in chapter 3, 1 Timothy. Learning from the Apostle Paul, life coaching. Big takeaway in Tip number one is that everybody needs a coach, you gotta step up. We all have to ask, what's that look like in our life? Second, you gotta step down.
Got to become men that are strong by kneeling, praying. surrendering our rights our way, our agenda. and experiencing God's supernatural power to bring about change. Tip number three, coaching tip number three, is if you aim at nothing. You'll hit it every time, right?
So I remember going out as a little kid, I was eight years old, and we had a lawnmower, and you know, they used to have the handles, and then there was a little bar. And I wasn't big enough to reach the handles like this, but I could take the bar. And so, I mean, it took me forever, but I'm pushing it. My mom's going, please don't let him cut his feet off.
So, by the time I was nine, I had three luns. By the time I was I had a little lawn business of about eight or ten lawns and one really big one and two paper outs. And I did pretty well.
So when I was 13, I lent my parents $3,000 at 6% interest. I was a little entrepreneur. And they paid me, they wanted to buy a piece of land behind our house. And then that played into everything. It was like, okay, I was about 13 and the basketball coach in junior high recommended because I was five foot three.
Uh as a freshman. That maybe wrestling was my career, I should be a wrestler. And well, that was just like screaming: no, be a basketball player.
So I uh it's in the Midwest so that I mean on on Friday night, you could rob everyone in the entire town because they were either at the football game or the basketball game. And I remember sitting in there and thinking as a thirteen year old, Someday I want to be on that basketball court. I want to have a scholarship. I want to graduate near the top of my class and I want to have a pretty girlfriend. Ready, set.
Go. And I was maniacal in my pursuit. And um I remember graduating from high school, taking my hat, throwing it in there, and as an unbeliever sitting in a big circle of about 20 or 25 people, we used to call them reefers back then, passing it around and talking about what we're going to do with our future life. And I was sitting next to Jackie. And um I didn't have any convictions about drugs.
At my size, I thought, I can't put anything in my body that's going to limit my, I was always so small.
So I was about 5'11 by then, and so I passed it on, and Jackie turned to me and said, you must be very happy tonight. I said, well, why is that?
Well, you got a basketball scholarship, you graduated in your top of your class, you got the cutest little girlfriend. And all I can tell you, I had never heard of the Holy Spirit. I mean, I'm sure I heard it in church or something. But I had the most overwhelming empty sense that I'd ever had in my experience up to that time at eighteen. Here's the problem.
The goal was way too small. Even if you aim at something, if you hit the wrong thing. Your life can be a disaster. And so, what the Apostle Paul is going to do in his coaching tip to Timothy. Is he just going to say Timothy?
Yeah, the goal is to straighten out the teaching, right? I mean, these false teachers, they're messing everything up. And the how-to is not in your power. I want you to kneel down. I want you to pray.
I want the church, God's people, to live in such winsome, godly, loving ways that we attract people rather than at this point raising a lot of negative attention. But, like any leadership book you have ever read or ever will read, the only way you change an organization is at It starts with leadership. Everything rises and falls with leadership. You want to change a culture, you can tweak anything under the world, but you either have to have a radical change in the leaders or you have to completely change out the leadership. That's why when teams lose, what do they do?
They don't fire the players, what do they do? From the coach. When a when a company is going downhill, what do they do? They hire the fire the CEO. Basically what he's going to say to Timothy is Yes, we need to put a band-aid in this, and you've got to address the problems here.
And in chapter 3, he says. If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it. What you have to do now, Timothy, is we have to develop leaders. Who will be the kind of people that don't let false teaching happen and are the kind of people that live out this faith in a radical way so that we honor the Lord Jesus and the big agenda of the gospel goes forward?
So we're in chapter 3, 1 Timothy. We pick it up. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, It is the fine work he desires to do. And then he's going to give the qualifications.
Two words, by way of just a quick moment here. An overseer, the word is episcopas. The word literally is a compound word, someone that looks into something. It's in other words, someone who's in charge who looks into something to make sure things are going okay. And then gives help or direction or support.
The other word interchanged is the word elder, or you could translate it shepherd, and that's just a different function. They're used interchangeably.
So he says, Look, Timothy, whether it's a house church of 20 or 25 or 30 people or 10 or 12 people, you know what? Remember how wherever we went, we found who the best leaders were, we put them in charge. Here's the qualifications going forward of the kind of men that you need to choose.
So we want a long-term play. We want to solve the issues in the church for the long term, and the way to do that. is to develop leaders. And so the first thing he says, it says, if any man aspires. That's our good English translation.
Literally, there's three little words. If any man sets his heart. If any man, in other words, his desire, his dream, sets his heart, like I set my heart. To be on that basketball court. I set my heart to date that cheerleader.
I set my heart to If any man sets his heart or aspires to the office of overseer, It's a fine work. And then he says, an overseer or an elder must be above reproach. And what you're going to see is he sort of bookends: above reproach includes from inside the church, outside the church, how he speaks, what he does, his money, his marriage, his family. In other words, everything is, he's not perfect. But what you see is what you get.
At the very end of this list, he'll say someone who's dignified. It's another very general Greek word that basically has the idea that when you meet this guy, You respect him. He's the kind of person you respect the kind of marriage he has, you respect his finances, you respect how he handles conflict, you respect how he raises his kids. And so now he's going to give a sort of a very specific list. Of the kind of men you want to look for.
You know, in baseball, I played baseball in college as well. And, you know, the dream was to be, remember, a five-tool player? You hit for average, hit for power, you can field, you have an arm. And is is it speed or is there one other one? Yeah.
I mean, that's the ultimate player that you're looking for.
So basically, what he's saying is: look, Timothy. We're going to deal with the problem. And we're going to do it a really different way. We're going to use God's power, sort of not our human anger and stuff. And then we need Five two elders.
We need elders that live this out. And you need to develop them because they don't grow on trees. But what you need to do is you need to have a perspective, you need to have a profile.
So here's the profile. He must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching. All pretty positive. Not indulging in much wine, Not a bully. But gentle, not contentious.
free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man doesn't know how to manage his own household, How will they care for the Church of God? And by the way, not a new convert, so he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church.
So he will not fall into disgrace. and the snare of the devil. Deacons likewise, very similar, must be men of dignity, that big general word, not insincere, not prone to drink too much wine, not greedy for money, but holding to the mystery of are you ready again, the faith. These truths, these doctrines. And how with a clear conscience?
Remember what the goal of this? The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart. A good conscience, sincere faith, he's going to weave that all the way through the book. These men also must first be tested, then have them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.
So you're looking for these kind of men and these spiritual responsibilities. And then these that have more of the servant hands-on issues, I mean the early church, we gotta feed people, we got widows to take care of. We got all kind of very specific issues, so we want a little bit different giftings, but we got to have great character in both of them. Women must also be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. Commentators will agree or disagree whether this is deaconesses as an official role in the church or whether it's the wise of deacons.
Either way, it just means that the women that are leading need to be godly, just like the men. Deacons must be the husband of one wife. good managers of their children and their households. For those who serve well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in The faith that is in Christ Jesus. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll continue this lesson in just a minute.
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Now let's continue today's message. I mean, you know what this this list is? Be a Christ-like man. Be a godly man. Don't most of you know what a godly man looks like?
Most of you know what it looks like to be a loving husband? Not perfect, but a really good dad. But it but it says Timothy, this is a trustworthy statement. If any man sets his heart on the office of being an overseer. See, I think in God's perspective, The elder who's living the life and accepts this humongous responsibility of giving oversight to the Church of Jesus Christ has far more standing than the biggest CEOs of the biggest companies in America or around the world.
And it's just as big a job. Because as the leaders go in a church, so goes the church. And so he gives qualifications and And then in verse 14, he says, Why? I'm writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long, but just in case I'm delayed. I'm in verse 14.
I write so that you'll know how one should act in the household of God. In other words, Timothy, I just want you to know: this is what a pastor does, this is what leaders do. And then he talks about the household of God, which is the church of the living God, not a religious institution. That's the pillar and the support, and put a box around this one in your Bible: the truth. Over and over and over, he starts with the truth.
There is a right, there is a wrong, there is a God, there is one, there is one mediator. He came to save sinners. There is an eternity. Everyone will stand before a holy God. Jesus has paid the price for all men of all time.
Those who receive the gift. Eternal life. Those who say, I don't need you, I'm on my own, maybe later, and dis God, God says, I respect you. I will give you the freedom to reject me. You can be apart from me, but whatever you choose in this life, you get for eternity.
I don't need you now. God will say, I won't force myself on you now or ever. And it's a Christeless eternity. And you're bombarded by an enemy who's orchestrated a world system that says success and salary and sex and security. That'll make you somebody.
You drive this kind of car and you have this kind of wife and you have this kind of logo and you go to these sporting events. If your kid makes a traveling team or he makes a scholarship, and if you can bench press so much and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It keeps changing and changing and changing. And believe me. Everyone on this planet has this, maybe it's not real clear in your mind, but you have this invisible picture of what success looks like, and if you could ever hit it, then you'd be a somebody.
And you'd be a somebody. You just need to understand. The games that people play, it's just all relative. You gotta ask yourself. What?
And who do you really want to be? And make sure, as the old illustration goes, that your ladder is really leaning on the right wall. Because you can be a successful failure. I mean you have lots of money, it's really hard to raise good kids. Insurance companies have done demographic studies.
The only people that have worse problem with their kids as measured by times in rehab and all the rest is the absolute lowest of the poor of the poor and the richest executives. Be careful what you set your heart to be. And and what's what's great is If you set your heart to be a godly man, It's a fine work you desire to do. And you become then You know how to act in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. And beyond measure, great is the mystery of, circle the word, godliness.
Great is the mystery. I don't understand. I know it means renewing your mind. I know it has to do with being in His Word. I understand it has to do with repenting of my sin.
I understand I need the fellowship of men that I can really be me with. I understand I have to take risks and challenges. I have to receive forgiveness. There's all kinds of things. But great is the mystery of godliness.
And then. There's this. This mantra, this code that they wanted to summarize the work of Jesus in the church. And so it went like this: He who was revealed in the flesh, incarnation. Was vindicated by the Spirit at his baptism.
Seen by angels in temptation. Remember? After He defeated Satan. The text says, and he was ministered to by Angels proclaimed among the nations, the discipleship process went forward. Believed on the world, taken up into glory, ascension.
And he gives us this picture. The coaching uh nuggets that I have for you. Is that I write to you So that you'll know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God. And what I would ask you is how are you conducting yourself in the household of God. And by the way, that's again, don't just picture the building.
I'm talking about the living stones, the relationship, the reality of the church of God. pillar in support of the truth. And then our response, if any man aspires, and let me encourage you to underline, sets his heart on the office of overseer, or I think just being a godly man, it's a fine work he desires to do. And here's, I think, the ultimate criteria. Honestly, His first line must be above reproach.
The way you're above reproach is you take all the other things and you go on a journey to become like that. And then you end up above reproach.
So Okay, thank you, Paul. And my name was Timothy. I would kind of know what I was supposed to do, right? Who I'm supposed to look for. Here's the profile.
I need to develop these kinds of leaders. Here's my question. What's this got to do with us? What's the application in the 21st century? And I'm going to suggest that the subject here is leadership in the church because all scripture.
Right? is profitable. It's inspired by God.
So, this passage, like the last chapter and every other passage, is here to equip us and encourage us and help us to be men of God. who will be equipped and adequate for the good work God has for us. The underlying issue here, I think, is integrity. And when I say the word integrity, I mean beyond honesty. We tend to think of integrity as, well, I'm honest.
Integrity, it's actually a numerical word. It's integration. It's the integration of your faith in every area of life and relationships. The way I think about it is you live the same way Monday afternoon at 4 as Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Same way at 2 a.m.
watching T V with no one around. Same way in front of your computer. Same way when someone comes onto you at work. Same way when you have a couple couple of beers with the guys. It's just that your faith is integrated.
in every relationship with everyone. That's basically what it means to be a godly man, isn't it? It sounds like just someone who has taken the instruction of the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and is loving others with a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. And so I think the underlying question is: am I willing to set my heart to become a godly man? and fulfill God's purpose for my life.
You've been listening to Living on the Edge Chip Ingramram. And a message he's titled, Step In. It's part of our current series called You Can Make Disciples: Personal Coaching from the Apostle Paul. And did you know that each of these daily messages is available to stream on the Living on the Edge podcast? Subscribe, take it with you, and share it with someone you know.
Plus you can find Chip's full-length sermons on the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast wherever you listen. Chip's question today lands personally. Have you set your heart on becoming the kind of person Paul described?
Someone whose private life and public life tell the same story? If this week has stirred something in you, a desire to step up, step down, or step in, Chip's book, Yes, You Really Can Change, is the practical companion for that journey. It explores the key truths of authentic transformation. why change is so hard, where the power comes from, and how you make it last. Right now we've got a special offer where you can buy one book and give one away.
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Well, Chip, you're really calling leaders and all of us to some honest self-examination here. If someone is listening who has compromised their integrity, maybe quietly, maybe no one knows yet, would you share with us what's the first step to take? I'd be glad to, Dave. This is something that is very, very painful, I think, for us. In the church, and especially us, maybe who are Christian leaders, to really own the reality that we have not acted well in the household of God.
And whether it's Protestant pastors falling with big denominations, as we've read recently, or whether it's priests with immoral behavior, or whether it's evangelists and scandals, or mega church pastor, or celebrity worship leaders, we have to own the reality that in significant measure, we have not been leaders or Christians that, in my words, have lived like Christians. And it's undermined the gospel, it's undermined the credibility. And honestly, at the heart of most of it has been the cover-ups. And I think honestly, we just have to own where we failed. Instead of being defensive, we When you blow it, when I blow it, and whether it's with our family, whether it's at work, and there's an outburst of anger, or we don't tell the truth, or there's hypocrisy.
This is what builds credibility. You own it. You don't cover it, you don't fake it, you don't act like it didn't happen. I have certainly had to really own Things I've said or things I've done wrong, and it was very humbling, and I hated doing it, but it was so cleansing. And even when I've had to do that with unbelievers, I have found that the response is the opposite of what you would think.
It's like, Wow. Really? Thanks. And then I apologized. And people are not looking for Christians that are perfect, but boy, they are looking for Christians that are real.
So here's our application today. Could I encourage you to At least get two or three minutes today and bow your head, close your eyes, and And say, Lord, is there anything in my life that I've concealed? Is there anything that needs to come to light? and then own it. And then ask that next hard question Is there anyone that I need to go talk to?
to not just confess it, but forsake it and make this right. and as you do that, God's going to work. And as tens of thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of people listening to my voice, can you imagine the cleansing power that would occur in the next couple days? as we would just own our stuff. and then make things right.
I'm Dave Drury.
Next time, Chip Ingram explains exactly what it looks like to be a leader who can actually be trusted. That's ahead on Living on the Edge. Yeah. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh
