Dr MJ du Plessis Reformed Church Bellville 23 July 2006 (morning) Scripture NIV and King James

REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 23 JULY 2006: MORNING SERVICE

Sing before: Psalm: 100

Let us commence this meeting with God by declaring openly to one another and to God:

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Beloved grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Psalm of praise: Psalm 92:1
Confession of faith: Apostolic

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hell, the third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, a holy catholic* Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
Amen.

After the reading of the Law we confess our guilt and pray for forgiveness and a new life before God with Psalm 99:4+5.
Law
Psalm: 99:4+5

Prayer:

Doxology
Worship
Confession of sins
Forgiveness
Gratitude
Prayer for the need of the congregation for the church, the authorities and the sinful world and appeal to God's promises.
General prayer
Enlightenment from the Holy Spirit for the sake of the ministry of the Word.

Amen

Psalm: 90:1
Scripture: 1 Timothy 3
Text: 1 Timothy 3:13

"Those who have served will gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus."

The Lord does not have different sets of rules for elders, deacons and church members.

The Lord has only one set of rules that apply to all the chosen, no matter whether it is a man, woman or any member of the church or an office bearer or whomever.
Because we must live responsibly before the Lord it is well that we should test ourselves against the demands God wants us to live up to in order to see how we measure up to them.

In verse 1 Paul starts to write about the particular officers. The Bible does not use the word office in the New Testament.

An office is a particular position in which the office bearer has certain powers and authority.
The Bible employs the word diakonia that means that it is someone who in the Name of God renders a service to somebody else.

In our everyday language we use words that are remnants of the period of the Roman Catholic Church. We speak of offices.

In the Roman Catholic Church the word office is used appropriately for the people in such offices believe that they do have certain authority.
But we believe that the Bible teaches us differently.
The Lord uses the word diakonos/diakonia which means servant and the word slave to describe the people whom we call office bearers.
Neither a servant nor a slave has any authority of his own.
He may and can do only that what his owner or master orders him to do.

Likewise we speak of the people whom the Holy Spirit tells of in this Epistle from Paul as bearers of particular office.

The particular services are those of the minister (preacher), elders and deacons.
The general service (or office) is that of the believer – in that service (or office) the believer stands simultaneously in all three offices (or services) those of prophet, priest and king.
The Lord tells us here what the attitude of the people who stand in these services should be towards their service.

He starts with the overseers (or bishops). Their main task is to provide the leadership in the church.

It is immediately made plain that the image portrayed by these servants is the image of the church as seen by the world outside.
If these servants lead a loose and intemperate life the church in which they serve is seen in the same light.

Without it being put plainly every believer on reading this epistle, although he is not the preacher, understands that the Lord is speaking to every believer, although He mentions only the service of the ministry.

What He says of the preacher is true of us all for we all stand in the service/office of the believer.
That is why each church member should show high quality as is prescribed for all the services.

Every person who is saved by the Lord Jesus Christ must have this good testimonial because we are saved by the Lord Jesus and are guided by God the Holy Spirit.

We often hear it being said: "Elect so and so as elder or deacon, he will then attend church and live a good life".
That is wrong. The Lord teaches a different rule – a person does not become irreproachable after being elected – no, he is elected because he lives above reproach before being elected.

The demand made here is in the first place that every believer must be above reproach. Note the practical way in which the Lord deals with an important matter such as irreproachability in faith. There is a long list of every day matters that should be part of our life. An overseer must be:

Above reproach.
The husband of but one wife.
Temperate, self-controlled, respectable.
Hospitable.
Able to teach.
Not given to drunkenness, not violent.
Not quarrelsome.
Not a lover of money.
One who manages his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.

The Lord then gives the reason for this list of requirements – if anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?

The Lord then mentions two important points which are often ignored by us.

The first refers to the spiritual world.
In heaven something which affects people on earth went wrong.
The Lord warns against a repetition of that mistake in the church – a recent convert must not immediately be elected to a service.
"He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil". (1 Timothy 3:6)

The reason is clear – a newcomer may easily become conceited should he be placed in a position where he is to oversee people who have been members of the church for a long time.

He should first become part of them and first prove himself as being able to withstand the sins that we all experience daily. Otherwise he will fall into the sin of pride and conceit which caused the devil to fall from heaven.

Again, a matter is raised that affects not only the newcomers, but everybody in the church. One should never forget God's gifts and grace. The demands made on the servants are not greater than those made on the ordinary member of the church. These are demands that all of us must satisfy if we are true believers.

The second matter affects the world of unbelievers around us.

"He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap." (verse 7)

The opinion of the outsiders is important to the Lord.

How often do we not hear this comment from unbelievers – "you do this and that and you claim to being a Christian and you belong to that church!"
They then despise the church because the members of the church conduct themselves despicably.

We may lightly say, oh, those speakers are only unbelievers. But God tells us otherwise:

We may not lightly ignore their opinions!
It is important to God what they say of us!
The outsiders too must bear witness that we hold onto our principles and that we live our Christian faith in such a way that they are impressed even if it irritates them!
They must therefore speak nothing but good of our way of life.

Let us summarize what God prescribes here as follows:

The Lord demands that no true believer must allow himself to be misguided by heresies or any current sinful influences.
We must live according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a controlled and dignified way.
The unbelievers were quarrelsome, stole each other's property, avaricious and often reveled in drunkenness – we may not be like that.

Our consciences of grace and of sin go hand in hand.

One can see God's grace only when one really knows one's weakness and sinfulness – not by just saying that you know that what you are doing is sinful, but by truly knowing each of your weaknesses and truly knowing that by indulging them you dishonour God every time.
Then you will truly know what God gives you when He saves you from that weakness.
All that Satan could achieve was to fall into God's judgment.

Let us look at verse 8.

The apostle Paul deals here with deacons. The deacons are true believers just as the elders and the preacher. Paul says – likewise …

The Holy Spirit emphasizes with this word that the Lord does not have double standards.
The same rules that apply to the preacher apply to the deacons.
Hence, likewise … all that is being said of the deacon applies to the elders and the minister and each man and woman in the church.

What then of the woman?

In the New Testament churches only men were serving in the offices. The question then arises – what about the women? How important are they to the Lord? Can they live as they please?

Women are children of God and saved just like any man.
In the New Testament there is no difference between men and women, before the Lord we are all equal.

Verse 11 starts off with: "In the same way their wives …".

Every church member is subjected to God's demands on an equal footing.
God does not expect less of women than of men, neither does He expect of church members less than of office bearers.
No, before God men and women stand as equals.

God does not give a list of only what we must not be. He also tells us what we must be. We must in a clear conscience keep the mysteries of the faith.

Nobody will do right when he hears only what he may not do.
He must also know what he must do positively.
Hence verse 9 tells us: "They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience".

It is difficult to explain what is meant by the "deep truths" of the faith.

Perhaps the meaning is that these truths are so difficult to understand that they are beyond our human comprehension.
Their contents are thus hidden from us.
Our conscience must therefore bear witness that we hold to those truths also although we may not understand them.

We must not try to subject God's counsel to our comprehension.

You can therefore not believe truly with a bad conscience!
You will know yourself that it is false and that you must repent and turn away from what you are doing wrong.

That is why verse 10 says that people must first be tested.

Not tested while serving as deacon, elder or minister.
The testing must take place before one may be considered for the office.
In your spiritual life you must prove yourself.

Now verse 13 becomes clear: "… those who have served well".

That refers to all of us.

All who have served well receive an honourable position in their faith in Jesus Christ.
They also acquire much confidence in their spiritual life because they have a clear conscience about their life.

Should we now become despondent because our consciences are not always clear because of what we do wrong?

No, because the Lord Jesus Christ has made propitiation for imperfect people.

He made propitiation for people whose conscience accused them because they failed to do what God demanded of them.
He wants those people to be continuously aware thereof that He has reconciled our weaknesses with God.
It is pure grace that the Lord Jesus Christ makes us worthy of the Kingdom of God for on our own merit we are unworthy.

If we look closely at our life we shall see two things.

We shall see how much we do badly and wrong and we shall go to the Lord remorsefully and with a great need to be forgiven for our weaknesses and the Lord shall confirm His grace to us.
We shall also see that we do not appear to take the demands of the Lord seriously and still do what we wish to do – in which case we shall draw the heavy judgment of the Lord onto us at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us as servants in the offices then live and work in the church in such a way that the congregation may freely follow our way of life.

Let us as a congregation make it our task that the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is our first priority and that we live according to His demands.

Amen

Closing prayer
Closing Psalm: 93:11+14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Amen

Dr MJ du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
23 July 2006 (morning)
Scripture NIV and King James