1 Timothy 3 – False Churches & Bishops and Deacons

Finger Pointing Up1 12I am not saying not to go to church.  I say we should go to a church that is non-denomination, but then again, some of them preach something else. 

So how do we know what church is speaking the truth about Jesus?  By reading the Bible and talking to God.  

Is reading the Bible or talking to God too much to ask for?  Does it take up to much of your time?  

If you have children and you don’t have time for them then you never should have had them and that makes you a bad parent. 

God is not a bad parent, He has bad kids. 

Here’s that question we all have, “To do or not to do, that is the question?”  Who do you live for?  Who should you live for? 

Tomorrow we’ll talk about…

1 Timothy 3
Bishops and Deacons

2 81 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

“Bishop” – in the Greek culture the word was used of a presiding official in a civic or religious  organization.  Here is refers to a man who oversees a local congregation. 

The equivalent word from the Jewish background of Christianity is “elder.”

The terms “bishop” (or “overseer”) and “elder” are used interchangeably in Acts 20:17, 28; Tit 1:5-7; 1 Pet 5:1-2.

The duties of a bishop were to teach and preach, to direct the affairs of the church, to shepherd the flock of God and to guard the church from error.

2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

“A bishop…must be…husband of one wife” – a general principle that applies to any violation of God’s marriage law, whether in the form of polygamy or of marital unfaithfulness.

3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

3 84 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

“Deacon” – in its nontechnical usage, the Greek for this word means simply “one who serves.”  The men chosen in Acts 6:1-6 were probably not only the first deacons mentioned in the New Testament but also the first to be appointed in the church.

Generally, their service was meant to free the elders to give full attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.

9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

4 710 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.

11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

“Wives” – the Greek for this word could refer to (1) deacon’s wife, (2) deaconesses or (3) female deacons.  However, the fact that deacons are referred to again in vv. 12-13 seems to rule out a separate office of deacons or female deacons.

12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:

15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.5 4

16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

“Mystery of godliness” – the phrase means the “revealed secret of true piety,” i.e., the secret that produces piety in people.  The secret, as the following  words indicate, is none other than Jesus Christ.  Jesus’s incarnation, in all its aspects (particularly His saving work), is the source of genuine piety.

Do not confuse the secret of Jesus Christ with Rhonda Byrne’s book “The Secret.”

False Churches

For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect (Mk 13:22).

6 3All churches that govern are of the devil, i.e., changes, deletes, alters, or adds anything to Jesus Christ.

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev 22:18-19).

I don’t want to surprise anyone, but Bush and Obama are not the worst thing that ever happened to the United States.  The worst thing that has ever happened to this world is religion.

Jesus Christ is not a religion, He is God.  Therefore, ALL religions are false, including Christianity in many, if not all, churches.

I have not been to all the churches nor do I know the beliefs of all faiths, but Jesus never created a religion and whenever he went into a church/synagogue He taught those in charge the ways of God, even at the age of 12 (Lk 2:41-52).

God is a loving God, but as the saying goes, “You hate the one you love.”  God hates no one, but He does hate evil (Ps 97:10, Prov 8:13). 

7 1God is not nice to wicked people, nor does He even listen to them:

“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear;

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa 59:1-2).

Below is a short list of false beliefs:

Atheism

Baha’i
Black Muslim
Buddhism
Christian Science
Church of Christ
Eastern Cults
Episcopal Church
Freemasonry
Greek Eastern Orthodox
Hinduism
Humanism
Illuminati
Islamic
Muslim
Jehovah Witnesses
Judaism
Kabbalah
Lutherans
Modernism
Moonies (Unification Church)
Mormonism
New Age
Pagan Mumbo-Jumbo (Yin Yang)
Pentecostal/Charismatic
Roman Catholicism
Russian Orthodox
Scientology
Seventh-Day Adventist
Unitarian Universalism
United Church of Christ
Witchcraft/Wicca/Satanism
…how to live for God.
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