“He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.” 1 Timothy 3:4
1 and 2 Timothy and Titus are called the ‘pastoral epistles’. They were written by Paul to his assistants Timothy and Titus, younger men whom he was training to be church-planters, apostles like himself. All three letters contain instructions concerning the appointing of elders in churches, and the qualities those people should have.
It may surprise you to be told that we are all in ministry, in some form or another. Sure, we may not be teaching a Bible study in any capacity in our local church, we may not receive any monetary payment for what we do, but that doesn’t mean we are not in ministry. In fact, the most important ministry of all, it could be argued, is in your own family.
There is nothing worse to see in a church leader than hypocrisy – someone who talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk. How can someone teach something from the Bible as the way a Christian should live, and expect others to do it, and not be doing it themselves? In terms of managing one’s family, it is a similar issue at stake with this quality. Paul goes on to say, “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?” (1 Tim. 3:5).
I’m very blessed to be part of a church where the pastor’s children do respect him and his wife. It shows their lives are consistent with the Bible, that he has brought them up well (and thus knows how to lead a church well, to see people grow in the Lord), that he has disciplined them appropriately (and thus knows how to apply Biblical discipline in the church, should it be needed). I’m very blessed to have been given a solid Biblical grounding and a love for God from my own parents, that has set me on the right course for the rest of my life. And whatever ministry I take up, I seek to do it as transparently as possible.
This really blessed me in a few ways first I was guilty of being the opposite of what you are saying I feel convicted but it's needed to be better than I have been. I got tired and disgusted with my wife who I thought should of been on my level and the pressure of being a good deacon and minister I literally just gave up and wanted out my kids are grown now but I believe that God is the giver of another chance so I'm going to take it and make a difference at home first then wait for God to advance me thank you so much .
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing - it takes courage to admit we've messed up. God does indeed give us a second chance if we repent and ask His forgiveness (and a third, and a fourth...) Joel 2:25
ReplyDeleteBridget, your right on with Ministry starts at home. So many young college students are being pulled into so called churches that are brainwashing them to think they are not worthy of God's grace unless they give up everything and do what the org. asks of them. If their families or friends don't agree the org. tells them to cut off relationships with their loved ones. This type of manipulation is going on all across college campuses. We had first hand experience with it and I had to remind our family member ... we did not raise you to be unkind or unloving to your family/friends. If an org. is asking you to do that, do you think they are really qualified to teach someone else about Christ? Parents need to be in full alert of the churches that are "recruiting" their young son/daughters that are going off to college. Parents need to educate their sons/daughters on recognizing signs of a good christian church and the bad ones. Yes, there are bad ones. Scary in fact. We were naive about this. Thought how great it is to have our family member so involved in a church. Then we started seeing strange signs, and behavior changes. So please please warn parents to educate their son's/daughters "before" going off to college and joining a church.
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