Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Your Role in Your Church | New Testament | 1 Timothy 3

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Do you serve in your church? Do you feel qualified to lead? Who is qualified to build up your church? In today's episode, Tanya examines 1 Timothy 3 to discover how Paul describes your role in your church. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Timothy 3

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. One of the most influential books I read this year was Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller. In the beginning of that book, he retells the short story called Leaf by Niggle, written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Now, in Tolkien's story, there's a painter named Niggle, who desperately wants to complete his vision of painting a beautiful tree before he's called away on a journey. What we know about literature from this time period is that the journey usually symbolized death. Now, Niggle bought a canvas so large that he had to acquire a ladder to begin painting his tree. He worked fervently, but most of the canvas remained blank, with the exception of a beautiful,

single leaf. There were two problems other than the upcoming journey that Negel dealt with. The first was that Negel was a talented painter of leaves, but not of trees. The second was that his... His soft heart often called him away from his work to meet the demands that other people had of him or things that they needed, especially his needy neighbor. Now, one evening on the way to fetch a doctor for his neighbor's wife, he's called away on the journey and niggle anguishes over the unfinished work he left on his canvas.

However, when he reaches his destination, he sees his leaf. And it's part of a painting on full display for everyone to see in a turn. But the tree that he envisioned is also framing the leaf and filling the entire canvas, and it's even better than he imagined it would be. Do you sometimes feel like all you're doing is painting a leaf? While everyone around you is painting trees day in and day out. Isn't it beautiful to picture your work like Niggles Leaf, the offering you can give to the world in the way you've been made that will be filled in

by God for eternal impact. I was thinking about this story when I studied today's passage, 1 Timothy chapter 3. It's the part of Paul's letter to his dear friend where he lays out the qualifications that must be met for someone to be appointed to lead in the church, especially elders and deacons. I don't know about you, but I've never been one of those things. If those are trees, I'm just painting a leaf. But is that what this chapter is saying? Right after Paul reflects on the qualifications for leaders in the

church. He says something important about church that is the central theme of his letter. Starting in verse 14, I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth. Now notice the way he describes the church in those verses. There are two important principles. First, it is the Church of the Living God. Second, the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth. So how do we, no matter what our roles are in our churches, uphold this very high view of

church? Well, first, the church belongs to our living God. It's not my church. It's not a pastor's church. It's not a denominations church. Our church is God's house and God's dwelling place. As the spirit dwells in us, we are part of what makes up that church. But the church, it belongs to God.

That means you belong to God. Your service there belongs to God. You are responsible and accountable to God for everything you do in your church. That sounds daunting, doesn't it? If you make spreadsheets or T-shirts for a conference, you're accountable to God for the way you do your work. If you teach children about Jesus while they eat goldfish, you are accountable to God for the way you do your work. If you park cars or direct traffic on Sunday morning, you are accountable to God for the way you do your work, even if people flip you off because they're upset.

You are a representative of God's house, and your role is no more or no less important than anyone else's in making up the church. You get to represent the Lord Jesus Christ in whatever you're doing. However, because it belongs to God, what you give is an offering to his greater work. Imagine the way God will take your leaf and fill in your tree in his way when you set about the task of painting. Now, the second thing Paul says about church is that it is a pillar and foundation of the truth. That means as a believer, you're called to guard the truth of God. Maybe that's your job in the church if you're a teacher or a leader there. or maybe it's your calling outside the church, like where you work or where you go to school.

So guard the truth means you let the scripture be your guide for what you do and what you say. The causes you support, the way you vote, the things you do at home with just your family. All of those fall under scripture. Maybe people don't even know where you land, whether to the left or to the right, because the way you treat people falls under scripture. Now maybe you're hearing this and you're like, whoa, that's going too far. I'm not even serving in my church, let alone feel. worthy of doing it in the ways that you describe. Well, I don't think we get off that easy,

and let me tell you why. When Jesus talked about the church he would build, he used the word rock. And he was talking to Peter, that word referred to Peter who had just declared that Jesus was the Messiah. But Peter was a brash and impulsive leader. And Peter hadn't even denied Jesus yet when Jesus said in Matthew 1618, Now I say to you that you are Peter, which means rock, and upon this rock, I will build my church. and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. There was nothing better in Peter than anyone else, except that his belief in the Messiah had transformed his heart

and he was living his life for Jesus. And we know this because the only thing Peter said in this passage was just before Jesus gave him such a high calling. When Jesus asked, who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the son of the living God. As a believer, you are God's people. You are part of the living church of God.

And your calling is to build up your church in whatever way you are equipped to guard the truth. How well do you know what your church needs? I bet they need something. Meals, kids, finances, parking, graphic design. I don't know, but you could find out if you had your ears and your heart open, I bet. Now, like I said in the beginning, I've never been an elder or a deacon. But I keep finding myself sitting on the carpet. with elementary school kids, and that makes me happy. How can I serve them in a way that gives them

the truth, that guards the truth of the living God? How can I be part of building up the church as a pillar, a foundation of truth, whether I'm on the carpet or in line at the grocery store in my town? How can you?