for me. I know you're with me, so thankful today that the Lord Jesus is here. And he's here present in our midst as a body of believers. He's here present in us individually by his Spirit to help us as we open the Word of God. And I do invite you to turn to 1 Timothy 3 verses 1 through 7 this morning. If you have a device or you're a hard copy of Scripture, you can do that. What word comes to your mind when I mention the names of the following people? Michael Jordan. Tom Brady. Serena Williams. Yitzhak Perlman. I don't have any idea who that is. Simone Biles. Elon Musk. Well, what might come to mind is the word goat. the greatest of all time, at least in the view of some people about those who have risen to such a high level in their occupations or in their sports that people begin to place that estimation on them. They had put a whole life of effort into becoming the best they could possibly be. Paul drew from an athletic analogy and communicating this very idea to us concerning the ministry in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24 where the word says, no you not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize so run that she may obtain or as the NASB says that she may win. This is not about carnal comparison of one to another. It is, however, about comparing mediocrity in contrast to excellence. And it's talking about the ministry specifically. We must aspire, men and women, to a higher standard for ministry. It is the will of God for all of us. And this is important, of course, directly for most all of you men that are here this morning. It's also very important for you ladies as you choose pastors who you will serve under and some who you will serve with as lifelong mates in ministry. Where is this aspirational standard found in the New Testament? Well, it's in First Sympathy three, one through seven and a parallel passage in Titus chapter one, verses six through nine. And both those passages together present two very broad criteria about men who are to aspire to this higher standard of ministry, and that is that they are to be mature members in the body of Christ, and they're to be male members in the body of Christ, the church. But beyond those two broad concepts or ideas, those criteria, There is an astounding list, especially when you remove all the overlapping that are found in these passages, of character traits, behavior qualities, disposition, essential skills, 24 specific things in these two passages, as I said with the overlap, removed. And in 1 Timothy chapter three, where a large number of those qualifications are found, the whole chapter is devoted to talking about right behavior in the body of Christ. In fact, if you look at verse 15 in the passage in the context, the Bible says, This whole chapter is about right deportment, and behavior within the body. And it begins in verses 1 through 7 with listing the qualifications of those who are called, in the authorized version, bishops or overseers in other translations. It's followed by another list in verse 18 and extending on up to 13 for deacons, that second tier of key spiritual leaders in the body of Christ. And the chapter climaxes with none other than a summation of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ in his incarnation, who is the head of the church, the body. It's all about the church. And these standards that are presented for men who are to aspire to this higher standard of leadership is not just personal and devotional. It is really a public standard. It's a high standard, yes, but it's an official standard. It's a criteria that's to be known by all that are in the body of Christ, and it applies preparation of a man, maturation of a man, examination of a man, and ultimately recognition of a man to assume a role of important leadership among the people of God. This passage gives great weight and absolute authority to these criteria. And we know that right off when you look at verse 1 in chapter 3. It begins with, this is a true saying, again, in the authorized version. And I think that translation gives an interesting emphasis to our ear now on the idea of accuracy. It's true. But if you look at the NASB, it says, this is a trustworthy statement, which really suggests the idea of reliability. And then if you just look in your Greek text of the New Testament, you find the phrase, this is a faithful word. In other words, it's divinely authoritative for us. And you know this passage provides not only what the higher standard to be aspired to is, it also actually in a less perhaps direct way, but in a clear way, how you can attain to this standard. And it begins by acknowledging the divine source of desire for ministry. Look at verse one in the text. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. You know, men and women, the whole world is driven by desire. I remember the first time that idea was ever presented to me, reading a book by a missionary from the 19th century, early 20th century in South Africa, and it was on prayer. He was talking about desire in prayer, but then he made that generalization. And as I thought about it, yes, that's really true. people have rise up in them from their human nature things they desire or aspire toward because of physical necessities, because of social compulsions, wanting to be in relations with people because of emotional drives. But it's true also, isn't it, that desires can come from sinful and very selfish motives from our old man, and so we have to be careful. Just because we want something, even something good, doesn't mean that it's right, necessarily. There is a standard that exceeds desire, and that's the objective standard of the revelation of God by which we have to evaluate ourselves. Aspiring to a higher standard in ministry, as the scriptures teach us, is not just choosing an occupation or a vocation. And I want you to really see this in this verse one. It's not a pure volunteerism. Twice over, this idea of desire is mentioned. And what's remarkable, think about it, we're not told in the text where the desire comes from. It's not there. And that really compels me to ask, where does it come from? And I think there's really an assumption being made here by Paul because of what he develops in other things he has written on this very subject. He explains and develops this idea of spiritual desire for ministry elsewhere in his letters. And a good place to begin is Philippians chapter two, verse 12 and 13, to help us understand the source of this desire. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Both to will, it's the word fellow, it can be translated desire, wish, or want, and to do, God's good pleasure. It is a wishing, a wanting, and desiring that results in a direction of life, that results in action. When I was 17, lying on a bunk bed at a camp on an island in Lake Erie called Camp Patmos, named after the island John was on, of course, Christ opened my eyes. by his spirit to the truth of the gospel and I was saved. And simultaneously, God lit a fire in my heart. That fire was intensified through discipleship. It was clarified by experience and more education. And 52 years later, 51 of them spent in ministry through this university and seminary, That fire is still burning. It's the desire, a fire of desire to achieve or to attain to a higher standard of ministry. And I'm so glad I get to talk to you about this because you're the next generation. And this fire of desire for that higher standard of ministry has to burn in you. Divine commission of ministry begins as the Spirit of God causes it to begin in the heart of a person. It's a very serious matter leading to very high expectations. So let's drill down now for a moment on this verse. The word desire occurs twice in this verse and it's not the same word in the language in the New Testament. And whenever that happens in the single verse of scripture where you have two synonyms for the same idea it's worth paying attention because God by his spirit through the author is being specific and being emphatic. Probably a combination of both, in this case I think so. The first thing in that initial word for desire is the idea of intense and expressed desire. It's focused. It's stretching out to grasp. It's determined to obtain a particular object. It's a compelling thing. Think this way about Olympic athletes for a minute. The skier at the top of the slope awaiting that moment when he can charge down that slope. The swimmer standing on the platform, ready to launch. The runner standing at the mark, listening for the gun. Or that skater poised to shoot off that starting line. All the preparation, all the effort, now is focused at this moment to go for the medal. What does that grow out of? Where does that come from? It comes from a life preceding that occasion, whatever that athlete may be participating in, where his life has been fully devoted for an extended period of time. And that brings us to the second term for desire. This is a comprehensive, all-consuming desire. Epithumeo is the word. It does mean a broader, all-consuming kind of desire. It isn't narrative, narrow. It takes in the whole, the whole breadth of a person's being. It's consuming. In other words, lesser things are diminished. They're eliminated. The politics, the business, the hunting, the fishing, the golfing, the cars, the property, the coin collecting, the money. No, your passion is singular. And while you may know what it is to rest and relax and enjoy things briefly for regenerative purposes in your own life and energies, for you, it's all about ministry. You're consumed by it. In fact, anybody who's around you knows that. because you think about it, and you talk about it, and you read about it, and you immerse yourself in it from the moment you open your eyes until the moment you put your head on the pillow. You're all about ministry. That is the desire that's being spoken of in that second term for desire in this passage. And out of that soil of a life grows this intense stretching out toward this great effort to reach that higher standard for the glory of God. But there's a little something else here in these words about desire and it is that it's in both cases a continual and growing desire. In both cases the verbs here, the first one and the second one, are present tense, they're continual. They're ongoing. This isn't on again and off again. It starts early, but it never stops. We must feed it, we cultivate it, we grow it, we repent, we readjust, we renew, we resolve, and we keep desiring. And this desire moves beyond just an interest, beyond just a passing concern or preoccupation. to really a compulsion, a matter of obligation, a matter of conscience, it's not optional anymore. This is what Paul described in 1 Corinthians 9, 16, when he said, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. I'm in a terrible position of being well nigh near accursed if I don't follow through with this desire and do what I'm commissioned of God to do. It's not optional, it's a matter of obedience, he says. And that happens. That's how this desire grows. Well, a man must understand the source of this desire, and it's divine. It's a divine transaction. This is a human but divine decision that's going on in a man's life. But there's something else, and that is understanding clearly what you are desiring, what you are really striving toward. It's grasping the true nature of ministry. As the text reads, the office of a bishop. And not a word that we use often, particularly in our branch of Bible-believing Christianity, the term bishop. But the idea in this text is that we are being called to an office. Now, actually the word office in Greek doesn't appear here. It's implied in the term itself, episkopos, that it is an official capacity, an official role. It is an office of responsibility in the church, the body of Christ. His body, his creation, his temple, his flock, his family, we are given. this office and the calling. It's a leadership position, and this is not an informal role. As Paul says in Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12, this is the office of pastor, teacher, or the office of evangelist. Those are the continuing offices that exist in the body of Christ today in terms of primary spiritual leadership. This office is an office that the Spirit of the living God places a man into. We're told in 1 Corinthians 3.16 that the church, his body, is a temple that the Spirit indwells. What is very interesting is Acts 20.28, where the Bible says, as Paul is dealing with the Ephesian elders there, In his trip back to the home base on his third missionary journey, he said, take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church which he hath purchased with his own blood, over which the Holy Spirit has made you an overseer, an episkopos. And he does this through the people of God, the body of Christ, who are individually and corporately indwelt. As they hear the voice of a man and they learn of his life, they hear the voice of their shepherd and they follow him. And they respond to him. What does this task of leadership entail? If the church is to be built up numerically and spiritually, through the spread of the gospel of God. What is this exactly? Well, it is oversight. It's an office of oversight, but it's an oversight of people. Men who do this are called, in Acts 20, verse 17, elders, pespidros. They are called shepherds, poimen, in verse 28, and they are called overseers, episkopos. What is an episkopos? Well, you don't define Greek words primarily this way, but it is interesting at times to sort of divide them off if they're a combination word, and this combines a preposition and a verb, and it means to look upon, okay? And it is overseeing or looking upon people's lives. It's a careful watching, attentiveness, being knowledgeable, vigilant, always watching, not aloof, not inattentive, not distracted, certainly not critical or condemnatory of people, but protective and caring and compassionate. It's oversight of individual people and their families. It's knowing them and having an interest in the details of their lives, their names, their qualities, good and bad. their gifts, their strengths and weaknesses, their occupations, their relationships, their hobbies, their interests. I know a pastor who had a practice of whenever a member of a family that was in his church, no matter how much of an extended family member it was, he would always attend the funeral of that person. He would fly. to the funerals of family members, person in his church, family member dies, they live in Michigan, he would fly to Michigan. Or he would drive all day and go to that funeral. And I remember the first time I heard that, and I was really kind of, I thought, wow, that's amazing. And a little puzzling, almost. That's not something someone expects a pastor to do. But one time in pastoring one of my churches, I had a lady in my church who was not a young woman who had a brother who died. And he lived a couple hours away in Georgia from where I was pastoring here in South Carolina. And that man's idea or practice struck my mind, it came to mind, and I thought, well, you know, I think I'll go. And so I got in my car. It's an easy drive down 85, it wasn't any kind of an arduous trip, nothing like what that pastor was regularly doing. And I attended that funeral, and I watched those family members, and I saw the way they interacted one with another, and I saw how this sister of the man who had died had been so tremendously impacted emotionally by what had happened, and her obvious deep love for her brother. And men and women, That actually transformed my relationship with that woman in the church. The showing of that interest on that occasion in functioning as a pastor. And this is separating not only individual people, but it's over the body as a whole. It's careful attentiveness to that church. Every church has a history. They have their facilities, they have their assets spiritually, and their liability spiritually and materially. They have an internal structure. They have organizations within the organization, they're led by people that are very important to the people who have those responsibilities. There are goals within that ministry that are long-standing. Treat them lightly, don't be aware of them, don't know about them, and you damage people, you damage the church. and you damage your ability to lead. This is all about careful, attentive oversight to the people of God. And on both the individual and corporate levels, this entails shepherding. You're feeding, you're protecting, you're correcting, you're healing, and you're leading the people of God. It's all about people. The work of the overseer, the episkopos, is all about people. I heard it said once that a good pastor like a good shepherd, it's gonna have the smell of sheep on him because he's a people person. Imagine someone saying, you know, Steve, I really love the ministry, the idea of being in the ministry, but I don't really like people all that much. They irritate me. Our church would really be a great place if it wasn't for the people. Now, who would ever say that? No aspiring pastor or pastor in his right mind would ever say such a thing. He might think it, though. He might feel that way, though. Pastors are not spiritual Clark Kents who come bounding out of their studies once or twice a week and make miraculous proclamations and then return to their studies to be recluse for another week. That's not being an episkopos. That's not being a shepherd. We aspire to a higher standard in ministry, a standard of excellence, because it is an office of the church, it is oversight over people, and it is a good work. It's good in the broadest sense. You see where it says here, he desires a good work, In the broadest sense, this is the most common term for work in the Bible. It's labor. It's effort. No short hours. If you're looking for short hours, if you're looking for an easy job, if you're looking for lots of appreciation from people, good idea to forget the ministry. You have a total misconception of it. It's work. And work means discipline, structure, goals, self-evaluation, fatigue, perseverance. All the while saying, I'm nothing, he's everything. By his grace, I can prevail in this ministry of service to other people. It's a good work, implicitly valuable, it's eternal, it's spiritual. But it's invisible, and it's progressive, and it's very incremental. And oftentimes, the progress seems minimal in the lives of people. And a contentment with God and the nature of this work is very important. It is labor in the word and doctrine, to the point of exhaustion, as 1 Timothy 5.17 tells us, of the man who labors in the word and doctrine, who is worthy of double honor. in the meaning of the word and in the actual teaching of the word. Long hours, blurry eyes, the pressure of too little time and too much preparation, sometimes utter frustration and your inability to see through the darkness, so to speak. Well, that darkness comes because of the complexity of the text. And sometimes we struggle with the right example to give clarity. This labor involves example setting beyond the work of the word. as Peter says in 1 Peter 5, 2 and 3. And Paul urged this in 1 Corinthians 11, 1, in 1 Thessalonians 1, 6, in 1 Timothy 4, 2. You must be an example. That creates great pressure. and struggle always to escape hypocrisy so that what you are privately is what you are publicly. So we must understand to aspire to this higher standard that this is a desire coming from God. It's divine. We have to grasp the true nature of this calling, this ministry, and we have to commit to the full weight of aspiring to this higher standard for excellence in the ministry. A bishop then must be blameless, the passage says. How do you know if you've made that commitment? You know you have or you haven't if the symptoms are there that you haven't. You're satisfied with as little training as possible, a light attitude about personal holiness, an absence of devout spirit daily, occasional and relatively brief approach to your communion with God. Are you really striving for blamelessness? You know, there is a different standard for leaders, men and women, there is. And we're all going to fail, and we all, will fail and be forgiven of the Lord. But you cannot fail repeatedly and egregiously and be considered blameless and the right kind of leader. What does blamelessness really mean? Well, it really means never providing something others can reasonably reject about your leadership. The term here in 1st Sympathy 3 for blamelessness means just that. It means never giving something someone to take hold of to reject you or to remove you from their life as an influence. Have you ever tried to pick up a big box that had no handles on it? Very awkward, often impossible. But you can move a several hundred pound refrigerator with with a hand truck, a dolly they call them, with handles and wheels, move a lot of weight out of the way. I spent several hours recently in phone conversations, more than one, with a courageous young leader in a church where there was a pastor who sadly was guilty of very egregious indiscretion, would not admit to it, would not confess to it, would not rectify the problems. And he wouldn't remove himself. but he was removed in terms of several hundred people departing from this large congregation, leaving just a small group of people. Never providing something people can grasp hold of to reject your ministry. Blameless means never allowing others to reasonably accuse you for something that you've done. Now in Titus chapter one, We have the other term for blameless that appears, and there it means this, something that you cannot be accused about. I saw that happen in the first ministry I served in an internship in, where a man I had great respect for fell into deep sin and lost a lifetime of ministry and labor and work, and his marriage relationship was seriously damaged because He did something for which he could be accused, he was accused, and lost as a result. To be blameless means never thinking that you must be sinless, though. Because 1 John 1, seven through nine, says that if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we lie and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Hallelujah for John 13, 10. That he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit. You're clean, but not all. Christ will cleanse us. Christ will renew us when we sin. We can't ever be sinless. There's never been a sinless pastor that lived, but there have been many blameless pastors that have lived. Listen to Psalm 32.6. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not connie unto him. Godly people pray this way when they fail. That's what that text says. And what does it mean to be blameless? Never failing by lowering the higher standard. That's what it means. No pattern of consistent sinfulness. No practice of egregious sin. This implies spiritual maturity. This implies rejecting evil and practicing good. But now how specifically must you be blameless? There's an easy answer to that. In great detail and in great depth. This is clearly stated for us and it's attainable. There's no confusion about what we must be and what we must do. God is not the author of confusion but of peace as in all the churches of the saints. And we're taught in this passage and in Titus, that there are seven vital categories of qualifications. They are the litmus test, men and women, for every man, every pulpit committee, every church. Not age, not variety of spirits, not giftedness, not physical appearance, not a winsome personality. The gold standard are these seven categories. And what are they? The foundational qualifications, there are two of them. Family qualifications, there are two of them. Character qualifications, there are 14 of them. Teaching qualifications, there are two. Monetary qualifications, there are two. Maturity qualifications, there are one. And a testimony qualification before the church and the world. So first, you must know the categories. Second, you know the definition of the specific qualifications through a lexicon and the context of the New Testament. And we'll return to this next week and immerse ourselves in those specific qualifications. And then finally, thirdly, there's the application of those qualifications, personal correction, daily habituation, constant demonstration, Faithfulness. We must aspire to a higher standard for spiritual leadership of God's people for the glory of God. The world calls us, the word calls us, to this comprehensive portrait. And this portrait of 24 qualifications implies arduous preparation. faithful continuation, future examination, and formal recognition. These qualifications elevate the ministry. They call us to aspire to a higher standard of excellence in the ministry. May we have grace to aspire to that calling. Father, bless these men and women. Strengthen them in their work for Thee. Help them as they aspire to the higher standard in Christ and we pray, amen.