1 Timothy Study 4

Dear Student of the Word,

I apologize that I didn't send you a study last week.  I was so busy in Zimbabwe and didn't have a chance to finish it in time.  I am sitting in the lobby of my hotel in Johannesburg and found some time tonight to send this out.  I hope you used last week to catch up on any past studies that you didn't have a chance to review.

Paul gave instructions to Timothy in this letter about a wide variety of subjects.  One of them was the treatment of leaders.  In one verse, he urged that leaders who fail should be rebuked publicly.  This is what I wrote about that verse:

v. 20 -- I have been in several churches where leaders failed miserably, but the people were never informed of the problem.  The excuse was that the people couldn't handle it and didn't need to know.  The thinking was that the people were spiritually immature, therefore they would stumble if they knew the truth.  Imagine that!  The leader had just fallen and the people were considered weak!  That is how authoritarian leadership can think.  The leaders are like the parents and the people are like the children and must be protected from problems that "grown ups" may have.

When I watched the movie The Passion of the Christ, I was reminded that the leaders had to take Jesus at night.  Why?  The people considered Him a prophet while the leaders considered Him dangerous. Who had the superior insight?  Then in Acts 4, we read about the situation after Peter and John had healed a lame man in the Temple area:

When they [the leaders] saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men,they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.  But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.  "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked.  "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it.  But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name (Acts 4:13-17 emphasis added).

All the people knew a great thing had happened yet the leaders wanted to punish the apostles and stop them from doing any other miracles.  Who had the greater spiritual insight?  The people or the leaders?  Why do some of the body of Christ continue to treat their members like fools?  Because it perpetuates the notion that leaders are somehow more spiritual than the people.  The truth is that sometimes they are and sometimes they are not.

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Comments

[Paul]

Hi John:

I hope everything is well with you, your family and travels.

I wanted to provide a perspective on your 1 Timothy, Study 4

When I look at the latest Christian scandal with Ted Haggard as opposed to those we faced in the eighties, I see a distinctive difference (for the better, I mean)

I remember every grueling moment the Swaggart, Gorman, Baker, Tilton, (I probably forgot a few) scandals. What a Disney moment it must have been for the "accuser of the brethren" to have a ringside seat; watching NBC, ABC, and CBS every nght for what seemed like months.

I remember the commentators bringing in Christian experts, Pastor experts, debating what should be done, how much pressure should be applied, who should resign, etc. What a mess it was!

I contrast those events of the eighties to our latest scandal with Ted Haggard. His story lasted all of 1 weekend and it was over, done, nothing left to discuss. What was difference????

The difference in the 2 scandals had everything to do with order, godly government, and ironically enough, submitting to authority.

The order? Apparently, Ted Haggard's church had already played out this scenario in their mind and had an orderly process to resolve the issue. Their lay "leaders" examined the evidence, and apparently were ready to bring the issue to a quick conclusion.

This was a great example of Godly government in the church and the positive results that can follow.

The kicker in this, however, was Ted Haggard submitting to the Godly authority in His church. He didn't try and excuse himself, nor start up another church (we hope) in Colorado Springs, splitting his own flock. He just accepted his punishment and faded from the scene with more dignity than any minister involved in a scandal in the eighties.

I hate the sins he brought into this, but I have an admiration for the man not dragging the Body of Christ through another replay of the eighties scandals. It is my belief God will be more gracious to him because of it. I hope his marriage, his family and the grace of God on his life survives this ordeal. Though the event was clearly a negative one, the resolve was a marriage of "godly leadership" responding to godly principles. Is this an indication we might have matured since the eighties?