1 Timothy 3:1-16 - Homiletics

It was one of the weightiest duties laid upon Timothy, when called to be the spiritual ruler of the Church of Ephesus, to take care that the priests and deacons were men well qualified for their holy office. The condition of a congregation depends so largely upon the spiritual character of those who minister to it, that the choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred ministry of God's Church is a matter of vital importance to the welfare of the people, and demands the utmost wisdom and fidelity of those who have the chief oversight of the house of God. Accordingly St. Paul lays down with great care the qualifications of priests and deacons respectively. For the priest an irreproachable character amongst those outside as well as those inside the Church, in order to ensure respect; a life of chastity, that his example may give no countenance to a lax morality; strict temperance in the use of meat and drink, both for his own sake and as an example to others; a staid, sober mind and demeanor, as becomes one who lives near to God, and handles holy things; a large hospitality, as one who counts all he has to belong to the Church, whose servant he is; aptitude to teach the doctrines of the gospel, and a delight in teaching; a placable, gentle disposition, abhorring brawls and quarrels, and studying peace with all men; the absence of all greediness and covetousness, as one whose conversation is in heaven, and as one determined to be fair and impartial in all his dealings with men;—these are the things needful for one who is a priest in the Church of God. But besides these strictly personal qualifications he must have a well-ordered house. His family must bear the traces of a gentle but firm parental discipline. He that is a ruler in the house of God must show that he can rule his own children and servants; and a portion of the gravity and sobriety of the man of God must be seen in the members of his household. With regard to deacons, they too must be grave in their demeanor and conversation; in all their private intercourse with the members of the Church where they serve, they must be conspicuously honest and ingenuous. In all social intercourse they must show themselves temperate and abstemious. In handling the public money, and ministering the alms of the faithful, they must make it clear that none sticks to their own fingers, and that they have no eye to gain in the ministrations they undertake. The spirit of their ministrations must be " all for love and nothing for reward." Nor must they be only honest men; they must be devout believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, thoroughly instructed in the mystery of the Christian faith, and adorning that faith by their personal holiness. As regards their families, the same rule applies to them as to the priests. Like the priests, they hold office in the Church of God; they minister in that temple where God's pure truth is fixed and established for ever; they are the expounders, with the priests, of the great mystery of godliness, the incarnate Word, the preached Jesus, the glorified Christ. What, then, ought their character to be; how high above things earthly, how closely assimilated to the glorious holiness of heaven!