Through the book of Timothy, God has allowed us by His grace to get into what happens in the boardroom of Christian church leadership.
In there, Paul is very frank about what he writes so as to enable Timothy, a young leader, ensure that the church is healthy and whole and it carries on with its mission.
Some of you leaders know there are things you discover in the boardroom that are not for everybody. There are things that are recorded in minutes that are just for a certain leadership category.
This letter (First Epistle to Timothy) is like one of those that God said, ‘no, let everybody see what leadership looks like in the Christian circles.’
Paul writes some tough stuff in there for leaders, and he also allows us to learn certain things about what church life should look like; and what things we should watch out for, because Paul was passionate about this church in Ephesus. He was passionate about many churches.
The city of Ephesus was very wealthy, highly influential politically, but also with so much idolatry. They had so many small gods. The major one of them that was worshiped by so many was Artemis, the god of fertility. So, that shaped the character of the culture then. It was very immoral.
How Paul planted this church was; on one of his mission journeys he met 12 people is Ephesus who he asked a very important question, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’ ‘John’s baptism,’ they replied. Paul said, ‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:1–7).
Paul went with them to the synagogue and they begun to teach about the kingdom of God, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ the risen savior. However, the religious leaders of the day didn’t accept that teaching of the Kingdom of God, so, they kicked Paul and these disciples out.
Paul went into the public space, preached the gospel, and people who heard the gospel had their lives radically changed. God moved in such a powerful way, in Paul’s life and in the city of Ephesus. The bible says, he did extra ordinary miracles to the point that people would just have contact with his handkerchief, and they would be healed.
So, if it was today, Paul would send his handkerchief to the DR Congo boarder, and Ebola would be gone. At one point, some of the sons of the religious leaders of the day saw what Paul was doing, and said, ‘We have got to do the same thing.’ Because of Idolatry, there were so man evil spirits and demon possessed people, so a lot of deliverance was happening.
These boys decided, ‘we are going to try and mimic what Paul was doing.’ They went to a place and found a demon possessed man, and they said to him, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’
Listen my friend, borrowed faith doesn’t work. And do you know there are certain people who want us to pray to a God who is their God? I have heard people pray prayers like, ‘I am asking the God of this prophet to answer my prayer.’ That is wrong. You have access to your heavenly father through Jesus. You do not need any other prophet in-between there.
Acts 19, these guys came and they were mimicking; the evil spirit responded, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Before they knew it, this guy beat them, over powered them, the bible says the attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded. Every body around got to know what had happened, and the fear of the Lord came on the city, and more believed in Jesus. It was powerful.
The bible describes in acts 19 how people were converted, they begun to bring their witch craft stuff publicly, burning them. Saying, ‘we have now changed totally, because the gospel is powerful.’
The gospel changes lives. The gospel does not adjust how we leave, it transforms us, totally.
As people were turning away from Idolatry, In Acts 19:24-35 there was a silversmith called Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, that brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there.
He was running out of business because people stopped buying his idols. He said, ‘this man Paul is affecting our business, we have to get rid of him because people have stopped buying our idols, they have begun following the way.’ So, he plotted, he got people who begun to shout, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together.
Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him.3Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
Later on, Paul comes back to visit Ephesus again. During his very last visit, he sat with the leaders he had left in place, and said, ‘you know how I spent 3 years with you in Ephesus, preaching the gospel of Jesus, praying for you. You know how I cried for you, and now, I can confidently say, I have given you everything you need when it comes to truth, and your blood is no longer on me. I have not hidden anything from you. You have also seen how I have modeled it.’
Reject false teachings, reject false teachers
And then he said to them, Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.’ (Acts 20:28-30)
Later we see Paul under house arrest, and then released. He writes to Timothy because he was hearing what was going on in the churches in Ephesus.
‘As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.’ (1 Timothy 1:3-5)
Through this chapter, Paul wrote to Timothy, urging him that; Yes, you are in a place of so many gods, but I want to reassure you that there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and man, His name is Jesus. He is not an apostle, he is not Julius, he is not a pastor, his name is Jesus. he is the only one who gave himself as a ransom for all people.
‘And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.’ (1 Timothy 2:7-8)
There are so many arguments that would come with some of these doctrines, people were all just arguing with each other. Paul said, let us quit that. Let us put things in priority. I want all men to pray.
Leadership anywhere is not easy. God allows us to see the behind the scenes in church leadership. But please be mindful, Paul is writing specifically to the church Timothy was Pastoring. He was addressing issues that were happening in that church. Once we appreciate the context, we can pick out the principle and apply it today.
We must keep prayer as a priority. As a believer, you must never relegate prayer in your life. Corporately as a church, we must make sure that prayer remains a priority. Jesus once drove people out of a temple and made a powerful statement where he was re-echoing what was said in Isaiah, ‘my house shall be a house of prayer.’ He taught his disciples how to pray.
Paul was reminding them, ‘don’t get caught up in arguments, I want you to pray, because prayer gives us access to God.’
Prayer is you simply accessing God in boldness and confidence through Jesus Christ. And we are to pray for all people, not a few people. Not those that we like. He says pray for everyone.
If you find someone who says the only way I can pray for you is if you come to my fellowship, run for your life. If you find people who say the only way I can pray for you is if you pay some money, run for your dear life. Freely we have received, freely we give.
‘I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people. For kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.’ (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
In this chapter, he begins to be a little more specific telling the church to pray for kings, the political leaders, and those in authority. That is a little hard. but he says I want you to do that.
Sometimes we don’t embrace our leaders, and as such, we don’t pray for them. We are quicker to criticize, we are quicker to say the wrong, and fault find. And we must not be ashamed to speak the truth in love. we must do it. but Paul says we also need to pray for them.
Let us pray for our leaders whether you voted for them or not, because leadership can be tough. It is easy to criticize, it is not easy to lead. There is a reason why he tells us to pray for them; so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives. How does that happen? When they make the right decisions. There are so many influences that leaders go through, but Paul says; I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that prayer is powerful and can reach that leader’s heart.
Mr Julius Rwotlonyo is a Pastor at Watoto Church in Uganda. Find more of this sermon and others Here
