The Bible Archive

The soldier who is on active duty must lead an untangled life because if war suddenly breaks out, the soldier would be held down, unable to accomplish his task and effectively useless. The key verse is 2 Tim 2:1-4 with a focus on verses 3 and 4. “Entangles” is in the present tense with a passive voice—in other words, the affairs of life are acting on the soldier and he’s not actively entangling himself.

Continuing in the overview of the qualifications for elders, we turn our focus to 1 Tim 3:4-5. In particular this section focuses on the home because the relationship between the home and the church of God is closely tied. There are, of course, other verses that underpin this subject header: 1 Cor 11:3, 8011; Eph 5:21-25; 1 Pet 3:1, 6-7. The qualifications of the speaker for this subject perhaps can be helpful for understanding that the speaker is not teaching out of a void. The speaker can empathize with those who struggle with a rowdy home with three boys, now by the grace of God one is an excellent expositor, one is a missionary and the other is very active in an assembly. All of the speaker’s grandchildren are saved and he and his wife of forty seven years are grateful.

The lesson in this section is clear: we can not separate what we are at home from what we are in the church for the way we conduct ourselves in the home will affect our church in some degree or another. The apostle places his house-life next to the very house of God—therefore there must be complete consistency. The home is the training ground for any type of work we may partake in for in it: 1) character is developed 2) we learn to love, 3) learn to pity, 4) learn to exercise tenderness, 5) exercise headship, 6) and administer discipline. A person doesn’t begin to function as an overseer upon receiving a label; he is already doing the work. As you know sheep can not read labels and see the shepherd’s overalls and read the words on his lapel to know he is a shepherd: they recognize the worker when they see him working. There is no formal ordination where people don’t expect the person to be their overseer and if the day ever comes where someone is raised as an overseer and it’s a big surprise to everyone then he is not an overseer.

Jude 3 is excellent for shepherds to study. “Earnestly Contend” has a root that is used elsewhere in Scripture. In Col 1:28 and Col 2:1 it is in regard to doctrine and reflects the striving agony, energy and intense effort akin to that of an athlete. In 1 Tim 6:12 and 2 Tim 4:7 it is used as a military term—a constant duty. Paul examines his life and we ask how does one say a ministry was successful? Isaiah was told that the people would not listen to him even if he died—yet his success was not in them listening it was in him finishing what the Lord had him do.

This session focuses on Acts 2:42 and two simple words “Continued Steadfastly”. Continued simply means that what they began to do, they repeated to do while steadfastly means to adhere or cling to. So they repeated the adhering to four principles: the Pattern of Truth (the Apostles Doctrine), Parentage (Relational Fellowship), their Practice of the Breaking of Bread and Prayers.

Notes to come

Isaiah 42:1-4 will be used as a launching point for this lesson: Christ, the Perfect Servant. It is noteworthy to see the Lord’s delight: a sense of pride and joy in the introduction of His Son for there has never been anyone like Him. True there have been decent people and good men but all have disappointed God at some point in their life. But here, referring to his actions, is one who always did those things that pleased the Father. It would be ambitious to claim that all of the Perfect Servant will (or can) be told so we won’t. We’re going to look at some characteristics of the perfect servant and while occupying ourselves with Him we might perhaps learn how to conduct ourselves as servants.

Is the character sketch of an overseer from 1 Tim 3 obtainable? Well, yes, in fact all believers should be characterized by 1 Tim 3 conduct—but w all come short. The elders aren’t perfect either but they are characterized by these perfect characteristics. Further a person can only really be effectively shepherding if he reflects a proper shepherding character. “Qualifications” conveys an idea of proving or disproving something at any particular time: in other words, qualifying for the work of an overseer is a continual process.

The topic for this session is discipline in the local church. It is an expansive subject and one can easily spend 6 sessions on this. If we boil it down to it?s essence it is basically 3 levels as highlighted in the following Scripture: Gal 6:1-2; Matt 18:15-17, 1 Cor 5:1-13 and 2 Cor 2:4-8. It is, admittedly, a difficult subject to deal with although it is entirely Biblical and must be taught.

1 Pet 5. Acts 20. John 21. All of these verses tell us to feed the flock, feed the flock, feed the sheep, tend the flock, care for the flock. Noteworthy: they all use the same word. Feeding the sheep is more expansive than giving the sheep food, more encompassing then simply filling their need to eat. It consists of bringing them to the food, of watching over them as they eat, as tending for them and caring for them and protecting them.

When looking to shepherd one must first look to the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. By taking note of Him and His work we would come to a closer understanding of what it is to shepherd perfectly.

This post will organize all the posts for the Greenwood Hills Shepherding Conference which occurred the August 17(PM) to August 19 (AM) 2006. With sessions being an hour in length and offering a 5-15 minute break save for meals which were 30 minutes, I didn’t have much time to do more than tight outlines during the messages. So I reformatted them in essay form–they may be a tad long at times

1. The Good shepherd (John 10) -Randy Amos
2. Feed the Flock (1 Pet 5; Acts 20:17, 28; John 21:14) -Larry Price
3. Discipline in the Local Church -Willie Burnett
4. 1 Tim 3:1-3 -Warren Henderson
5. Christ the Perfect Servant (Is 42:1-4) -Willie Burnett
6. The Perfect Master -Warren Henderson
7. Continued Steadfastly (Acts 2:42) -Randy Amos
8. Earnestly Contend for the Faith (Jude 3) -Larry Price
9. 1 Tim 3:4-5 -Willie Burnett
10. The Untangled Life (2 Tim 2:1-4 key: 3, 4) -Warren Henderson
11. Faithfulness to the Gospel (1 Cor 1:17) -Randy Amos
12. “Woe be to the Shepherds of Israel” (Ezek 34:1-25, 31) -Willie Burnett
13. Christ the Perfect Savior -Lary Price
14. Reverence in a casual world: Using his name (Ps 111:9) Warren Henderson
15. 1 Tim 3:6-7 -Larry Price
16. The Crown of Glory (1 Pet 5:4) -Randy Amos