by Gene Cornett

Last Sunday I addressed a passage that required a good bit of careful explanation. A lot of people were praying for that message, and I was grateful for how God spoke through his word. The first pastor I served with used to say to me, “Gene, God can always hit a straight lick with a crooked stick!” Well, thank God for that, because in the sense that he meant that, we are all crooked sticks. When someone says to me, “good sermon,” in one way or another, my response to that is, “Thank you. God was merciful.” That he saved me, called me, and that he would use me is all by grace.

The walk through a disputed passage continues this Sunday. I’ve stated a few times that my purpose for preaching through 1 Timothy was to address the passage that I spoke on last Sunday 1 Timothy 2:8-15 and the passage that I’m speaking on this Sunday, all of 1 Timothy 3. Both passages touch on the role of women in the church and the Elders have sensed a need for a fresh focus on women’s roles and responsibilities. 

I pray we can cast a positive vision for the ministry of women in the church and make clear all the ways women can be and are called to serve. Paul goes out of his way to say something regarding the role of women in 1 Timothy 3. Interestingly, he does not say anything about women in the first seven verses regarding Elders, but he does in the second section concerning deacons. 

Commentators with whom we would agree, disagree on what that means for us and so humility is in order. As I approach this text this week, here are the controlling guardrails. The sub-title of the sermon is, “Who’s in Charge of the Church?” The answer is, Jesus is the head of the church. It’s not the Elders and it’s certainly not me. Jesus sets the agenda, and he tells us how to proceed. Also, in the later part of my text for Sunday, the text proclaims that the church is “a pillar and buttress of the truth.” We will follow our head and faithfully cling to the truth as it’s revealed in the text. I have no desire to be innovative when it comes to scripture. As you’ve heard me say, “We don’t make the scripture come alive. It makes all of us come alive!”

So, with those guardrails in place, I want to say this: The needs of the world, the needs of this body, and the needs of our community are great. We must make clear to everyone that we want to empower every believer; women and men, children to senior adults and students, to use what God has entrusted to them for ministry.

Though the message will cover all of 1 Timothy 3, I plan to focus primarily on the verses related to deacons and especially my favorite part of the passage where the last few verses speak to Paul’s primary purpose in writing this letter to Timothy and the church at Ephesus. We have addressed the first seven verses of chapter 3 at least two times in my years at Bethany Place, though so we have only found the audio to one of them. We also list a few other sermons below that speak to the role of Elders. 

• Matthew 23:1-12 The Necessity Of Humility
• 1 Timothy 3:1–7 Maturity Markers for All God’s People   
• 1 Peter 5:1–5 Leadership For Troubled Times: Exhortations to Elders and the Community 
• Gary Stewart Messages:
• Message: “The Flock’s Responsibility to the Elders” from Gary Stewart | Bethany Place Baptist Church
• Message: “Elders-The Shepherds Christ Calls to Lead His Church” from Gary Stewart | Bethany Place Baptist Church

I look forward to exploring this text with you on Sunday. 

In Christ, 

Gene