(Article for publication week of 3-4-2009 AD)
“This is a true saying, ‘ If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.’ “(I Timothy 3:1).
We continue this week in our biblical description of a true man of God. If we are thoroughly acquainted with the genuine, we will be able to recognize the counterfeit. We have shown that a true minister of Christ is a man that is a converted man (John 21:15-17). He is a man that is called and sent by the Lord (Jeremiah 3:15; I Corinthians 9:16; I Timothy 1:12). And he is a man that feeds the Lord’s people with the Word of God (Acts 20:27-28; II Timothy 4:2). And now we come to emphasize that he must be a MAN of God.
Our text this week says “if a MAN desire the office of a bishop“. (Note well that a bishop is synonymous with an elder or pastor. The reader is invited to compare with Acts 20:17,28; Titus 1:5,7; I Peter 5:1; I Timothy 4:14). True ministers of the gospel must be MEN. God’s word forbids a woman to be in the ministry, to teach publicly, to hold office or to have any authority outside her own home. I Corinthians 14:34 clearly says , “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.” I Timothy 2:12 says, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” Churches that have women preachers, teachers or officers are in gross violation of scripture and indicate that they do not care what the Bible says. Women are to teach their own children and older women are to teach younger women in private, but the office of pastor-teacher is closed to women. I thank the Lord for the few Godly women I know who are content with their place as wives and mothers and keepers at home. Such women are (like true ministers) “one of a thousand”, and I pray the Lord may increase their tribe.
All through the Bible, Old and New Testaments, we see that public ministry and office is limited to men. In the Old Testament, which is written for our learning, the Lord only allowed MEN of the tribe of Levi to be in the priest’s office. All the Old Testament prophets were MEN. The forerunner of Christ, John the Baptist was a “man sent from God.” The first New testament preachers that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself called into the ministry were all men (the twelve apostles).
The scriptural qualification for a minister is that he must be the “husband of one wife” (I Timothy 3:2). It is quite clear that a woman cannot be the husband of one wife. By clear command, example, and precedent, a true minister must be a MAN.
A true minister of Christ must be a man in every sense of the word. He must be a man physically, mentally, emotionally and in his general demeanor. The Christian ministry is no place for sissies. We have had too many of those I am afraid. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Manly pattern for ministers. Our Lord was a preacher Himself, and he was our ideal of masculinity. The Lord Jesus Christ was not a longhaired, limp-wristed sissy. He was a carpenter by trade before they had power tools. He generally walked everywhere He went. He once took a whip and took on several men at once. And you see men like John the Baptist and the fishermen that our Lord called into the ministry as men who were strong and masculine. The soft wimps who act more like girls than men that are frequently found in the “ministry’ are a disgrace to their profession. Preachers, I call on you to “quit yourselves like MEN.” May the Lord give us real men in the ministry.
“This is a true saying, ‘ If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.’ “(I Timothy 3:1).
We continue this week in our biblical description of a true man of God. If we are thoroughly acquainted with the genuine, we will be able to recognize the counterfeit. We have shown that a true minister of Christ is a man that is a converted man (John 21:15-17). He is a man that is called and sent by the Lord (Jeremiah 3:15; I Corinthians 9:16; I Timothy 1:12). And he is a man that feeds the Lord’s people with the Word of God (Acts 20:27-28; II Timothy 4:2). And now we come to emphasize that he must be a MAN of God.
Our text this week says “if a MAN desire the office of a bishop“. (Note well that a bishop is synonymous with an elder or pastor. The reader is invited to compare with Acts 20:17,28; Titus 1:5,7; I Peter 5:1; I Timothy 4:14). True ministers of the gospel must be MEN. God’s word forbids a woman to be in the ministry, to teach publicly, to hold office or to have any authority outside her own home. I Corinthians 14:34 clearly says , “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.” I Timothy 2:12 says, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” Churches that have women preachers, teachers or officers are in gross violation of scripture and indicate that they do not care what the Bible says. Women are to teach their own children and older women are to teach younger women in private, but the office of pastor-teacher is closed to women. I thank the Lord for the few Godly women I know who are content with their place as wives and mothers and keepers at home. Such women are (like true ministers) “one of a thousand”, and I pray the Lord may increase their tribe.
All through the Bible, Old and New Testaments, we see that public ministry and office is limited to men. In the Old Testament, which is written for our learning, the Lord only allowed MEN of the tribe of Levi to be in the priest’s office. All the Old Testament prophets were MEN. The forerunner of Christ, John the Baptist was a “man sent from God.” The first New testament preachers that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself called into the ministry were all men (the twelve apostles).
The scriptural qualification for a minister is that he must be the “husband of one wife” (I Timothy 3:2). It is quite clear that a woman cannot be the husband of one wife. By clear command, example, and precedent, a true minister must be a MAN.
A true minister of Christ must be a man in every sense of the word. He must be a man physically, mentally, emotionally and in his general demeanor. The Christian ministry is no place for sissies. We have had too many of those I am afraid. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Manly pattern for ministers. Our Lord was a preacher Himself, and he was our ideal of masculinity. The Lord Jesus Christ was not a longhaired, limp-wristed sissy. He was a carpenter by trade before they had power tools. He generally walked everywhere He went. He once took a whip and took on several men at once. And you see men like John the Baptist and the fishermen that our Lord called into the ministry as men who were strong and masculine. The soft wimps who act more like girls than men that are frequently found in the “ministry’ are a disgrace to their profession. Preachers, I call on you to “quit yourselves like MEN.” May the Lord give us real men in the ministry.
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