We are blessed here in Ohio to have such blazing orange, crimson reds and lemony yellow fall leaves to see on the trees this season. I recently took my annual autumn trip with my husband and children. We travel through parts of Ohio to admire the fall foliage, the rows of orange pumpkins and speckled gourds, the teams of mystical horses, bushel baskets full of crisp, colorful apples and the many other delights this time of year brings. At one location, a woman was selling her wares from her country cottage. I had seen rows and rows of her handmade quilts and walked to them for a closer look. The geometric shapes fit perfectly together with bright fabrics. Each shape different, yet put together made a glorious fabric collage. “How did she do that?” I thought in impressed amazement. All the while, I understood she used a pattern to make such a lovely piece of art.
When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a pattern to follow for a successful marriage. Genesis 2:18-24 reads, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” With God’s pattern, a lovely product is the end result. Likewise, when Noah built the ark, God have him a pattern (Genesis 6:13-22). Humans marvel at the monstrous size and intelligent science that kept the ark afloat so many years ago. Yet with God’s pattern, a lovely product was the end result. Solomon’s Temple was also built by using God’s pattern (1 Kings 6). The Queen of Sheba traveled a great distance and concluded, “The half has not been told” (1 Kings 10). With God’s pattern, a lovely product is the end result.
The beginning of the church in Acts 2 also came about by God giving His pattern. God’s directions are clear. The church is made up of people (Acts 14:27). Parents, teachers and preachers edify the church particularly through instruction and example; however, especially those who desire to be elders and qualify can work to strengthen the church and keep her in line with Scripture. We can read of this pattern in 1 Timothy 3. Let’s take a look. Through inspiration, Paul wrote that this individual must first desire this job (verse 1). We can all admit when doing a job that we don’t really want, it’s more of a challenge to do it right.
Then this pattern for success continues with the individual being blameless (verse 2). Vine’s Dictionary states the idea here is of one that cannot be charged with fault or wrong doing. We see he must be a husband (verse 2); we conclude, then, that he will be married when he is a bishop. He must not only be a husband, but he is the husband of one wife [not a polygamist] (verse 2).
Over the years, a number of congregations have left or are leaving this pattern with their excuses. Such excuses include: “Well, he’s such a good guy,” “He’s attended here since he was a little boy,” “All his family attend here and we don’t want to embarrass him,” “He is such a good business man,” “When his dad was living, he was a bishop, so let’s give his son a turn,” “We really don’t have that many men to choose from to be a bishop, so we will pick some that are close enough to God’s pattern in 1 Timothy 3” and “He went to college, so he will do a good job as bishop.” However, these are not in the pattern given to the church through inspiration of God!
When we leave the pattern that God gave, we are only inviting disaster through our door, and a very unlovely product will result. God made this list of qualifications easy to understand. Let’s not lose our common sense and make it confusing. The man is temperate, hospitable and able to teach. Does this man make sense and explain the Scriptures or does he ramble, sputter or speak but make no sense? We can’t skip over this qualification and remain true to God’s pattern. What if Noah would have skipped just one step and didn’t put pitch on the ark? What if Noah said, “Well, I can’t be expected to do all this list of things”?
The next qualification God inspired Paul to write is in verses 4-5: “one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)” There are a number of stages in a human life cycle. Each stage has specific characteristics for a human at that age. In talking about these stages, terms like infant, adolescent, adulthood and senior citizen are used to describe a person. It is not only during one of these stages that should be the focus as to whether a man is qualified to be a bishop. It’s all the years he has had children. When his children were young, was he actively training them in the favor and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4)? Erroneously, some brethren defend a man who may be an elder or may be under consideration to become an elder by stating, “Well, his children are unfaithful but they are grown now and living on their own.” It should be a huge warning sign, for instance, if all of his children left the faith. When a child is living under his or her parents’ roof, this is when the figurative training wheels are on. The parents still have one hand on the bike seat! It’s when the child goes on his or her own that the true test of parenthood can be seen and whether the bike the child is on balances or falls. When we ignore such directives that a man must be able to rule his own house well, we are inviting disaster through our door and a very unlovely product will result.
We cannot add to or take away from the Word of the Lord (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18-19). It is evidenced all through Scriptures that doing things God’s way is best (Psalm 37:34; Deuteronomy 8:6; 26:17; John 14:6). Let’s practice the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) and follow His pattern to avoid disaster and standing in the way of God’s church being a lovely, functioning body of believers.
