Church 101

There are three characteristics that are consistent across every person I've ever known who was looking for a fight.
1) Some if not all of them Just liked to argue.
2) They believed at some level that they might be wrong and thus were prepared to duke it out from the start, no matter what the issue.
3) They had a much higher view of themselves than they merited. People who do not know them might well describe them as arrogant after meeting them.
Last time we talked about the identifying marks of a heretic; while this week we are going to look at a few more identification marks which pretty well double up to show us some of what motivates them. So in order to help refresh your memory: a heretic:
teaches a different doctrine,
disagrees with sound teaching,
and as a result rejects godliness which the gospel should invariably produce in the life of a true believer.
By rejecting the scriptures they embrace ignorance never examining the end result of their obstinacy. Proverbs 21:16 says, “A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.” The end result of heresy is death. Thus it is nothing to be trifled with.
If you return to 1 Timothy 6:4 we step into their motivation.

In the early church, at least around the time of Chrysostom who lived around (C 350AD) they recognized at least two stages in a Christian's early life. First you became a catechumen which meant you were being instructed in the ways of Christ and were likely to have received Christ. But first it was required for a time that the catechumen would learn the principles of the faith and prove by evidence of life the sincerity of their fledgling faith. When that catechumen underwent baptism he was called a Neophyte which literally means seedling or "new growth¹." It was longer still before that neophyte would be considered a mature Christian. In the context of 1 Timothy 3, it is imperative that an overseer be mature and be seen as holy lest he fall prey to the Devil's schemes. In these two verses we have the two final requirements for an overseer and three results of them being broken.

It all begins with ensuring that the overseer had time to Grow.

Time To Grow

Paul continues the passage saying that the candidate for overseer must not be a new convert. If you've ever heard the word Neophyte² than you've go the idea of what Paul means by new convert here. The imagery is of a seedling which has only just germinated and burst from its seed. In computer terms we talk about someone like this as a NOOB which means you know very little about computers and are generally at a loss. Paul's use is set somewhat in juxtaposition against the concept of being an "elder" which by definition demands maturity.

When it comes to maturity - nothing takes the place of time. Time in and of itself does not mean maturity as is evidenced in Hebrews 5, but maturity doesn't happen overnight. It's true enough that it takes only a few months to raise a large zucchini; but an oak tree can take decades. But which one would you rather build your house with?

What happens at home stays at home! Well, not exactly. One of the key issues during President Clinton's term in office was the divide created during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. A great deal of ink was spilt arguing both for and against the point that the quality of a person's private life weighed significantly upon their capacity for effective public service. From the perspective of scripture it becomes clear, however, that the home life is far from unrelated to the public life it is at essence a microcosm which exposes the real person.

I want to rephrase that another way because, much like a surgeon's scalpel serves to provide an opening so that he may repair what is broken inside - I want to peel back for you the layers so that you can see the areas of your own life which is most in need of surrendering to God. Do not take this as an opportunity to think to yourselves, "Ah this is a sermon that (so and so) needs to hear!" Rather this is a personal message for you.

It is relatively easy to "put on the plastic Jesus" when you get out of the car on Sunday morning and pretend that everything is alright. But your performance in front of other people really isn't all that impressive to God. Because your performance really isn't an insight into your heart. But something happens when you live in close proximity to other people; we tend to let our guard down and in many ways expose who we really are to those in our own households when the doors are closed and the curtains are drawn.

When that happens who are you?