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1 & 2 Timothy and Titus

1 & 2 Timothy and Titus

"The Organized Church"

Hopewell Church of Christ

December 23, 2001 Mural Worthey

Introduction

These three letters to two preachers, Timothy and Titus, have a wealth of information about the churches being established under an apostle’s guidance. What is contained here should be considered normative for all churches, excluding obvious cultural traditions. So far, we have considered briefly the work of an evangelist and the support of widows from the church treasury. I am using the following text as the theme around which these two letters were written.

"These things write I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Tim. 3:14-15.)

In writing these letters to younger preachers, we learn much about the intent of Paul in preaching the Gospel. There was a purpose and goal that included work after the conversion of individuals. After receiving the Gospel, the saved were added to the church. Organized bodies of believers resulted from the work of Paul, Timothy and Titus.

Individual salvation and the church

These letters help us to understand something Paul wrote to the Corinthians. He wrote this about the work of all who teach the Gospel.

"Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that plants any thing, neither he that waters, but God that gives the increase. Now he that plants and he that waters are one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are labors together with God. You are God’s husbandry; you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilding, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 3:6-11.)

Paul described his work as one who plants the seed; the work of Apollos (as well as Timothy and Titus) as one who waters the seed; and God gives the increase. From such planting and watering, a harvest is expected. Paul changed the analogy from planting to a building. The result of the work of a master builder is a building. The foundation is Christ Jesus. The building is the church. Neither Timothy at Ephesus nor Titus on Crete was referred to as located preachers, yet such they were. They watered what Paul had planted. Paul told Timothy and Titus to set things in order, which included the appointing of elders. (Titus 1:5.) The opening words to the church at Philippi are: "to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons." (1:1.) The goal of preaching the Gospel is to save the lost. When the lost obey the Gospel, the result is a body of believers in Christ, a local congregation of God’s people. This body of people should behave in a certain way in the house of God. There were definite things that Paul wanted Timothy to constantly teach and exhort in the assemblies. The believers were not to forsake the assembly. (Heb. 10:25.) They were told to wait on one another to gather around the table on the first day of the week. (1 Cor. 11:33.) They worshipped the Lord together in song, prayer, communion, giving of their means and hearing his Word proclaimed. (Acts 2:42.)

There exists today a tension among our missionaries over this matter of the organized body of believers resulting from the proclaimed Word. The tension is simply this: Is it necessary to go beyond the salvation of the individual believer and organize a local congregation or church? The answer seems so obvious, but it does seem so to many. Some missionaries baptized thousands (their reports glow with such conversions), but when you travel to the field you cannot find the churches. I do not mean buildings. You cannot find very many coming together to worship on the first day of the week. Is individual justification the final product or should we work until an "organized local church" exists?

If we do not expect an organized body of believers with bishops and deacons, then Paul’s analogy is meaningless. He talked about planting and watering. He talked about a building after a carpenter did his work. He talked about trees bearing fruit after they were grew to maturity. Paul described the process in the likeness of having spiritual children. After babies are born, they need milk. Later, children cut teeth and are able to eat meat. (Hebrews 5.) Parents are responsible to care for their offspring. "For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children." (2 Cor. 12:14.) Paul added a personal note about his responsibility for the Corinthians. "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." (12:15.)

Missionaries who argue that they have no responsibility beyond initial justification of the individuals who obey the Gospel greatly err. The force of Paul’s letters to the churches in the first century and to the young ministers is evidence enough that such is not true. The goal or purpose of all who teach is to establish a local body of believers in Christ. Today many Protestants believe that salvation exists only on a personal level. They deny that salvation goes beyond the individual. They will be heard to say, The church cannot save you. I find it strange that they organize churches if the churches play no role in the salvation of the believer. Listen to Paul: "Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." (1 Tim. 4:16.) A mother not only gives life to her child by giving birth, but she also saves the life of the child by the care she gives the child after birth. One waters a plant after the seed germinates in order to sustain the plant and to keep it alive.

The local church plays a significant role in our salvation. Those who say that the church does not save you misunderstand something. Yes, it is true that Jesus is the Savior, but the church is a co-laborer with the Lord in the salvation of the lost. Look at the number of ways in which the local church is involved in the salvation of the lost. 1) God placed his treasure of the Gospel in earthen vessels. (2 Cor. 4:7.) 2) The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Tim. 3:15.) 3) The saved are added to the church. (Acts 2:47.) 4) The mission of the church is to seek after the lost. (Matt. 28:18-20.) Without Jesus, of course, the church could not save anyone. But working along with God, the church becomes a co-laborer with God in the salvation of the lost. The congregations formed after the lost obey the Gospel are the saved in Christ Jesus. That body is what Timothy and Titus is nurturing by their preaching.

Organized but not institutional

While we strongly defend the view stated above, we should be careful that we do not have an institutional view of the church. An "institutional view" is the opposite error of the Protestant’s "the church cannot save you" doctrine. The institutional view can be summarized this way. It believes: 1) that so long as you are in this right body how you behave individually in your life does not matter, 2) that you do not need to understand so much about the Bible, let the leaders tell you what the Bible teaches, 3) the local body administers salvation through the sacraments of the church, including marriage, 4) this view emphasizes the role of the body almost to the exclusion of the importance of one’s individual faith (2 Cor. 1:24.).

The institutional view says in effect, It does not matter whether we have elders and deacons, we wear the name of "Church of Christ." It teaches, So long as we baptize sinners "for the remission of sins," all other errors are insignificant. We are still the one body of Christ. It believes that the one body is primarily physical and not spiritual in nature. Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21.) The institutional view gives dominion over the individual believer and authority even over Scripture. It asks, What does the church believe about this question? It does not ask, What does the Bible say? It does not give power to the believer to read Scripture for oneself. It demands conformity to the accepted view of the church. It tells people what translation of Scripture they can read. It has written or unwritten creed, but it has a creed nevertheless. An institutional has to have a creed. It cannot exist without it. An institution must define itself from all others. This may be an over-simplification but the Catholic view of the church is institutional and the Protestant view of the church is its non-essentiality for salvation of the believer. The biblical view is that the individual stands by his faith in the Lord and the church is an organized body of the saved in Christ.

Evangelistic authority

It is obvious that these young ministers, Timothy and Titus, had great responsibility on their shoulders in the charge by Paul to set things in order at Ephesus and Crete. They were told to look for men who were mature in the faith who could be appointed as shepherds of the flock. They were charged to study and present the Gospel clearly in the face of fables and Jewish misunderstandings of the Gospel of Christ. We have churches of Christ who do not believe in appointing elders in the local churches. They, instead, appoint men (deacons) who serve with them in directing the affairs of the church. This view of the local minister has been called "evangelistic authority." Some Protestant bodies have practiced this for years. The preacher is the only recognized "pastor." They refuse to train men in the service of Christ who can serve as leaders, bishops and deacons. They argue that it does not make sense to appoint men as bishops who know less about the Gospel than they do.

There are potential problems in the local church in the area of spiritual leadership. I want to name some of these and offer a few remedies.

  1. The power struggle. Jesus gave the solution to this problem when He taught the greatest in the Kingdom is the one who serves.
  2. The office concept. In order to promote authority, some emphasize the official capacity (institutionalism) rather than the functional role of elders, deacons and ministers.
  3. The business model. Churches are affected more by the world than we are willing to admit. Our men know how their offices at work are organized. They have a board of directors and a chairman of the board, or a CEO. Secretaries are hired to do clerical work. It seems to work so well for them. Why not for the church? Some churches near military bases operate on the basic of a command structure of the military. I rank higher than you; therefore, you must salute me.
  4. The I-came-first model. Those who defend the evangelistic authority view say that it just does not make sense to appoint men who were taught and baptized by the evangelist to become leaders who then tell the preacher what to do! Yet the apostles did not feel that such was non-sense. Paul had a good relationship with elders (at Ephesus---see Acts 20). They wept when he left them. We must understand the spiritual nature of the leadership of elders and deacons. Elders are warned by Peter not to lord it over God’s heritage. Peter was an elder.

 

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