The Importance of Experience

Scripture Passage: 1 Timothy 3:1-13

Several years ago, I got hooked on a podcast by Christianity Today called "The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill." It tells the story of a church in Seattle founded in the late 1990's by Mark Driscoll, how it rose to seemingly overnight fame, was once the largest church in America, and then collapsed and disbanded by 2015. Spoiler alert: They didn't come the conclusion that there was one singular cause but rather a multitude of factors which created the perfect conditions for both its rise and its fall.

One of the issues they talk about in the series is how the internet and social media played a role. Specifically, they talked about how the internet with sites like YouTube and content like podcasts enable people to find a platform and an audience without needing to go through the traditional channels of boards, committees, editors, and publishers. They can bypass almost all of the hoops previous generations had to go through to get their books published and their voices broadcasted on radios.

The good part of this? It is so much harder to shut down and silence those voices which truly are prophetic, which aren't afraid to speak the truth of God even when it is countercultural and won't sell a lot of books or bring in big advertising dollars. The bad part? There is no accountability when theology starts to go off into crazy-ville and the truthfulness of someone's words are judged primarily on how charismatically they are delivered instead of how closely the line up with Scripture. Get the right camera, the right lighting, the right look, and the right amount of confidence and authority in what you are saying and suddenly you have an audience of millions who view you as someone who must surely be speaking the very words of God to our generation.

In Paul's letter to Timothy, he is instructing his young mentee in how to deal with an issue in the church they had planted in Ephesus. A group of leaders has infiltrated the church is teaching incorrect information about Jesus. As such, we see Paul here in chapter three giving specific guidelines on who Timothy should be looking for to lead the church going forward to help clean up the chaos and corruption left behind by the false teachers.

It's easy in reading this passage to get bogged down in the details and believe we need to find leaders who perfectly fit this exact description but to do misses the bigger picture. Given a list of exact qualifications, most of us, with a little work, can present ourselves as someone perfectly suited for the role. But take a step back and look at what all these qualifications have in common:

• Stable home environment.

• Hospitable

• Sober

• Gentle

• Generous

• Thought well of outside of the church

• Willing to be tested

All of these speak to faith and leadership skills which are not easily faked and which are hard to maintain falsely over any length of time. They speak to a lifestyle which is authentic, not a good show put on for neighbors or when it is convenient. They speak to attributes which can only be maintained in times of struggle and trial when they are authentic and deeply rooted into the core of one's being and identity.

Paul is reminding Timothy to take the time to really get to know the people he will leave in charge when he is called to the next church. Spend time with them and their families, see what they are like in daily life. In today's context, it would be the difference between having a relationship with them IRL (In Real Life) and simply following them on social media. It would be breaking out of the echo chamber we too often live in which simply re-enforces what we want to believe and seeking out the truth of the someone even if it makes us uncomfortable.

Leaders don't have to be perfect. That isn't what Paul is getting at here. But they do have to be humble enough to know that they aren't perfect and always have something to learn. Everything listed is a natural result of growing in emotional, spiritual, and relational maturity. These are things we learn, often from those who have gone before us, if we are willing to learn instead of staying stuck in our teenaged mentality of believing we know everything.

It leaves us to ask, not only of the leaders in our local congregations, but of those leaders we allow to influence us greatly through various social media channels, are they worthy of the office of overseer?

Perhaps one of the more heartbreaking stories of someone who was pushed into a role of spiritual authority before they were mature enough to really handle it is the story of Joshua Harris. For those who were in high school and college in the late 1990's, you likely recognize his name because of the book, "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." As a teen and young adult, he was quickly recognized as someone who could speak well in front of a crowd and had a knack for telling stories both in writing and through speaking. By the time he was 21 years old, he was THE leading authority on Christian dating and romantic relationships and at the age of 30, he was the pastor of a mega church without having taking a single college level theology class.

In the podcast I referenced at the start, they dedicate an episode to his story and his influence and I encourage you to take a listen if you are unfamiliar with his story. For here, I'll fast forward to his late thirties when a ministry crisis, and growing issues within his marriage, forced him to acknowledge that he did not have all the answers. Sadly, the crisis of faith combined with the pressure of the spot light led to divorce and Josh stepping away from not only ministry but his faith entirely.

I can't speak for Joshua Harris, but I can say that I when I was in my 20's, I pushed against anyone and everyone who dared to hint that I did not know what I was doing when it came to faith. I tended to avoid those who challenged me to asked me to be patient in all I believed God was calling me to do. Now, in my late 40's, I'm ever so grateful for those people in my life. In practicing patience, I also grew roots of faith which are far deeper than they would have been otherwise.

Follow Up:

• The Bible project has an excellent video overview of 1 Timothy. You can check it out by clicking HERE.

• Is there time in your life where you were given more responsibility than you were really ready to take on? How did it work out? Looking back, what do you wish you would have known?

• Consider those you look to as leaders both in the secular world and in your faith. How well do you know them or do you simply see the image they want you to see?

• Especially when you consider those you look to as leaders in faith: How are they held accountable for staying true to the teachings of Jesus? Do you feel that you can speak up when you see or hear something that is not in line with the Scriptures?