Leading God's Way

1 Timothy 3:14–15 (ESV)

¹⁴I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that,

¹⁵if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

According to this passage, Paul’s main concern in writing this epistle was that Timothy would “know how one ought to behave in the household of God” (verse 15). In fact, in the Greek, the wording is even stronger: Paul uses the little word “dei” which means, “it is necessary.” This makes the verse read, “how it is necessary for one to behave in the household of God.” In other words, God has “house rules” that leaders are to be aware of and, by necessity, are to follow.

This isn’t something we like to think about, quite frankly. We are quick to sound the trumpet and cry “Grace!” and "Freedom in Christ!" but are much slower to give thought to what God has laid down for house rules. We somehow think a little word like “dei” is incompatible with the freedom of the Gospel. Not so, however! In fact, just the opposite is true. Before coming to Christ, we were slaves to sin (Romans 6:20). But when the Gospel of God’s grace comes into our hearts and sets us free from sin, it also makes us slaves to God and to righteousness (Romans 6:17-18.) The Gospel, in this sense, is the message of our transfer from one slavery to another.

As leaders, it is incredibly important that we daily grasp this. We are not our own, we were bought with a price. As it applies to our leadership, it means that we cannot merely invent our own methodology and means. We must go to God, our Master, and to his Word, and from them learn “how it is necessary for us to behave in the household of God.”

Learning with you,

aaron