Ministry Expectations is a teaching series comprising principles from the book of 1 Timothy. In discovering the expectations God had for Timothy and the church at Ephesus, we uncover the expectations He has placed upon us as well.

One teacher astutely commented that the duty of a Christian is to do God’s will, in God’s way, with the right heart motive. I don’t think that any of us are naive enough to believe that one’s motives are not important. Somebody might foolishly say, “As long as the job gets done, I don’t really care how it’s done!” But that Somebody certainly is not the Lord!

“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling. Desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.” 1 Timothy 1:5-7

Timothy was surrounded by people who were clamoring for the ministry spotlight. Ostensibly they were doing a good thing; i.e., teaching the very law of God. But in actuality, they burned with an ambition for positional titles in order to be admired by others. Their deceitful hearts and their misunderstanding of God’s truth caused their words to become little more than meaningless sounds and vain jangling.

Modern ministry is full of duplicitous types like these. With no real regard for God or their would-be followers, they merchandise the ministry for their own benefit, whether that is money, power, admiration, or a combination of all three. I’m sure that we all shrink back a bit at the televangelist’s spiel. Closer to home, we’ve probably interacted with people like this in our very own churches. Closer yet, if we are painfully honest, even our own motives tend to degenerate quickly unless we guard and govern them by the regular application of God’s Word. Read more…

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“Ministry Expectations” is a teaching series comprising principles from the book of 1 Timothy. In discovering the expectations God had for Timothy and the church at Ephesus, we uncover the expectations He has placed upon us as well.

For what purpose had Paul instructed Timothy to abide at Ephesus? It’s true, Paul had challenged him to faithfulness, but faithfulness to what?

“As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.” 1 Timothy 1:3-4

I’m so glad that Harvest Baptist Church is a busy church. Admittedly, a danger does exist in busyness, but properly prioritized, any God-honoring church will inevitably be busy. If, however, in all of our busyness, we see the need to pare down the number of activities we conduct at our church, which activities would go and which would stay? Tough question, huh?

It is my contention that the most important ministry and exercise of any local church—one that simply cannot be shunned or shortchanged–is that of preaching and teaching the Word of God. Paul underscored this priority when, on his proverbial deathbed, he soberly challenged Timothy to “preach the Word.”

How quickly churches become entangled with activities that choke their effectiveness and trip up their progress! The church at Ephesus was in danger of just that kind of entanglement. In the place of solid, edifying preaching, teachers arose who were more concerned with their status and popularity than they were with the truth. Their man-centered approach to the truth was causing confusion among the hearers and eroding the foundations of that good assembly. Read more…

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The word expectation is truly a powerful word. It implies that someone knows something about my current behavior and is anticipating something different about my future behavior. Each one of us deals with expectations. The employer expects a certain work ethic from his employees; parents expect a particular character level from their children; coaches expect a performance level from their players. We are literally surrounded by expectations every day.

As the ideal model for every parent, our Heavenly Father has expectations for His children. Within the context of His local church, He outlines behaviors and best practices for His people. As I considered the book of 1 Timothy again recently, it occurred to me that Paul’s letter to his young protégé is literally packed with expectations for Pastor Timothy and his flock.

No longer serving with Timothy side by side as he had during the second and third missionary journeys, Paul now wrote the still relatively young Timothy about how he and his people ought to “behave themselves in the house of God.” God has expectations for the local church, and many of them are clearly outlined in this power-packed book of 1 Timothy.

I’ve traveled sufficiently and participated in enough ministries to know that we fundamentalists make a big deal about standards (leadership requirements, ministry expectations, etc.) And well we should. However, our mistake sometimes lies in the way we explain and communicate those standards. At times we unnecessarily elevate a standard to the level of a Bible principle and are thereby guilty of overstatement. Other times we fail to offer helpful guidelines whereby our people may more readily and effectively obey the Bible and are thereby guilty of understatement.

The key to communicating ministry expectations effectively is to painstakingly connect them to the Scriptures from which they are derived. The book of 1 Timothy is full of just these kinds of ministry expectations, and local churches would do well to establish the footers of their ministry expectations in the solid bedrock of its truth. Read more…

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