1.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 show us what it looks like to be grown-up in the faith.
• These passages describe the life of Jesus.
• To become grown-up like Jesus, we must first receive life from Jesus.
• We receive life from Jesus by putting our trust in him.
• We also grow in this new life by putting our trust in him.
• The first mark of a mature Christian is that he is above reproach.
• To be above reproach means
  - you are not in a position where people can speak evil of you;
  - when people say bad things about you, those things are not true;
  - you do not have secret sins in your life and you do not hold on to sin.

1.2 – 1 Timothy 3:1-7←⤒🔗

^1. This saying is trustworthy: 'If someone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work.'

^2. The overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher,

^3. not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money.

^4. He must manage his own household well and keep his children in control without losing his dignity.

^5. But if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the church of God?

^6. He must not be a recent convert or he may become arrogant and fall into the punishment that the devil will exact.

^7. And he must be well thought of by those outside the faith, so that he may not fall into disgrace and be caught by the devil’s trap.

© NET Bible

1.3 Titus 1:5-9 (ESV)←⤒🔗

^5. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

^6. if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

^7. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

⁸. but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

^9. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

© NET Bible

1.4 Two big bible passages←⤒🔗

You have just looked at two “big” Bible passages! We call them big not because they are long, but because they describe a “big” person. They show us what it looks like to be grown-up in the faith.

How did these passages make you feel? For example, how did you feel when you read that a grown-up Christian is “temperate, self-controlled, respectable” (1 Timothy 3:2)? And that he is “upright, holy, and disciplined” (Titus 1:8)?

When we read these things, we can feel…small. We can think to ourselves, “I still need to grow so much. I am still only a child in the faith!”

If that is how you feel, then be comforted. Jesus wants you to see yourself as a child (Matthew 18:3-4). He wants you to humble yourself, come to him, and learn from him (Matthew 11:28-30).

Jesus alone can make you self-controlled, upright, holy, and all the other things stated in these passages. He can make you all these things because he is all these things! When you look carefully at these passages, you will see that they describe the life of Jesus. He is the perfect Man, mature in every way.

1.5 Begin by receiving life from Jesus←⤒🔗

Where should we begin if we want to learn from Jesus and become mature like him? We should begin by receiving life from him.

A dead person cannot learn or grow. And the truth is that without Jesus, we are spiritually dead. We are dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1). Sin has separated us from God, who is the fountain of life (Jeremiah 17:13).

To receive life from Jesus, there is only one thing that we need to do. We need to believe in him. He did everything that was needed to give us life! He became one of us. He died so that our sins could be forgiven. Then he rose from the dead and went up to heaven again.

That is not all. From heaven Jesus gives his Spirit to everyone who believes in him. The Spirit is God himself, the fountain of life. If he lives in us, we have abundant life (John 4:14)!

So, do you believe in Jesus? In other words, do you trust in him? Or do you trust in your own plans, your own ideas, and your own “good life”? If you trust in yourself, you will remain spiritually dead. But if you put your trust in Jesus Christ, you will live.

1.6 The way to receive life is the way to grow←⤒🔗

Hopefully you have already put your trust in Christ and received life in his name. Now the question is, How do you grow in this new life? Again the answer is, By putting your trust in Christ!

Trusting in Christ is not something that you do only once. It is a way of life. It is the way in which you receive life for the first time. It is also the way in which you grow in this new life.

Go to Christ for forgiveness. Ask for his help. Learn from him. Wait for him to come again. That is what it looks like to trust in Christ. That is the way to grow, day by day.

1.7 The first mark of maturity: Above reproach←⤒🔗

We are now ready to begin looking at the twenty things in our two “big” passages. We will call these things “the twenty marks of maturity.” They are the marks (signs) that show growth in the Christian life.

The first mark of a mature Christian is this: he (or she) is “above reproach.”

When people “reproach” you, they say bad things about you. Things such as, “That man only cares for money,” or, “That woman always gossips.”

When you are above reproach, it means that you are free from reproach. You are not in a position where people can speak evil of you.

Does this mean that people will never speak evil of you? No. Think of Daniel, who was accused and even thrown to the lions (Daniel 6). And think of Job, whose own friends called him “wicked” (Job 18:5).

But Daniel and Job were above reproach because the bad things that people said about them were not true. God knew that they were innocent. In the end God proved their innocence to the world.

God wants all his children to be like this. He wants our lives to be free from anything that can give us a bad name. Why? Because we carry the name of God (Matthew 28:19)! If we have a bad name, we will make God look bad. However, if we have a good name, we show to everyone that our God is good.

To be “above reproach” does not mean that you are “without sin.” Daniel and Job were sinners, just like you and me. But they did not have a secret life of sin. And they did not hold on to sin. They were always putting their trust in Christ, confessing their sin, repenting, and growing (for example, see Daniel 7:13-14 and Daniel 9:4-5; Job 19:25 and Job 42:1-6).

If someone would say to Daniel, “You are a proud and selfish man!” he would perhaps have answered, “I know there is pride and selfishness in my life. Please forgive me where I have hurt you. Pray that God will deliver me from these sins.”

That is what being “above reproach ” looks like. It is to live an open, honest life before God and before people. It is to live your faith, and to practice  what you preach.