How would you preach 1 Timothy 3?

[ISalzman]

All,

I am playing with the idea of preaching a sermon series through 1 Timothy. I was then wondering how I would go about preaching 1 Timothy 3 with all of its character requirements for elders. If you are familiar with the book by Gene Getz, entitled "The Measure of a Man," he devotes an entire chapter to each of the different character qualities. While that is admirable and worthy for a book, it can really tend to bog down a sermon series were I to preach on all of the respective character qualities in a series of consecutive sermons. On the other hand, if I bundle them all into one sermon, I risk not doing them all the justice, space, and consideration/reflection they all deserve. So, I was wondering if anyone in these forums had ever preached through 1 Timothy. And, if you have, how did you handle it? Grateful for any feedback and insights.

[Lee]

I don't believe I have ever preached through First Timothy, but I have preached a series on the qualifications of elders (obviously looking at Titus 1 as well). I agree that a sermon per qualification might be a little much, and trying to cover them all in one sermon won't do it justice. I preached four sermons on the qualifications. That may not wrap everything up within each sermon as tidily as one might like, but it seemed to me the best way to cover the material.

[ISalzman]

I don't believe I have ever preached through First Timothy, but I have preached a series on the qualifications of elders (obviously looking at Titus 1 as well). I agree that a sermon per qualification might be a little much, and trying to cover them all in one sermon won't do it justice. I preached four sermons on the qualifications. That may not wrap everything up within each sermon as tidily as one might like, but it seemed to me the best way to cover the material.

Good suggestion, Lee. Thanks. A question if I may. If you did four sermons to cover all of the qualifications, you no doubt had to group them into four groupings. Did you base those groupings on the order in which they appear in the text? Or did you find some other principle by which to group them (i.e., related behaviors; public vs private characteristics; behavior toward believers vs. outsiders, etc.)?

[Lee]

I simply did them in the order in which they appear, making each attribute its own main point. Looking at my outlines, there seem to be a few exceptions, such as merging "no striker" with "not a brawler," and "not greedy of filthy lucre" with "not covetous." Perhaps not the most imaginative approach, but it seemed the most natural.

[ISalzman]

Thanks, Lee. I would still welcome other suggestions. Interested to hear how others might have handled it differently.