Character That Shapes A Good Life
I Tim 3:2-8
- Live A Blameless Life3:2
Ps 37:37 Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.
- Don’t give people an excuse to have an issue with you!
- Don’t make it practice of tiptoeing close to the line of righteous reproach.
- Establish a pattern of right living so that no one can indict you for living below what it means to be a Christ follower.
Col 1:22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
“Above Reproach” – not deserving or worthy of rebuke or criticism. Root idea is to take hold of, grasp. Blameless, not open to attack. It is a high standard for leadership. It is not sinlessness otherwise this would have disqualified Paul & Timothy, Titus. “The kind of man whom no one suspects of wrongdoing or immorality due to his own indiscretion, immaturities, or imbalances.” Pg. 186, Mathis
Heb 11:26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
- Keep Your Eyes On One Woman3:2
Gen 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Eph 5:33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Literally, “one woman/wife man.” “heis gyne aner”
More than a legal status Paul is talking about an attitude & action that a man has toward his wife that if correct would keep him from being a polygamist, divorced, involved in pornography because he is emotionally, physically and spiritually committed to one woman. A “one woman kind of man,” is not a flirt, paying attention to other women. Devoted to his wife. This phrase is an idiom for marital faithfulness.
Prov 6:29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.
Character is simply habit long continued. Plutarch
- Get Your Head Straight 3:2 Exercise Good Judgment 3:2c
1 Pet 4:7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
Prov 13:15 Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.
His Caution 3:2c “sober-minded” – a man who thinks straight. Calm and collected in spirit. Well balanced, capable of good judgment.
(Prov. 16:32) 32 Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city
- Keep Your Desires In Check 3:2d Live A Balanced Life 3:2d
Ps 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Prov 24:1 Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them,
His Conclusions 3:2d “self-controlled” – wisely keeping control over one’s passions and desires. Balanced judgment. Not given to sudden impulse. (Gal. 5:22,23)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
- Live A Well Ordered Life 3:2e
In conduct and communication.
It is an observable outward quality.
“respectable” κόσμιος, kosmios– honorable, appropriate. Befitting admirable propriety or moderation. A well ordered life. Put together. (Titus 2:7) Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,
I Cor. 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own