“This saying is trustworthy: if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (1Tim 3:1).
Submarines have periscopes. Labs have microscopes. Observatories have telescopes. Churches have episcopes. Episcopes? What in the world is an episcope anyway? So very glad you asked. The handy dandy episcope is essential to the guidance, care, and direction of any group of Jesus followers. But the episcope isn’t so much a what but a who. You may know them by another name. Some folks call them bishops. Others know them as elders or pastors. Paul likes to use the term overseers. They are reaching out and looking out for the local church.
Let’s back up a bit to see why the apostle would be talking about overseers in the first place. He’s writing to his spiritual son Timothy who’s now serving as the pastor of the growing church in Ephesus (1Tim 1:1-2). This is the same church Paul personally planted in the big port city on the west coast of what we know as Turkey (Acts 19). Fast forward a few years and the apostle is now on divine assignment on the other side of the Aegean Sea in Macedonia. He’s left Pastor Tim to continue cleaning up the mess that a team of false teachers have made (1Tim 1:3-7).
There’s a need to put leaders in place called overseers. This would lead you to believe these spiritual hucksters had risen to a level of leadership before Paul and Tim tossed them out the front door (1Tim 1:20). Pastor Tim is probably flying solo at this point. He needs help. The Ephesian church needs new leaders. Good leaders. Godly leaders. Leaders who reach out. Leaders with a passion. Leaders with vision. The church needs overseers.
This isn’t just an isolated first century issue. Every body of believers today needs overseers. Every congregation today needs episcopes. Your church does and so does mine. We’ll see in this verse that they should be people willing to stretch themselves for others. They should have a burning passion for the local church and believe it’s God’s hope for the world. They should have vision, perspective, constantly on the lookout for trouble, and setting the course for future. Solomon writes that without vision people are in a world of hurt (okay, that’s take on Proverbs 29:18, but you get the idea!). Without godly overseers devoted to following Jesus, our churches grind to a halt and slowly die.
Paul clearly wants his buddy Tim to pay VERY close attention to what he’s about to say. “This saying is trustworthy” (v1). This is the apostle’s way of shining a spotlight on what’s coming next. It’s a drumroll to get your attention for the big reveal. He does something similar two other times in this letter (1Tim 1:15; 4:9), once more in the sequel (2Tim 2:11), and yet one more time when writing to to Titus (Titus 3:8). It literally reads “a faithful word.” You can trust what you’re about to read. What he’s about to say about overseers, you take it to the bank. Count on it.
And what’s the big idea? “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (v1). First of all, don’t miss the fact that it’s okay to have a desire to lead. Somewhere along the way we’ve gotten it into our heads that aspiring to a leadership position in the local church is a big red flag. Alarms go off. Warning lights flash. Paul says just the opposite. When somebody wants to step up, that’s a good thing. It actually might be the first indication they’re just the one for the job. Or as the Message paraphrases it, “If anyone wants to provide leadership in the church, good!” (v1 The Message).
Let’s zoom in on the word the ESV translates as “aspires” (v1). This is the Greek verb oregomai. No, we’re not talking about someone who’s good at folding paper into a swan. This term describes stretching yourself out in order to grab hold of something. Reaching after something with incredible desire. Striving to attain a goal. It’s used negatively for a greedy cash grab (1Tim 6:10). The writer of Hebrews says the heroes of the Old Testament strained to grab Heaven and bring it to earth (Heb 11:16).
Picture a wide receiver laying out for pass. A first baseman stretching for a throw. That’s the kind of effort Paul sees someone giving who wants to be an overseer. What does it look like when someone is giving it everything they’ve got to grow as a leader? Do they push themselves in serving? You can’t be a servant leader until you learn what it means to serve. Are they willing to learn to lead by following? Great leaders are always great followers. Do they study leadership in Scripture? Do they dig into stuff written by great leaders like John Maxwell, Jim Collins, and Seth Godin? Do they push themselves? Do they stretch themselves? That’s the kind of effort you see when someone extends themselves as a leader.
Specifically, Paul is talking about “the office of overseer” (v1). This is actually just one Greek word: episkope. See where we the whole periscope/microscope/telescope thing? You see what I did there? It’s a compound word which literally describes someone who has “over (epi-) sight (-skope).” This is actually the position and responsibility of oversight. Ancient literature uses it when talking about public officials in the city of Rhodes. After Judas Iscariot broke bad, Peter announced, “Let another take his office (Gr. episkope)” (Acts 1:20).
So just what kind of person do you think would fill the office of an overseer? You get three guesses and your first two don’t count. Yup, that’s right…an overseer!! In the very next verse, we see that the position of overseer (Gr. episkope) is occupied by an overseer (Gr. episkopos). It’s where we get the term episcopal. Some Bible versions translate this as bishop (KJV, NRS, NKJV, BBE). You wanna know something crazy? The Episcopal Church has bishops. That kinda makes my head hurt.
As you have probably already figured out, the emphasis here for the local church leader is on vision. An overseer sets direction and points to the horizon. He keeps his eyes peeled for trouble. He watches over the church, both as a group and as individuals. When Paul called a quick meeting of the Ephesian elders when he was swinging through, he told them, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers Gr. episkopos), to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). Overseers must be on high alert.
Depending on your denomination or church tradition, there are a lot of terms that get thrown around when it comes to church leadership. A study of New Testament tips us off to the fact that overseer (Gr. episkopos), elder (Gr. presbuteros), and pastor (Gr. poimen) are almost interchangeable titles. Paul assembles the Ephesian “elders” (Gr. presbuteros) (Acts 20:17) and then calls them “overseers” (Gr. episkopos) (Acts 20:28). He instructs Titus to appoint “elders” (Gr. presbuteros) (Titus 1:5) and then calls these same dudes “overseers” (Gr. episkopos) (Titus 1:7). Confused yet?
Paul’s buddy Peter writes about Jesus as the “Shepherd (Gr. poimen) and Overseer (Gr. episkopos) of your souls” (1Pet 2:25). Pete goes on to encourages “elders” (Gr. presbuteros) to “shepherd the flock of God” because when the Chief Shepherd (Gr. poimen) appears, you will receive an unfading crown of glory” (1Pet 5:1, 2-4). The big idea: an overseer is an elder, an elder is a pastor, a pastor is an overseer. No matter the title, the responsibility is the same. Watching over and watching out for God’s people in the context of the local church.
The apostle goes on to say that anybody who’s stretching himself to be an overseer, “he desires a noble task” (v1). Earlier he “aspires,” now he “desires.” Two different words. Two subtle differences. Earlier we saw the idea of reaching out as an outward action. “Desires” is the Greek verb epithumeo, which describes an inward desire of longing for something. It means to be on fire for something. It’s a burning passion to do something of eternal significance.
An overseer is fired up for “a noble task” (v1). A word for word translation here is quite simply “a good work.” Don’t miss the point. There’s work involved. Important work involved. Eternal work involved. An overseer is ready to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty. Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is a cush job. You’re not settling into some kind of leadership La-Z-Boy. It’s work. Good work.
So how do you and I apply this? What do we do with it? For most of us, we should be good followers of those God has placed as servant leaders over us. We need to remember they are watching out for our church. Let’s pray for them. Let’s encourage them. Second, each one of us needs to remember that we’re all leaders. We all exercise influence over others. Let’s grow and stretch ourselves to be godly and effective leaders. Finally, there are some of you who aspire to lead and have a passion for the local church. Don’t be afraid to let your overseers know. It’s your job to raise your hand. It’s their job to see if your qualified.
Sailors need periscopes to see above the surface. Scientists use microscopes to peer into a tiny world. Astronomers look into telescopes for a glimpse into deep space. Churches need episcopes known as overseers to watch out and watch over God’s flock.
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