“Paul's First Letter to Timothy — A Heavenly Service Requires Heavenly Minded Leaders”

In our lesson today, we see that “A Heavenly Service Requires Heavenly Minded Leaders.”  And it is a heavenly service to serve in the Church which is His Body.  That is because this church is a heavenly organism indeed.  Though our feet are on the solid footing of earth itself, spiritually that footing is unstable and always changing as opposed to our heavenly citizenship in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.  The Lord God himself has established a structure of both authority and responsibility in the Church and that is the focus in our study in 1 Timothy today.  In this lesson the focus is where we find it in 1 Timothy chapter 3, on the offices of bishop (or overseer or elder, all equivalents) and deacon.  The pastoral and teaching ministries are not the focus here but will be reserved for later in our studies.