[00:00:09] Welcome to Gracious Words.
[00:00:11] Gracious Words is taken from the weekly women's Bible study taught by Cheryl Brodersen at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
[00:00:34] Good, healthy authority is important, especially in the church.
[00:00:39] On today's program, we'll start our study in 1 Timothy and see how Paul encourages and teaches Timothy to step out and use his God-given authority the right way.
[00:00:49] Now, here is part one of Cheryl's message titled, The Authority of Leaders.
[00:01:20] So, I have this question and it's not to raise your hands, okay?
[00:01:24] So, listen to me, hold them down.
[00:01:27] Just take a hold of your hand, keep it down.
[00:01:29] Because I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and I don't want to know the answer publicly.
[00:01:34] You can tell me privately if you want to.
[00:01:37] But have you ever been hurt, hurt by the abuse of authority?
[00:01:44] See, no hands.
[00:01:45] I saw you try, don't do it.
[00:01:47] Have you ever been hurt by the abuse of authority?
[00:01:50] Whether, you know, it was a father or a principal, a teacher, a boss, a manager.
[00:02:00] Have you ever felt the abuse of authority?
[00:02:04] But then here's question number two.
[00:02:06] Have you ever misused or abused your authority?
[00:02:10] Have you ever done that?
[00:02:13] Now, I know some of you are downright guilty.
[00:02:16] Because if you were ever a hall monitor at school, all those people that were your friends,
[00:02:23] all of a sudden you're writing tickets to them.
[00:02:25] Like, I don't care.
[00:02:26] That looked like a run to me.
[00:02:28] No, it was a skip.
[00:02:29] I don't care.
[00:02:29] Looked like a run.
[00:02:31] Take this.
[00:02:32] This is your demerit.
[00:02:34] I remember, I thought you were my friend.
[00:02:36] But hall monitors, a little bit of power, that badge.
[00:02:40] And there they were, taking authority, abusing the authority.
[00:02:45] In fact, they became the Gestapo of the school hallway.
[00:02:49] But if I'm honest, I've misused my authority before.
[00:02:56] I've misused it either by the absence over overcompensation of authority.
[00:03:03] I hesitate so often to use my God-given authority, whether it's to teach or to exhort or to correct,
[00:03:14] because I'm so worried that I'll alienate a friend.
[00:03:18] I'm so worried that I'll feel disconnected, that somehow my position will change,
[00:03:24] and I'll be over someone instead of with someone, or that I'll be resented.
[00:03:32] I remember years ago, being in Vista, and all these people coming to me saying,
[00:03:37] Cheryl, you need to exercise your God-given authority, and you need to talk to this leader.
[00:03:45] And the last thing I wanted to do was to talk to her.
[00:03:49] Her husband came to me, will you please talk to my wife?
[00:03:51] And I'm like, no.
[00:03:53] You know, not unless she comes to me and asks for it.
[00:03:56] I had women at church, will you please talk to our friend?
[00:03:58] No.
[00:03:59] My husband said, I think you ought to, no.
[00:04:03] I just didn't want to deal with it.
[00:04:05] I thought, you know, God, you work.
[00:04:08] You're the authority.
[00:04:08] You work.
[00:04:10] Finally, she called me and said, I think we need to talk.
[00:04:13] And I'm like, no.
[00:04:15] Because that was my fleece.
[00:04:16] Lord, if she calls me, then I will talk to her.
[00:04:20] Then I will do it.
[00:04:22] But I remember as I was praying about this, and as she called and said, can we get together?
[00:04:27] Can we talk?
[00:04:28] And I remember just my apprehension about doing it.
[00:04:32] And I was reading through a book.
[00:04:34] And let me just say, if you don't want to be convicted, never want to be convicted, then do not pick up the book, If, by Amy Carmichael.
[00:04:45] Just don't do it.
[00:04:46] Stay away.
[00:04:46] It's on the shelf.
[00:04:47] Don't buy it.
[00:04:48] Don't look at it.
[00:04:49] Don't open its pages.
[00:04:50] Because you will be convicted over and over again.
[00:04:53] It will be, ow, ow, ow, ow.
[00:04:55] It's kind of like listening to Pastor Romaine's studies.
[00:04:59] If you remember Romaine, they were always an ouch.
[00:05:02] But I picked it up, and this is what I read.
[00:05:06] If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the one concern should say, you do not understand, or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness.
[00:05:20] If I put my own good name before the other's highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
[00:05:29] Isn't that an ouch?
[00:05:31] If I resist telling you what you need to know, where you're getting slightly off, because I want you to think of me as kind and loving.
[00:05:44] I don't want to alienate you in any way, so I keep the truth from you.
[00:05:50] Then I know nothing of Calvary love.
[00:05:53] Leaders are to exercise authority.
[00:05:57] And they can, in the same way that Jesus did, for the health of the individual and the health of the church and the whole community.
[00:06:09] If they do it for love, in love, and by love, they can actually bring health to that individual and health to the whole body of Christ.
[00:06:28] So Paul begins his epistle to Timothy by citing the source of authority, the need for authority, and the spirit in which authority is to be exercised.
[00:06:41] The place where Timothy needed to exercise his authority.
[00:06:46] The purpose or objective for using his authority.
[00:06:49] And finally, by pointing to the good purposes and authority of the Mosaic law.
[00:06:59] So Paul begins his epistle to Timothy.
[00:07:02] Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior, and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope.
[00:07:09] Now, Paul was known to Timothy.
[00:07:13] Remember, he says, you're my true son in the faith.
[00:07:16] They had a relationship.
[00:07:17] Timothy knew Paul's testimony.
[00:07:21] Paul's testimony is something that he shared almost every place that he spoke.
[00:07:25] So Timothy knew that Paul was an apostle by the will of God, by the commandment of God.
[00:07:31] He knew this.
[00:07:32] So why does Paul introduce himself in this manner?
[00:07:40] He doesn't do it for the sake of authority.
[00:07:44] It's not authority for authority's sake.
[00:07:46] Look who I am.
[00:07:49] It's not about the office that Paul sought for himself.
[00:07:55] Paul is reminding Timothy, Timothy, I do what I do by the commandment of God and by the will of Jesus Christ.
[00:08:06] This is why I'm here.
[00:08:08] This is why I do what I do.
[00:08:12] You know, a lot of people don't realize.
[00:08:15] I am 99.9% introvert.
[00:08:18] I am so shy that I spent the majority of my childhood just holding on to my father or hiding behind my father.
[00:08:28] That was like my favorite place to be.
[00:08:30] And when I teach, it's about death to self.
[00:08:35] It's not about like, let me at those women.
[00:08:38] It's like, oh God, do I have to do that again?
[00:08:42] I do it.
[00:08:44] I do it.
[00:08:45] I do it for your health.
[00:08:46] I do it out of self-sacrifice because this place right here is the most uncomfortable place for me to be in the whole wide world.
[00:08:54] In fact, Brian's always pushing me.
[00:08:56] You have a gift.
[00:08:57] It's given to you by God.
[00:08:59] Exercise it.
[00:09:00] And I'm like, how about if I just write books and I just write in the books every message that I wish that I want someone else to give.
[00:09:09] I remember one time asking a woman to speak for me.
[00:09:12] She said, but I don't have the gift.
[00:09:14] I said, I'll write out the whole message that God has given me.
[00:09:17] You just have to get up in my place and do it.
[00:09:19] She did.
[00:09:20] She's like, that was so good.
[00:09:21] It went really well.
[00:09:22] I'm like, when you do it next week?
[00:09:23] She said, no.
[00:09:25] You see, we do what we do.
[00:09:27] We exercise our authority because it's given to us by the commandment of God, by the will of God.
[00:09:35] Not because it makes us feel so good.
[00:09:38] Not because we get a high from it.
[00:09:40] Not because we want to be the authority over people.
[00:09:44] But we want to bring, well, I'm getting not beyond myself.
[00:09:49] So Paul begins that he is by the commandment or the ordination, the will, the degree of God.
[00:09:56] Paul is an apostle, a sent one, a representative of Jesus Christ.
[00:10:01] His mission is to lead people to the salvation that is available to all of us through Christ Jesus,
[00:10:10] who is our Lord, our sovereign, our leader, our hope.
[00:10:13] The reason that we are right with God, our connection.
[00:10:17] His authority is from God for the purposes of God in order to see people in alignment with God through Jesus Christ.
[00:10:31] To see them preserved, kept for God.
[00:10:35] In other words, our authority, and I'm talking to leaders here.
[00:10:40] All of you are leaders.
[00:10:41] Our authority is not for our own sake or advancement.
[00:10:47] But the authority we have been given is for the purposes of God.
[00:10:55] It's for how he wants to use each of us in the church and in the lives of others.
[00:11:07] Paul did not receive his authority to be superior to everyone or to have the right to boss everybody around or to secure himself,
[00:11:17] but to represent the Lord and help the people of God to be right with God through Christ.
[00:11:26] So he writes to Timothy, my true son in the faith.
[00:11:29] Now, Paul is reminding Timothy of his authority, of his call.
[00:11:35] As a son, Timothy carries the same authority by faith in Jesus Christ that a father has.
[00:11:43] Timothy needs to exercise that authority by grace, mercy, and peace.
[00:11:50] So these gifts from God are not only how Timothy will exercise his authority,
[00:12:00] but what Timothy needs to feel to know personally before he can give them to others.
[00:12:10] I must know the grace of God.
[00:12:14] I must know who I am without Jesus Christ.
[00:12:20] I've had those moments in my Christian relationship where I just feel God turn,
[00:12:25] and I feel so alone that I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, don't leave me.
[00:12:30] Don't do that again.
[00:12:32] You've all heard this story.
[00:12:34] I've told you this story about being in Vista.
[00:12:37] I'm going to do a conference on grace, and I was having such a good week.
[00:12:42] I was just like being so loving to my kids, such a great mom week.
[00:12:48] I was packing everybody's bag because we were going to England where I would speak about the Lord
[00:12:56] and just minister to so many people.
[00:12:59] I mean, I was having such an anointed week.
[00:13:01] I was feeling pretty good, and I was going to go tell everybody else how they needed grace
[00:13:09] until my daughter came in with her head shaved.
[00:13:12] And when I saw that bald girl who had golden locks of hair before that moment,
[00:13:20] I fell apart.
[00:13:21] I screamed.
[00:13:22] I yelled.
[00:13:23] I threw the laundry in the air.
[00:13:25] I dumped out every suitcase I had packed and threw it over this staircase.
[00:13:30] I ran into my bedroom, locked the door because I knew I wasn't safe,
[00:13:34] but I didn't know what was wrong with me.
[00:13:36] And I'm like, oh, God, how can this be me?
[00:13:39] How can I be doing these things?
[00:13:42] Remember yesterday I was in a blessed place.
[00:13:45] Look at me today.
[00:13:46] Who are you?
[00:13:47] I mean, I even looked in the mirror like, who are you?
[00:13:50] I mean, I knew this was not who I was.
[00:13:55] I'm telling God, this is not me.
[00:13:58] God's like, oh, yeah, it is.
[00:13:59] Oh, yeah.
[00:14:00] Oh, yeah.
[00:14:00] Oh, yeah.
[00:14:00] Oh, yeah.
[00:14:01] It's you.
[00:14:02] It's you.
[00:14:02] It's you.
[00:14:02] Like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:14:04] It's not me.
[00:14:05] It's not me.
[00:14:06] Brian comes in.
[00:14:07] He goes, what is your problem?
[00:14:08] And I'm like, yeah, it's it.
[00:14:11] You know?
[00:14:12] I'm going for the jugular.
[00:14:14] Like, I know where your neck is.
[00:14:15] It was, he just leaves.
[00:14:17] And I heard him outside in the hallway saying to the kids, she's not safe.
[00:14:21] Right now.
[00:14:21] I don't know what's going on with your mother, but she's not safe.
[00:14:25] And I wasn't.
[00:14:26] I was not safe.
[00:14:27] I even took a bath.
[00:14:29] Like, I'm going to be cleansed.
[00:14:30] It's going to be a ritual.
[00:14:32] I'm going to be so much nicer.
[00:14:34] But Brian came back in and he decided to say something else to me.
[00:14:38] I baptized him.
[00:14:41] I literally threw as much water as I could out.
[00:14:43] I mean, I was gone.
[00:14:46] I got out of the bath again.
[00:14:47] I said, Lord, this is not me.
[00:14:49] I don't know who I am.
[00:14:50] Brian came in and said, you're going to teach tomorrow on grace.
[00:14:53] And I'm like, no.
[00:14:54] And I tore up my notes in front of him.
[00:14:57] He's just like, you've got something going on.
[00:15:01] So I locked the door again.
[00:15:03] I went on my knees and I said, God, what is going on with me?
[00:15:06] I think God wanted me to tear up those notes because God said, Cheryl, this is you without grace.
[00:15:12] This is you.
[00:15:13] This is the real you without grace.
[00:15:17] Now, I want you to write a new lesson and I'll tell you what to say.
[00:15:23] And when I went the next day, I was a humble little pastor's wife saying, you know what?
[00:15:28] Without grace, I'm a monster.
[00:15:30] And that's why I need grace.
[00:15:32] But I believe you're monsters too without the grace of God.
[00:15:36] You know, we need to feel it because we're not giving each other that grace lately.
[00:15:41] And you know where there's no grace?
[00:15:43] Facebook.
[00:15:45] Seriously.
[00:15:46] It's like, I don't even post.
[00:15:52] I don't even post.
[00:15:53] I like even stopped doing Instagrams.
[00:15:56] Like, except for the puppy one.
[00:15:58] Because I don't know what people are going to do anymore.
[00:16:02] We have forgotten who we are without the grace of God.
[00:16:06] We've gotten so used to being in grace that we start thinking we deserve it.
[00:16:12] But the whole issue of grace is you don't deserve it.
[00:16:16] And neither do they and they and they and they and they.
[00:16:19] No one deserves the grace.
[00:16:22] No one.
[00:16:23] That's why grace is grace.
[00:16:24] Because it's undeserved.
[00:16:26] We need to feel the mercy again.
[00:16:28] Oh my goodness, I've been forgiven.
[00:16:31] Because we've stopped forgiving.
[00:16:33] And we've stopped showing that forgiveness of God to people.
[00:16:37] We're like, you're out, you're out, you're out, you're out, you're out.
[00:16:40] You know?
[00:16:41] We have become the cancel culture.
[00:16:43] Not just out there in the toxic environment, but in the church.
[00:16:48] We need to know mercy.
[00:16:50] We need to start extending mercy.
[00:16:52] We need to remember how much mercy that we have been given.
[00:16:56] And we are forgiven.
[00:16:58] We need to remember peace.
[00:17:00] Shalom.
[00:17:00] Shalom.
[00:17:01] That it's about putting people and reconciling people to God.
[00:17:07] And the absence of anxiety in our life is not because we're so together, but we're so connected to Jesus Christ.
[00:17:16] This is what we have been given.
[00:17:19] But we haven't been given just to say, like, yeah, I've got grace.
[00:17:23] I've got mercy.
[00:17:24] I've got peace.
[00:17:25] Too bad.
[00:17:26] I'm so sorry for you.
[00:17:27] It was God's gift to me.
[00:17:30] Or I've got a little bit more mercy and peace than you do.
[00:17:33] Sorry.
[00:17:34] It's not for comparative purposes.
[00:17:36] We have been given these things to use and give to others.
[00:17:42] This is the environment that we are to live in and where we are to exercise and how we're to exercise our authority.
[00:17:52] Not only is Timothy to exercise his authority in this way, but there to be so resident in him, always at the forefront of everything he does.
[00:18:04] He must receive these for himself from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:18:09] There must be a constant connectedness to God so that the exercise of authority comes from the grace, mercy, and shalom that God and Christ are pouring into Timothy regularly, daily.
[00:18:22] Now, moving on to verses 3 and 4.
[00:18:25] This is the where and how Timothy is to exercise his authority.
[00:18:30] Paul intentionally left Timothy in Ephesus to exercise authority.
[00:18:37] When we get to the book of Titus, Paul is saying, I left you in Crete to exercise authority.
[00:18:44] How?
[00:18:45] By raising up godly leadership.
[00:18:50] But Paul says to Timothy, I left you there because I want you to charge some that they teach no other doctrine.
[00:18:59] I want you to get people off of all these distractions and ways they're going.
[00:19:06] I want you to tell people it's not about masks or no masks.
[00:19:10] It's not about the vaccinated or the non-vaccinated.
[00:19:13] It's not about the Trumpers or the Bidens or the Newsoms or the Gruesoms.
[00:19:19] It's not about any of that.
[00:19:21] It's about Jesus.
[00:19:23] It's about Jesus.
[00:19:25] I want you to bring them back to Jesus.
[00:19:28] I want you to put them on the path of Jesus.
[00:19:32] You know what?
[00:19:34] We're in a hot air balloon that's been pierced and we're going down.
[00:19:38] And we need Jesus.
[00:19:40] We need Jesus.
[00:19:43] And so Paul says, I want you to bring these people back to Jesus.
[00:19:49] It's important to remember that these people came straight out of the occult and paganism.
[00:19:54] And there were still residual ways and concepts and ideas that needed to be corrected.
[00:20:02] Timothy was not just to let these people do whatever felt natural.
[00:20:08] He was to lead them in the ways that were supernatural.
[00:20:15] And so he had to bring them back to the way of Jesus.
[00:20:19] Now, some people were telling fables.
[00:20:21] They were making up stories about Jesus to make Jesus more attractive.
[00:20:27] Yes, they were making up stories about I was healed yesterday when they really weren't.
[00:20:31] That's what the Apocrypha is.
[00:20:34] It was made up stories about Jesus.
[00:20:37] They were claiming to hear things from apostles and people and getting new understandings that they didn't have.
[00:20:45] When I was in junior high and it was the hippie time, I've told you this story before, but they took us to Palm Springs, dropped us off, and they said, witness.
[00:20:55] Witness.
[00:20:55] Now, the only experience I had had with witnesses, those are people that are witnessing, is when they would tell their testimony.
[00:21:08] I'm 12 years old.
[00:21:09] I was raised by Chuck and Kay Smith.
[00:21:12] They wouldn't even let me sin.
[00:21:14] Even if I wanted to, it couldn't have happened.
[00:21:17] I didn't have that kind of atmosphere.
[00:21:20] So you had to give your testimony.
[00:21:22] So I walked up to a group of hippies.
[00:21:25] They were all on the ground.
[00:21:26] And I just walked up to them and I said, you guys need Jesus.
[00:21:30] And they're like, what do you know about life?
[00:21:33] I'm like, a lot.
[00:21:35] You know, you don't even want to know where I've been.
[00:21:39] It's dark.
[00:21:40] It's bad.
[00:21:41] Ugly.
[00:21:41] But then I met Jesus.
[00:21:44] And they're like, what'd you do?
[00:21:46] Like, pot.
[00:21:49] Because I was thinking, I've carried my mom's pots from place to place.
[00:21:52] I couldn't totally lie, you know.
[00:21:55] It wasn't allowed in my environment.
[00:21:57] So they're like, okay, what is a roach clip?
[00:22:01] I said, a roach clip?
[00:22:03] I said, it's the bug that bites you when you smoke too much pot.
[00:22:08] Bill Welsh, who's now the pastor in Huntington Beach, he overheard me giving my pseudo testimony.
[00:22:14] And he came up and he said he had good news for a modern man.
[00:22:17] He said, Cheryl, I've got a scripture for you for moments.
[00:22:19] He says, if my lie helps somebody to come to Jesus, then should I lie and embellish my life?
[00:22:25] And I'm like, and then no way.
[00:22:29] God forbid.
[00:22:31] He goes, Cheryl, read this out loud.
[00:22:33] I'm like, oh, oh.
[00:22:37] He goes, yeah, tell the truth.
[00:22:42] Just tell them how good Jesus is.
[00:22:44] You don't need to make up a story.
[00:22:45] They were making up stories.
[00:22:48] Because they thought that would lead people to Jesus.
[00:22:51] Others were delving into genealogies.
[00:22:54] This has to do with speculative teachings or assumptions about the Old Testament.
[00:22:59] This testament.
[00:23:01] It's when you get into the Nephilim.
[00:23:03] Oh, I remember a time when everybody was into the Nephilim.
[00:23:07] Not only were they, you're like, who are the Nephilim?
[00:23:10] You don't need to know.
[00:23:11] But these are, okay.
[00:23:13] They were the giants, you know, that when the sons of God intermarried with the daughters of man.
[00:23:19] We don't really know what that means.
[00:23:21] But there's all this speculation that maybe these were the ancient Zeus and Aphrodite and Artemis,
[00:23:30] all these different deities.
[00:23:31] There were others that were saying, no, there's still Nephilim around us.
[00:23:35] This is in the 70s.
[00:23:36] Like, there's still Nephilim.
[00:23:38] I think you're a Nephilim.
[00:23:39] How do you know if you're not a Nephilim?
[00:23:41] I mean, but this kind of stuff was going on in Paul's time.
[00:23:44] He said, get them out of all this speculation.
[00:23:47] We've got the gospel.
[00:23:49] We, you know, as Moses said to the people of God, the things, the secret things belong to the Lord.
[00:23:57] There's a lot of things in the Bible we're not going to understand, okay?
[00:24:00] Like Nephilim.
[00:24:02] A lot of secret things belong to the Lord.
[00:24:04] But the things that have been revealed to us, like the gospel, this is ours.
[00:24:11] And this we can pass on to our kids.
[00:24:14] Get out of this speculation.
[00:24:16] So Paul was telling Timothy, charge them.
[00:24:19] Stop them from speculating and making up stories.
[00:24:24] The purpose for charging these people is to prevent disputes.
[00:24:31] Taking authority and exercising it can be difficult.
[00:24:35] If we're going to be honest, we've all misused power before.
[00:24:39] Either by not exercising it enough or overdoing it.
[00:24:42] Often we hesitate because we don't want to alienate people or cause resentment.
[00:24:48] But there is a healthy way to do it.
[00:24:51] And that is with a heart of love like Jesus.
[00:24:54] As we exercise authority with love, our motive is for the betterment of the person to bring growth and understanding.
[00:25:01] We hope you have been blessed by today's Bible study.
[00:25:04] For more information about the Gracious Words radio program and the teaching ministry of Cheryl Broderson,
[00:25:09] please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:13] Coming up next time on the Gracious Words program, we'll look further at leadership and authority
[00:25:18] as we continue our series, Letters to Lead, Live, and Love By,
[00:25:22] in the first epistle to Timothy with Cheryl Broderson.
[00:25:26] We do hope you make plans to join us.
[00:25:28] Again, for more information, please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:52] This program is sponsored by Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
Sponsors
