Survey of the Letters of Paul: 1 Timothy 1:7
1 Timothy 1:7
Let’s get to the heart of this immediately. There is
no room in God’s church for self-promotion!
Self-promotion is one person attempting to impress
another and/or to further his own agenda. It is a
quest for preeminence in the congregation. This
ultimately fails on all counts.
Could one gain preeminence with an entire military
army by appealing to its lowest privates and
sergeants? This is what a person is doing by
self-promoting himself among humans in God’s Church.
This is God’s Church, created and administered by
Him through Christ. Self-promotion does not work
with God. Both Christ and the apostle Paul condemn
those that self-promote themselves.
The act of self-promotion is linked directly to the
element of lying in the church [see Minister’s
Notebook on
Lying in the Church].
The Pharisees continually sought the preeminence and
were charged by Jesus as being hypocrites, which is
to say “actors” or liars. In my Bible dictionary,
for the definition of “lie” I read, “…for a life
lived under false pretenses, a hypocritical life.”
One cannot lie about church
related elements, including business, spiritual
teachings, doctrines, or administration. Ananias and
Sapphira did and died, losing their salvation. They
were not just lying before men, but before the Holy
Spirit and, therefore God, the Father.
In the "self-promotion" or "self-serving attitude"
we are talking about the church. Therefore, if such
a thing were to happen, it is being done in the
presence of the Holy Spirit and Christ, the Head of
the Church. Unlike lying, this would not necessarily
put such a person in danger of the lake of fire
[losing one's salvation]. One can offer repentance.
When one engages in self-promotion, it is an
absolute given that this person has a poor
relationship with God and the Word of God, which is
the mind of that same God. He is looking for praise
from MEN. In a recent Bible study I talked about the
difference between the human and a spirit being,
such as God or Christ. I liken the human to a penny.
I liken a spirit being to a Google dollars. That is
the numeral one followed by one-hundred zeros. In
fact, I say that, compared to a penny [the human], a
spirit being is likened to a Google dollars times a
Google dollars times a Google dollars (say that for
3 full days). THEREFORE, when one engages in
self-promotion, he or she is appealing to the
"penny" in the church and denying the spirit beings
(God and Christ) worth googles MORE. Such denial
denotes gross quenching of that relationship.
There is no room for self-promotion in God's Church.
The second it is done, the one doing it is
proclaiming he or she lacks relationship with God.
No self-promotion is worth having to face Christ on
this charge, which He would surely bring if not
repented of.
The Self-Serving Attitude
The self-serving attitude, which is actually
“self promotion” taken a step further, the
individual actually attempts to DISPLACE normal
church activities to do the self-promotion. This
might include one attempting to manipulate events,
such as having the local church change a date or
time for his sermon or other such presentation. It
might be an individual canceling one commitment so
as to be at another location or with people that
might help him further his personal agenda. This
type of person shows a marked lack of interest or
concerns for other people or their needs.
Promotion of Christ
Every time an outstanding sermon, sermonette or
Bible Study is given, who gets the credit? Our
doctrine on the
ministry says God
gets the
credit and praise.
After all, it was CHRIST in the speaker that
performed the sermon, the sermonette and the Bible
study. When the congregation has a most positive
response to a sermon, sermonette or Bible study, how
did THAT happen? Who gets the credit there? The best
sermon in the world is MEANINGLESS if there is not
someone with the Holy Spirit to hear and react (2
Cor. 2:14). Therefore, when a congregation has a
positive reaction to a sermon or Bible study and
takes action to have the minister back, they are
REACTING TO CHRIST. They are exhibiting excited
hunger for the Word of God. A minister in close
relationship to God could hardly take credit for
what he did.
In the case of any good sermon or Bible study,
Christ gets the credit for speaking through the
speaker and for inspiring the hearing of the
firstfruits that heard it. Christ must be promoted.
We must feed the flock and we must get real excited
when something most effective happens.
Which one is the counterfeit?
The reality of life in the Body of Christ is that
for everything good, Satan has a negative
counterfeit? Some counterfeit money has been so good
as to fool long time experts at the Treasury
Department. There is a fine line of discernment
between a self-serving attitude and someone showing
boldness and excitement in and for the Work of God.
The self-promoter is not sensitive to the
congregation. The sincere individual is a servant of
the congregation. The self-promoter puts himself in
the light. The true firstfruit gives all praise to
Christ and God, the Father. One is self-centered,
the other Christ-centered. One speaks to his
importance and position while the other speaks to
the importance of the whole congregation. The
self-promoter relies on his own talent, while the
Christ-promoter puts full reliance in the power of
the Holy Spirit working in and through him. Both
stand before the throne of God. One will produce
real lasting fruit and the other will not. One will
have a
slick presentation
and the other will humbly let Christ speak for him.
The deceitful works of the self-promoter will
increase until he is fully exposed.
But evil men and seducers
shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being
deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou
hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of
whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child
thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able
to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. –2 Tim 3:13-15
Your attitude
The question now is how are you going to react to
this situation? I had a communication with a humble,
sincere member the other day and he admitted to me
that his knee-jerk reaction tended toward assuming
the negative. That anyone acting in a bold manner
was clearly a person full of himself and a
self-promoter. My encouragement to him was to assume
the best until such time as the self-promoter tips
his or her hand. Negative behavior is always exposed
in time as shown in the above scripture. Your
admonition is to "continue in the things you have
learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou
hast learned them." Immerse yourself in the Word of
God and you will easily see the self-promoter from
the servant of the Almighty. God has words for those
who attempt to serve both Him and the self…
He that is faithful in that
which is least is faithful also in much: and he that
is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If
therefore ye have not been faithful in the
unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust
the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in
that which is another man's, who shall give you that
which is your own? No servant can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the
Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these
things: and they derided him. And he said unto them,
Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but
God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly
esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of
God. – Luke 16:10-15
---end---
Paul is saying in verse 7 that several false
teachers will arise but that there is no room in
God's church or your individual Salvation Process
for any of them.
See, "Era
of Slick Arguments."