Student Study Guide
Lesson 27
The Attributes of a Leader - Pt. 3
Section 1 - Attribute Seven: Not Given to Wine
A Leader Who Walks Fully Alert and Surrendered
We continue through the sixteen attributes of a leader from 1 Timothy 3. This lesson works through three more: not given to wine, not a striker, and not greedy for filthy lucre. Each one cuts to the heart of what disqualifies men and women from genuine spiritual leadership.
I personally do not drink - not a drop. And I want to be honest: I cannot tell you that one glass of wine is sin or will send you to hell. But I can give you several serious reasons why a leader, and every committed believer who wants to walk closely with God, should prayerfully consider avoiding alcohol entirely.
A Historical Note: The everyday wine in Jesus' day was dramatically different from what fills a glass today - naturally fermented, much weaker, and usually heavily diluted with water. What passes for wine or a mixed drink today is far more concentrated and far more potent. That difference matters more than most people want to admit.
1. During the Second Great Awakening, leaders like Charles Finney watched cheap, strong distilled spirits flood society and destroy families. They called believers to total as a way to honor God and love their neighbors. The Church stepped up because the alcohol of their day had become a serious to everything they were fighting for spiritually.
✍ The Timothy Passage - A Medicinal Prescription
Paul had to instruct Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach. The very fact that he had to tell him this shows that Timothy's normal practice was to avoid it entirely. Paul was giving a specific, practical prescription for medicinal use because local water was often contaminated. That was not a license for social drinking. It was a targeted remedy in a very different world.
2. Alcohol's very first effect in the bloodstream is to weaken the brain's ability to say . It lowers and makes resistance to temptation harder, even after just one or two drinks. We already live in a world saturated with temptation - we have enough battles without voluntarily putting something in our body that makes it to stumble.
The Pattern Behind the Falls: In almost every case of a prominent minister who has fallen into serious sin, if you look behind the scenes you will find alcohol was involved somewhere in the story. It quietly lowered their guard and opened the door to the more visible failures that followed. We keep losing people. We keep watching leaders fall. The cost is too high.
3. The Bible prohibition is to be "not given" (addicted) to wine. Consider: what would have qualified as "one given to wine" back then would require far more consumption, because the alcohol content was far . Four glasses of wine back then are equal to today. Hard liquor was not even invented for another 1,200 years.
4. I choose not to drink because I love Jesus more than any pleasure. I want nothing my sensitivity to the Holy Spirit or weakening my stand for righteousness.
Your Reflection
Section 2 - The Four Tests for Gray Areas
A Framework for Every Questionable Area of Life
There are areas of the Christian life that people call "gray zones" - things Scripture does not explicitly forbid by name. But the lesson offers four tests you can apply to any questionable area. If an activity fails the majority of these tests, you should not be doing it.
Ask honestly: "Why do I want to do this?" Does it line up with "Let him deny himself" (Matt. 16:24)? "Not my will, but Yours" (Matt. 26:39)? "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20)? If the honest motive fails - stop. No further argument needed.
"All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not" (1 Cor. 10:23). Is the activity going to build your spiritual life? Does it benefit others spiritually? Is there any eternal value in it? If not - why are you doing it?
"Judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock… in his brother's way" (Rom. 14:13). It may be lawful for you - but does it cause someone else to stumble? Love demands you restrain yourself when your freedom becomes another's stumbling block.
"Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22). Not just evil - all appearance of evil. Will this compromise your testimony? Will this give the enemy ground to slander the name of Christ through your life? If so - avoid it.
✍ The Georgia Church Account
When beginning to minister at a church in Georgia, my wife wore pants - nothing immodest, just pants. A number of older Pentecostal members took issue with it. Did we get an attitude about our freedom in Christ? No. My wife quietly chose to wear only dresses - not just in church, but anywhere within 30 miles of that church.
It was not worth causing those people to stumble and close their hearts to the Word of God we had come to bring them. That is what Paul meant: "I have become all things to all men" (1 Cor. 9:22) - not adopting the world's lifestyle, but restraining yourself from things you are free to do when those things would cause others to not receive the gospel.
5. Run every questionable area of your life through these four tests: the motive test, the test, the stumbling block test, and the of evil test. This is not legalism. This is . This is preferring your brother above yourself.
Your Reflection
Section 3 - Attribute Eight: Not a Striker
The Leader Is a Peacemaker, Not a Quarreler
The word "striker" means one who is quarrelsome. With that one word, a significant portion of the church disqualifies itself from leadership. Have you ever noticed people who simply love to argue? They quarrel about this, they fight about that, they challenge everything. They are never at peace. They are always stirring up contention. The Bible is absolutely clear: that person is disqualified from leadership.
6. The Bible says to avoid foolish and unlearned questions, "knowing that they do strifes" (2 Tim. 2:23). When someone comes to you looking for an argument, you do not have to take the . Simply say, "I'm not going to get into that debate."
7. A leader is not . A leader is a . A leader speaks the Word, stands on the Word, and refuses to be dragged into the mud of endless, fruitless debate.
You have the God of love. You have the living Word. You have no need to win arguments.
Your Reflection
Section 4 - Attribute Nine: Not Greedy for Filthy Lucre
You Cannot Serve Two Masters
The word "filthy" here refers to vile or corrupt, and "lucre" speaks of money or substance. Filthy lucre is not money itself - money is not evil. But when you develop an unholy, consuming desire for it, when you are willing to violate the Word of God and abuse the people around you to obtain it, it has become filthy lucre. And this is rampant in the modern church.
8. We see preachers manufacturing words because they need a large offering. We see leaders building their own and calling it ministry. We see "prophets" selling their "" to those who can afford the high price.
9. Mammon was the Philistine god of provision and wealth. Jesus is saying plainly: there are two at war for your allegiance. If you seek God first, He promises that all the things you need will be to you. But if you seek the "things," you are worshipping the wrong .
✍ The Chicago Conference Account
At a conference in Chicago in the 1990s, a group of well-known preachers took me into designer stores - Armani, Versace, Gucci - practically salivating over $2,000 suits (worth $4,500 in 2026). "Steve, you've got to try this. Once you wear one of these, you'll never want anything else."
I walked out of those stores and said, "God, I don't want this." They were lusting after expensive things - and they saw nothing wrong with it. They were not serving God. They were serving mammon.
10. The love of money does not always look like a man counting his cash with a grin. It looks like someone always thinking about the next thing they can . It looks like someone who will quietly over others to reach the next level. It looks like someone who will shade the from the pulpit because they need the offering to be large.
The Standard of Contentment: The leaders God is raising up in the end times must be able to say with Paul: "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound" (Phil. 4:11-12). They are not rattled by abundance or by lack, because neither one defines them. Their identity is in Christ, and their provision is in the hands of God.
11. If we are going to see the end-time army God is raising up, those leaders must be free of the of money. A leader who is greedy for filthy lucre is .
Final Reflection
Lesson 27 - Practice Test
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Part A: Multiple Choice (5 questions · 2 pts each)
1. What does the lesson say the account of Paul instructing Timothy to take wine for his stomach actually demonstrates about Timothy?
2. What does the lesson identify as alcohol's very first effect in the bloodstream?
3. According to the lesson, what does "not a striker" mean in the context of 1 Timothy 3?
4. What does the lesson say "filthy lucre" actually refers to?
5. What did the lesson say the Georgia church account demonstrates about Paul's statement "I have become all things to all men"?
Part B: True or False (6 statements · 1 pt each)
1. The lesson explicitly states that drinking one glass of wine is sin and will send a person to hell.
2. The four tests for gray areas (motive, profitability, stumbling block, appearance of evil) constitute legalism according to this lesson.
3. According to the lesson, wine in Jesus' day was dramatically different from modern wine - much weaker and usually heavily diluted with water.
4. The lesson teaches that a leader who avoids quarreling must also avoid all confrontation and never take a firm stand on any issue.
5. The lesson says the love of money always looks like someone visibly hoarding cash - it does not appear in subtler forms like always wanting the next acquisition or shading the truth for a larger offering.
6. According to this lesson, an end-time leader must be able to say with Paul that they have learned to be content in both abundance and in lack - neither one defines them.
Part C: Fill in the Blank (5 items · 1 pt each)
1. Alcohol's very first effect in the bloodstream is to weaken the brain's ability to say .
2. "Abstain from all of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22) - not just evil itself, but everything that even looks like it.
3. The word "striker" means one who is .
4. Mammon was the Philistine god of provision and wealth. Jesus says plainly: "Ye cannot serve God and " (Matt. 6:24).
5. A leader greedy for filthy lucre is from leadership.
Part D: Short Answer (completion credit)
1. Explain the four tests for gray areas and why the lesson says applying them is not legalism but love. Give an example of how one of the tests would work in practice.
2. The lesson says the love of money "does not always look like a man sitting and counting his cash with a grin." Describe the three subtler forms of greed the lesson identifies, and explain why each one disqualifies a leader.
3. A leader is a peacemaker, not a quarreler. What does the lesson say a leader should do when someone comes looking for a debate or argument? How does this reflect the spirit of 1 Corinthians 1:10?
Part E - Before You Leave
Apply the four gray-area tests to one specific habit or activity in your life right now that you have been uncertain about. Which tests does it fail? What does that require of you?
Is there any area of your ministry or daily decisions where money is driving your choices more than God is? What is one specific step toward the contentment of Philippians 4:11 that you will take this week?