In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and he made all that is good and right in six days, and on the seventh day, he blessed everything he made, including man, made in the image of God, woman and man. And what did he do? He made man to live in a relationship with himself on earth, to be his perfect image bearers, and to lead a kingdom of God on earth through humanity. Well, this humanity was perfect. Men and women were meant to be rulers of the earth, obviously through Adam, the king, Eve, his wife, helping him in their service. They were to fill the earth, to subdue it, to fill it with children who would be worshipers of the king, God king. But what happened? It didn't take long before Adam and Eve disobeyed God, broke their relationship with Him, and then brought sin and death and destruction and damnation. This is our story, this is the story of every human, and this is the story of the church. Because we see the beginning of God's church, his people, actually happening after Adam and Eve fall in the garden. We see God instituting, if you will, a saving plan. He says, there will be one who comes to, who will be the, the bruise, the head of the snake, he will crush the head of the snake, the one, the Satan who deceived Adam and Eve, who lied to them, and there will be a human. that human that was foreshadowed in the beginning of the Bible is Jesus Christ. And so as we see in Old Testament history leading up until New Testament history, all of the Bible is a story about Jesus Christ coming to save sinful people. And so what happens when all of those prophecies and all of that history and all of God's teaching actually land on Jesus Christ? What do we see? We see Jesus Christ fulfilling all these prophecies and we see Him instituting a church, a people of God on earth. It's important for us to be reminded of the gospel truth that it's only through Jesus Christ and only through participation in His church that people are rightly, if you will, connected to Christ in the way that Christ commands. It doesn't mean that you are saved because you go to church, but it is true that Christ instituted his people to live out a certain way on earth until he comes back. And so it's so important, the institution that Jesus himself set up. Last week, as we began this series about understanding what it is to have qualified male deacons and elders, those leaders of the church of Jesus Christ, we were able to go over a few different points that were important for us to understand. I'll just quickly review them. Last week, talking all about his church, we said that Christ is the head, the builder, and the chief shepherd of his church. Meaning, even though there is a human group on earth, what we call the church, we are a local church here, we are an organization, it is really Christ who is the head of this church, and he's the head of every church. And he's not only the head, he's the builder, he's the one who is growing it, he's the one who's fashioning it, he's the one who's nourishing it. And it's true, he's in heaven right now, but he's spiritually growing it, spiritually nourishing us through his word, through the preaching of his word, through our faith. but he's also physically building it in the sense that there are more people who are joining his church all the time. But he is the head, the builder, and the chief shepherd. Our second point was that Christ has given power and authority to his local churches to carry out his will. So Christ is king, Christ is head and ruler and builder, but he delegates and gives his kingly authority to his local churches on earth. And we saw that this was the local churches with both the congregation and its leaders. It wasn't just one or the other. It's actually the church is supposed to have both a congregation and leaders. And so, therefore, since they've been given the power and authority, number three, the local church is to call then qualified male elders and deacons to be able to be the rightful leaders within his church. Christ has appointed certain men to be able to do this, and it's the church's responsibility to therefore recognize who those men are. We see it from Scripture in our passage today that God, Christ, gives qualifications. We are to find men who are qualified already, not that they will be qualified in the future, they're qualified today, and therefore we are to recognize, ah, God has brought us leaders who are qualified in our midst, therefore it is our responsibility to be able to call them to serve in our midst in the way that Christ is called. And the fourth point was that the local churches to prayerfully ordain, to install, to appoint elders and deacons by the vote of its members. And we saw that clearly in the passage of Acts. We see that in other places where the church votes on important things. The church has the power to take in new members, the church has the power to cast out rebellious members, has the power to bring back in repentant members, has the power to elect and vote for its officers. These are the power of the church, local churches, to do this. And so today we're transitioning now away from the local church as in its rights and responsibilities. Now we're looking at the specific office of elder, often called pastor or overseer. We're gonna see that terminology used today. Overseer, pastor, elder, bishop is another word that's been used. Those are all different words talking about the same office, the same position, maybe from slightly different angles. Overseer kind of talks about the idea that they have oversight. They rule like a leader would lead a group. They oversee the affairs of the church. An elder is talking, kind of connoting the idea that they're older, they're wiser, they're able to lead with wisdom and understanding. They're not young or they're not immature, they're mature. That's what that elder kind of brings your mind to. Pastor talks about the kind of work that they do. They shepherd the flock. They act like a shepherd would to a flock. What do they do? They guide it, they guard it, they protect it, they feed it. They take, shepherds take the flocks to greener pastures so that they can eat well and be nourished. That's the work of a pastor. We're gonna talk more about that. So our main question here for this morning is gonna be dealing with elders, and so we're gonna ask it in this way. What must we know regarding what Christ requires of elders in his churches? What must we know regarding what Christ, because Christ is the one who's calling these elders to serve in his church, the church is the one recognizing and affirming that call in their life and saying, yes, do that here. Well, but Christ is the one who sets out his standards. So what must we know regarding what Christ requires, what Christ's standards are for his elders in the church? So our first point, we'll have three this morning, is this. That Christ Jesus requires that elders have the right character traits to serve in his churches. Christ requires, it's not a suggestion or a hope, it's a necessity, that elders have the right character traits to serve in his churches. So let's just look at 1 Timothy. Verse one says, this saying is trustworthy, and if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Let me first say that a person must serve willingly. They should desire the office. They should want to serve. They should not serve begrudgingly, as if they have to. Oh man, do I have to do this? It is not good for somebody to serve begrudgingly, amen? How many times have you had, I don't know, children in your home, or maybe you were the child at one time, said, hey, Johnny, Susie, enter your name, whatever, could you please pick up the room or take out the trash? Yeah, sure. Right? We understand that it's better to serve with a joyful heart. It's better to serve because you know it's good and right and you're happy to do so. So notice what he says. Anyone who aspires, who wants to be an overseer, they want a good thing. They desire a noble task. It's a good thing to want to serve the church in this way. But the truth is also that not anybody can serve in this way. It must be a male, and it must be a qualified male. It must be somebody who fits the right character traits. And so let's get into verse two here, where we now begin a list. of character traits. And let me just first say, unfortunately, well, I guess fortunately for you all, we're only going to take one week on elders. We could take these next verses and break them down one category per week. I mean, it really is. We could flesh this out to a much broader study than what we're going to do today. I want to just set your expectations. We're not going to go as deep as we have in other times because I think the overview is what is helpful for us today. But let's look at our verse two. Therefore, since it's a good noble task that should be desired and an overseer must be, again, not could be, but must be, Above reproach. I'll stop here and make comments at some of these. Above reproach is the first, and if you will, catch-all phrase that is needed to be a leader, particularly elder or deacon in the church. Above reproach means nobody has anything against you. Right, nobody's got any gotchas, no skeletons in the closet. There's nothing to hide. If something were to come up about you, people would understand, but wait, this person, as far as I can tell, is a trustworthy person. I would be surprised if there was anything found on this person. Above reproach is an important general statement that encompasses most everything in a part of a person's life. Let me first say this, by the way. What we're going to talk about right now is absolutely necessary for elders and for deacons. But let me just dispel maybe a potential myth out there. This list that we're going to be getting today is applicable and true for every one of you as well. These qualifications are qualifications for Christians. They're qualifications for righteousness. They're not some separate list that only certain people could attain to. It actually is the list that we're all seeking to live by. The difference is that a qualified male elder or elder candidate is, by and large, living it out. where other people maybe have areas of significant struggle or lack of victory, when it says an elder must be above reproach, it's not saying that they're sinless. It's not saying that they're perfect. What it's saying is, if you look at the broad categories of life, they are, by and large, living a godly, victorious life. Again, not perfect. There's no such thing as a sinless or a never-gonna-sin-again elder. What happens is a person who sins, when they sin, an elder, a person who's above reproach, it's not that they don't sin, it's that when they sin, they deal with it. They mourn it, they hate it, they confess it, they seek to kill it. If it comes back, they punch back, right? They're not hiding, they're dealing with sin. Because we live in a fallen world, and the only time we're going to have sinless people is in heaven. Christ is the only sinless one, amen? And so when we look to our elders, we must not look too much to find perfection. We must look to find a shadow and an echo of Christ. And that is reasonable and By and large, you point me to what Christ looks like. Not perfection yet, but you point me in that general direction. Above reproach, nothing that anybody could accuse you of. Like, another word would be blameless. That doesn't mean perfect, it means nobody's got any blame against you, right? Because you're living a good life. That's our first qualification. The second one, moving from general now to more specific, the husband of one wife, and this is why we say male elders, because it's not saying the spouse of another spouse. It's clearly one man and one woman, and it's the husband who's the elder, not the wife. The wife is not the elder. So the husband of one wife, and that means that this person is faithful to their marriage, they love their wife as Christ loved the church, they sacrifice themselves. In fact, this second qualification is really opening up a category, not just of generally being blameless, but of specifically living out their life in the family correctly. They're taking care of their family obligations. How do you know a person is qualified? Look at their home life. I mean, that's an important part to see whether or not somebody is really, truly living this thing out. What is their relationship like with their wife? We're going to see later on the children is going to come up as well. So it's not a charade. It's not a hiding so that people can't see. My life is open. You can look at any part of my life and it could be an example to you, including and especially their marriage. They love their spouse. They pray for their spouse. They help their spouse. And they work together as a team to do what God has called them to do in terms of raising the children or serving the church. This is a necessary qualification, which means a man can be disqualified if his wife is not in a place that is ready and willing to take on the mantle of this position. So a wife could, if you will, disqualify her husband for ministry because she's not a willing participant. It's very important. A man cannot be dragging his wife into service and where she's begrudging as well. She needs to be following him joyfully and serving the church joyfully, whatever that may mean for her. She's not serving in the same way, she's not preaching, she's not teaching, she's not leading, but she's willing and absolutely able to be a partner in ministry. So, the husband of one wife. Some people have asked, does this mean that you could have never been divorced? That's the question that people often ask. And let me just quickly say, there's a lot of ink that's been spilled on this particular question. But let me make it as simple as I can. There's a couple legitimate options, but generally speaking, it makes most sense not that you could have never been divorced, it's that you would have been divorced in a biblical manner. Because there are biblical divorces and unbiblical divorces. And so if somebody deserts you against your will, or if somebody cheats on you and is continuing to cheat and not repenting, it may be the godly option to pursue a divorce. But if that's the case, it would be through lots of time and prayer and wisdom and the understanding and affirmation of both the church and the other elders that maybe some time would have passed before that person might ever be considered an elder or willing. So we would say a divorce could be a disqualifying event for a person, but not every single time does it necessarily have to be disqualifying. If the man did it in a godly, righteous way, it is possible. But really what it's pointing to is, is this man a faithful husband? Is he committed to his wife the way that Christ is committed to the church? That's really what it's pointing at. So let's look at our third. Above reproach, husband of one wife, sober-minded, thinking about the way a person thinks. They are thinking rightly, connected to truth. Tempted to be drawn away by false teachings and false doctrines? No, they are able to think about something rightly. They have discernment. Isn't that a major difference between mature and immature? That a mature person notices things, anticipates things, and then rightly applies how you should live out the principles? Isn't it true that it's often an immature person who doesn't notice things, who doesn't know how to apply godly principles, doesn't know when, if, or how to do things, but they have to be told after the fact that that was wrong and that they needed help? Well, if you're constantly needing to be corrected, that means you're not wise enough. If you're constantly being shown the errors of your way, that means you're not ready to lead other people, or at least in that particular error. You need to be built up so that you could be trustworthy, so that you are giving wisdom, not constantly receiving wisdom. So a person who's sober-minded really does understand how to rightly think and rightly order themselves under the Word of God. This is an important thing. They're not given to falseness. Another thing is not just thinking correctly, acting correctly, self-controlled. It's not just you know the right thing to do, you actually do it, and you do it in a way that is measured. You do it in a way that it's not too much, it's not too little. You are not given to excesses, or you're not given to both the excess of doing too much, or you're given to neglecting things. A lot of times, if a person is a slob, if a person is messy, That would be a neglect of stewarding the resources around them so that they can be used in the proper ways. They need to control themselves both ways, not overdoing it, not underdoing it, but not being led around by their passions. If sober-minded is thinking rightly, self-controlled is really desiring the right things and controlling your body in those ways. Again, there's much more that could be said about every one of these. For the sake of time, let me move on. Above reproach, husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable. This has to do with dignified. A person who is living a life that you can look at their life and go, good example. Should do it that way. They should be a living testimony of godliness, a living testimony of maturity. Others should be able to look at their life and say, yeah, thanks, helpful. I'll do it that way. It's actually required. The Bible requires its members to look to and follow the life patterns of their leaders. It would actually be a sin if you don't. I don't know if people don't realize that. If you're commanded to look at your elders' lives and to imitate their lives, then if you're not in the life of your elder, if you don't know your elder, then you're actually not fulfilling what Christ requires of his members of his church. You need to be close enough. That's why we offer pastoral counseling, because you need to be close enough to be able to be in the life of your pastor or leader's life so that you can learn from them, you can receive wisdom from them. A lot of churches, Maybe they're really large, and the ratio between leaders and members is too big, and so they just don't have as much access. It's a necessary part of an elder to be respectable, which means he needs to be known, and he needs to be understood to be helpful in his lifestyle. But not just an example. Look what he does. He's hospitable. He doesn't just do things or believe things the right way, or he doesn't just think things and want things the right way. He is actually serving the church and opening up his home. Again, there's nothing to hide. Come into my home. I'm happy to house you. In fact, if we look at the actual word in the Greek, it's a lover of strangers, is that word hospitable. Stranger lover is what we say by hospitable. And what that means is they serve both those that they are close to and others, and those who maybe they don't know. They're not partial in the sense that they will only ever give love and blessing to the people that they happen to know. Now, of course, you're supposed to give priority to your wife. You're supposed to give priority to your children. You're supposed to give priority to your church members. There's nothing wrong with an appropriate level of priority. We shouldn't just be giving indiscriminately to anyone who has need. We would run out of resources immediately. and it actually would be bad stewardship. But there is a sense that I always have room to be ready to serve whoever God brings upon my path. My house is always ready. My heart is always open. And yes, I may have other things to do, but let's see what we can do to be a blessing. Hospitable, their hearts are wide open and their homes are wide open. An important part, hospitable. Going back to the family, that was verse two. Let's jump a verse for a second, go to verse four. going back to the household, he must manage his own household well, not just his wife, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. You know, this is an important qualifier, disqualifier. If a man has children, not every man does, but if a man has children, that is the number one way to see how a person disciples. Because parenting is just discipleship. That's what that is. It's training up younger minds and hearts to be able to love the Lord according to His Word. That's parenting, that's discipleship. Well, that's what elders should be doing in the church. So how do you know somebody's a good discipler? Look at their children. The children don't have to be perfect, of course, but the children have to be submissive. They have to respect their father. They have to obey their father. Why? Because their father knows how to manage. He knows how to rule and lead in his home in a way that garners trust, that garners the ability to understand. And that is both caring and helping as well as discipline and instruction. It's both. You have to be able to do all things and manage your home. So a home is the qualifying picture of a person. Very important thing. So that's the inside the home, look to that to see what the right character traits are there. But there's also outside the home and outside the church, verse seven, if we can skip to verse seven, it says, moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into the snare of the devil. So not only, think of the high call of every Christian, not just elders. All Christians are called to this standard. The elders are going to be the one who are actually pulling it off, right? And there are people in different levels of maturity and different levels of readiness. But look, just because everybody knows you and likes you in the church, everybody knows you and likes you in your family, is not good enough. You actually need to be involved and invested in the world in some way, because we are in the world, but we are not of the world, but we live in the world. We have jobs, we have neighbors, we have non-Christian family and friends. Those are all normal parts of what it means to be living in this world. Well, those outsider relationships, those who are not in our family or those who are not in our church, those need to be good as well, too. There can be, this falls underneath above reproach, there can be nobody who has anything bad to say, rightly say anything bad. Now there's lots of people who slander. There's lots of people who misunderstand. We're not holding this to the level of if anybody has ever said anything bad about you at any time, you're disqualified. No, that is not. What's the case? If that's the case, Jesus would be disqualified. Amen? Because he's been slandered for righteousness. Well, guess what? And we've been promised in the word that if you seek to live a godly life, you will suffer, and often you will be hated by the world. So, let me say it this way. If you are wanting to discern what a rightly qualified elder is, you must look to his life, his personal life with the Lord. You must look to his home, with his wife, with his children, if he has them, of course. And those are required areas of cleanliness, if you will, right ordering. Now he also must rightly be in a relationship with outsiders, but it's possible for the outsider to mislabel him. And so even though we are absolutely looking and requiring, a good reputation in the world, we are willing to understand where there might be some appropriate Christian suffering and slandering going on against that person, and we would take that into consideration. Let's say that there's a family member or a co-worker who does not like them because they're Christian and because they represent God's law. Well, you're not rejecting the man, you're rejecting God in that way. and so they're antagonistic. Well, we would take that into consideration. It doesn't need to be disqualifying. That would be an important clarification. So, let me ask this question. Are you committed to discerning what makes a good elder according to God's standards? Are you ready and willing and committed? That's what we're in right now. We're in this season of, Lord, who have you called? Are these men that have been placed forward, are they ready? That's why we're putting them in front of you. That's why we're showing them they know their word. They've been living with in front of us for years. We can see their households. In fact, interesting enough, a little story about Charles Spurgeon. Some of you may have heard this or known this. This is not even for their elders. This is for their members. Whenever somebody was involved in joining membership at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, during the time of Spurgeon, they had thousands and thousands of people. When they called people into membership, as a part of membership, they would go to the members' candidates' workplace. and they would ask co-workers if they have a testimony that would be helpful of elevating Jesus Christ. They would interview non-Christians to see if that person could join their church, showing you that this is the same standard of as elders as it is with members. There's not a separate level, but it shows you. Unfortunately, I don't think people take church membership or church leadership as serious as they ought to. The process by which you discern should be good and right and robust. I mean, isn't it true that every time Christians and Christian leaders fail, and they fail publicly, that it brings scorn and shame and disrepute on Christ and His church? Isn't His church worth guarding? Isn't His people worth protecting? So therefore, our process must be a good one, a right one. It should be God's process, you see? And that's what we're putting before you. We're not just saying, let us choose the guys. We're saying, no, no, no, his church must choose. We're bringing you and teaching you what the word says about how to do that so that you can do it confidently. You could do it trusting the Lord that his ways are best. Are you committed to doing that? And therefore, committed to participating. Some people wanna say, Well, that's for other people. I trust you guys. You guys do a good job. But no, if you're a Christian and therefore ought to be a church member, this is every church member's responsibility to prayerfully consider how they are to not only choose their leaders, but to choose so that they can submit to their leaders, because that's what that is about. So this is what we're called to. What are we to know about what Christ requires of the elders of His churches? It's that they are to have the right character traits. Amen? Well, let's look at the opposite is also true. What is required of Christ? Christ requires that elders not have the wrong character traits to serve in his churches. The kind of equal and opposite side of the first point. You must have these traits, the right ones, and you must not have these bad traits. You see? This is straight from scripture. Let's read verse three. That's why we skipped it. Notice all the nots. This is a naughty passage, right? Verse three, not a drunkard, Yes, meaning you must have, it's similar to self-control, but you must not be given to addictions. You must not be accused of indulging too much or encouraging others to do the same. It's not just your life, you need to be an example of not being given. Now, drunkard is clearly the case with wine and drinks. But there are other things, eating, gambling, shopping, I mean, anything that you could be given to where you are out of control, you have to do it. So you must not be a drunkard. And then violent, this is an important one. They must not be violent. You know, sometimes in business, sometimes in organizations, even in our elections. you might feel that you are unprotected. And so what kind of leader do you want? You want a strong man, a man who is not bullied around by anyone, but actually might be a bully to others. An elder is not a bully. An elder must be self-controlled and not violent. They must not be given to bursts of anger or rage, especially leading to the part where they actually physically get into fights. Now, if somebody attacks you, you know, that's different. Meaning, hello, if somebody attacks you, you didn't start a fight, they attacked you, and you're defending yourself, that's completely understandable. Hopefully that won't happen, but we live in a hostile world. Sometimes we get attacked. Obviously, but hopefully a wise godly man would be able to use their words and use to be able to not instigate any sort of fights, but even be able to pacify things to bring about peace as much as possible. But yeah, they cannot be violent, but gentle. This one has to do with their physical engagement with people. In fact, their physical engagement, a disposition, not of violence, but one of gentleness, of openness, of readiness, not one of antagonism and criticism, right? No, they must be, if you will, unflappable. You've heard of that, right? You can't be flapped, the lack of being able to be flapped. unflappable. They're not going to be goaded into a fight. They can see, oh, I see what's going on here. Let's talk about something else. Or I'm only going to go so far because it sounds like this is a hostile situation. So let's not engage. Let's do it without violence, without hostility. It's actually connected to our third not, which is not quarrelsome. An elder must not Not just physically be a fighter, but verbally. It's not verbally be a fighter. Now what does that mean? This does not mean that an elder can't or shouldn't contend for the gospel. There are certain things that a right and true Christian must fight for. You must fight for the faith, fight the good fight of faith. You must fight for truth. Now, but do you do it in a way that is respectful? Do you do it in a way, and so it's not saying that an elder can't or shouldn't correct somebody. Elders must correct false doctrine. They must point out false teaching and false living. That's not quarrelsome. Some people wrongly put correction in the category of quarrelsome. What's quarrelsome is not understanding when or how to correct or for how long to correct. Some people are more open and less open. Now, this is where it's hard to be a shepherd sometimes, which is sometimes sheep need to be corrected, and they have teeth, and they bite back. And then the sheep accused the shepherd of being quarrelsome or violent when actually the sheep had something in their eye that needed to get taken out and the shepherd was trying to help them. Now, a good shepherd will be able to understand how sheep work and try to work with the sheep so that the least amount of pain is possible. But sometimes it's going to be painful, right? So an elder is not scared of confrontation, but they know how to do confrontation. They know how to correct. They know when to push, where to push, when not to push. Not because they're cowards, but because they're wise. Because they're saying, you know what? This would be an appropriate time to talk about this. Let's come back at another time later, because we want to make sure we're having the right attitudes here. And I don't want you to be unnecessarily harmed by maybe a soft conscience or maybe There's a lot of shame happening right now. Okay. Well, we need to deal with this. Maybe we'll start the conversation and maybe we'll end it at another time because I'm not looking to harm you. I'm looking to help you. So if you're open for that, let's do it now. If you're not, let's do it another time. They're not quarrelsome. They're not looking for a fight, but they're looking to do whatever is right. So that is another thing. They're not drunkards, they're not violent but gentle, they're not quarrelsome, and they're not lovers of money. They're not lovers of money. They're not looking to use the church for their own personal gain and affluence. They're looking to serve the church because Christ has called them to serve the church, and the church recognizes that they are good and godly servants and examples in the church, and they serve willingly and joyfully, knowing that it is a significant sacrifice. In fact, the church is called to support its elders, its leaders, particularly the ones who are laboring in the preaching and teaching of the word. So they're really trusting God through the church to take care of their needs. In fact, I guess I'll say it but not stay there for a while. I really struggle with a lot of these pastors who are constantly writing books. for the point of being able to make a lot of money. So there's nothing wrong with making money, but when you're a pastor, you're not trying to make money off of the church for your own gain. Now, is it wrong to write books? No, it's not wrong to write books. Can these books be really helpful? Yes. Could you be making these videos and these ministry resources? Yes. But who's profiting off of that? Is it going to the ministry? Is it going to the church? Or is it going to the pastor? I think there's a lot of lovers of money, unfortunately, in our day and age, or has always been. That's why it was talked about back then. But unfortunately, we just don't look too closely at this sometimes. Maybe we do. It doesn't mean pastors should live in poverty. It doesn't mean elders are to only have one pair of shoes. But it does mean that they're not preoccupied with making the most amount of money possible. They leave money on the table, if you will, because it's not about that. It's about preaching the Word. It's about loving the saints. It's about bringing unsaved people through the gospel preaching into the church and discipling them through baptism, through teaching. That's what it's about. It's about the Great Commission. It's not about the car I drive or the house I live in. Those are all necessary things that we need to do in some level or another. But I'm not preoccupied with that. It's like, sure, I'll take a used car. I'll take an old house. If we have nice things, great. In fact, often people will give gifts as nice things. What are we to say? No, no. We say thank you. Praise the Lord. But we're not looking for it. That's the idea. Not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. Are they generous? That's a good question to ask. Do they give their tithes plus? Are they a person who's happy and willing to cover something? Because it's not about saving money for themselves, it's about spending God's money God's way, which often means generous, being generous. Look what it says as well. These four nots, there's another one in verse 6. It says, he must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. This goes to that idea of being, quote, an elder, a person who's been in the faith long enough, who knows the faith well enough to where they're not going to fall into a trap that often immature not ready people fall into. They think too highly of themselves, not knowing what they don't know, right? They don't know what they don't know, and then they find themselves in trouble, not being able to use wisdom, leading people astray, being a bad example. That's not okay. So how long do you need to be a Christian before you can be an elder? There's no exact time. But we will know it when we see a person's life fit these descriptions, and not just recently, but for a while, right? We've been seeing them. They're consistent. They've been this way as long as I've known them over the last years. I think it's a years thing. It's not a weeks or a months thing. It's years, and often several many. I mean, just think about Paul, if you consider that. Paul was a zealous, knowledgeable Jewish rabbi who was killing the church. Well, when God converted him and showed him, Paul, why are you persecuting me? Let me show you how much you have to suffer for my name, and blinds him. Well, guess what? What does he do? He actually submits himself to others. He doesn't do ministry right away. Of course, he preaches and tells his testimony of who Christ is, and that way, all Christians have a testimony and should share the gospel when they have the opportunity, but that's different from being, if you will, the apostle that the church calls in to lead as the apostle. That's different, and that's later. He waited. It took him several years. This is Paul. So if it takes Paul several years, It's not, we're not Paul. It should take us several years, and we'll trust that the Lord will make that clear to us all as we look at the scriptures. So, what are we to learn? What do we need to know about what Christ requires of his elders? Christ requires his elders to have the right character traits and not to have the wrong character traits. So now, let's see, okay, what does the scripture say about what Christ requires of what they're to do? The first is character, what they're to be like. Now, what are they to do? What are they to do? Here's our third point. Christ requires that elders rule – I'm going to give four words here – rule, teach, pray, and shepherd His churches. Elders are required by Christ, according to the Scriptures, to rule the church, to teach the scriptures, to pray for the church in Christ, and to shepherd the flock that is among them. These are the words. Now, there are more words that we could have used, or different words, but these are really clear biblical words and categories, so let's use these. Going back to our passage in 1 Timothy 3, we'll look at verse 5. We've jumped around a little bit, or be reminded of this. Starting verse 4, I mean, it says, That word manage in the ESV and a lot of many of the modern translations, that word manage is actually the word rule. He must rule his household well, his own household well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage or rule his own household, how will he care for God's church? Meaning, if you rule well in your house, your household, that will enable you to rule well in the church, you see? In fact, let me just go down in the same book, same author, just a few chapters later in chapter 5, same word, it's translated rule, not manage. So an example, let the elders who rule well be considered of double honor. Same word as manage. For some reason, it seems I looked at many past, many versions, it seems like many of the modern versions use the word manage, but I looked at some older versions, like King James Version, New King James Version. I looked at the Geneva Bible, 1599 by John Calvin. They all use the word rule or ruleth, right? The rule, and rule maybe because we live in a society that's kind of scared of hierarchy, and rule means you rule like a leader, like a king. Like, oh no, you shouldn't rule your household, that's oppressive. No, Christ rules, and that's not oppressive. Ruling in and of itself is not bad. Bad ruling is bad, right? Good ruling is, oh, praise the Lord that we have such a good leader. We have such a trustworthy, kind, competent leader. You want to be ruled well, right? Even in the Old Testament, in the Proverbs, it talks about the people rejoice when the king rules well, and the people groan when the king doesn't rule well, right? So this is what we want. We have rulers in the church, and that's ruled by the elders. And what does that practically mean? It means that it's the elders' right and responsibility to rule the church over the word and the ministries, particularly the worship. So this shows that elders rule when they preach and teach. We're going to get into that next category, teaching. But they rule when they do the worship. So it's the elders' right and responsibility to lead baptisms, church membership, church discipline, Lord's Supper. These are how the elders actually functionally rule. It's the elders who teach and preach and who choose what's going to be taught and what's choose. It's the elders who choose what Sunday schools are gonna be next. Now does it mean that the elders aren't looking to maybe get feedback or input because they want to be helpful to the church. Often a good ruler will know what his flock needs, and so they talk with their flock. But it's ultimately not a democracy where people get to vote on whatever we do in our church. No, elders rule the church. They're the ones who are organizing and ordering the church according to what the scriptures say. They have that right and responsibility. That's one of the misconceptions of Congregationalism. When people hear Congregationalism, they oftentimes will think, oh, just everything's voted on, and everything, everybody has a say. No, that's not actually what the Bible teaches, and that's not what Congregationalism is. There really is a genuine rulership of elders, but it's a godly service-minded, patient rulership. It's meant to show us what Christ rules like, right? And Christ both encourages us, he comforts us, but he also corrects us, and he pulls out the shepherd's staff and goes, let's go, right? That's part of what leadership is. Often people don't like that part, but it's a necessary part. A good leader will lead well, even when people aren't fully ready at this exact moment, but they trust, and they know. So elders rule. Let's look at this next one, teach. One of the primary functions of an elder is to teach and preach. We kind of put those together, but let's go back to 1 Timothy 3. It says, in fact, it's the only qualification that is a skill. It's therefore an overseer must be above reproach, husband of one wife, able to teach. The ability to teach is a requirement for an elder. That means they need to be able to know the word well, to be able to teach it. There are people who know the word well who can't talk about it in a way that's helpful. Some of you had, or maybe just there are people who know concepts but can't convey them. So maybe you've had those junior college classes or some other professors where you're just like, this guy's a genius, but... I don't know. I mean, I don't know what he's saying. Now, this means an elder must be able to not only know the word, but to be able to teach it in a way that people are helped by it, right? That's a necessary thing. Able to teach. In fact, let's go again back to that same passage we quoted, 1 Timothy 5, 17. Let the elders who rule well be considered of double honor, and especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. which this is often called the primary teaching elders or primary teaching pastors, in this case it would be me, because notice it says those who labor in preaching and teaching. It's not that you've ever done a sermon, it's that that is a primary task of regular laboring in it. But every elder should be able to preach and teach. Anything necessary? Does that make sense? That's what is necessary there. 1 Timothy 4, command and teach these things. Verses 11 and 12, let no one despise you for your youth. Paul's talking to Timothy, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourselves to the public reading, which is the public worship. We do that every week. We read publicly the scriptures together. It's the officers, The leaders of the church would choose those passages for us to read them together, right? We're not taking votes on what passages we're gonna read this week. It's part of the responsibility of the leaders to choose those. So we devote ourselves to the public reading of scripture to exhortation and to teaching. That's what exhortation is, is a form of teaching. And then as well as this, Hebrews 13 verse 7 says, remember your leaders, and he's gonna say which ones? Those who spoke to you the word of God. Remember your elders, the ones who teach you. Consider, here it is, here's that command. Consider the outcome of their way of life. That's a command that people are given to think about the way that your elders live their life. It's a command. You must consider your elder's way of living because they're meant to be your example on earth of what it looks like to be Christ-like. Now, if they're good elders, you have no problem doing this, because you're saying, I know them, I love them, they're very helpful to me, I'm happy to follow their lead, because it's a good example. But that's why we should build trust, and we should have relationship. But there are such things as bad elders, if you will, those who are not as faithful. You don't follow elders in their sin, or in their lack of wisdom. They should be ready and able to show you from scripture why they're doing everything they're doing, the principles in their life. So you're not supposed to follow elders just because they're elders. You're to be following them because they're doing it like Christ. You see that? And so it says, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Imitate their right faith. Imitate their godly faith, not their wrong faith or their ungodly conclusions. So, elders are to rule the church, elders are to teach and preach in the church, elders are to pray in and with and for the church. We see this in Acts 6 when the apostles are being bogged down by other practical ministries. That's why the first deacons were started. It's because when there's too many things to do in the church, We must guard the preaching and the teaching of the word and the prayer. And so let me read Acts 6, it shows this very thing. And the 12th, the apostles summon the full number of the disciples, the whole church. It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Meaning there needs to be certain men set apart to make sure that they are having enough time and preparation to serve through preaching, not serve. Hey, there's nothing wrong with serving tables. Nothing wrong at all. It's a wonderful, godly thing to do, especially when you're taking care of widows. There is a person who needs to be set apart, set aside, to make sure that the teaching ministry is not hurt. It needs to be rightly upheld. And he's gonna say the same thing for prayer. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. These will be the deacons. but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. This is a significant, necessary part of an elder's life. They must be a praying person, but not just individually praying by themselves to God. They do that in their times of the word, their times with the family, but they're to do that with and for the church. They're praying for the gospel, they're praying for sanctification, they're praying with and for the church. another reason to do pastoral counseling because that's a time where you can receive wisdom and have times of prayer together. We're to devote ourselves to that. It must be a necessary, important part of our life. And so the elders then have every right to call every member to meetings for prayer. We're to guard the ministry of the prayer. The elders are to guard the ministry of the prayer. Therefore, when we say prayer meeting this week at this time, we call you to that because it's a necessary thing that elders are called to do. Last one, actually no, our confession says this, chapter 26 verse 10, the work of pastors being constantly to attend to the service of Christ, that's another thing, they're supposed to be all in, they're not supposed to be dividing their time if they can't help it, but in his churches, constantly to attend to those needs, which is showing you, an elder does not have business hours. A pastor does not have office hours. Yes, a pastor can take breaks. Yes, a pastor. But when a pastor is in a nearby, they need to be ready to attend to the service of things. So that's why I don't apologize. People always say, oh, pastor, you need to do this or that. And it's just sort of like, I'm a slave. I'm like, this isn't a problem. Oh, I'm so glad you met with me. It's my job. I'm here for you. I'm your pastor. You're not putting me out. This is why I'm here. So yeah, if I can't get to you this week, but we can get to you early next week, then I'm going to get to you. Some people think, no, no, this is what they've given their life to the church. It's not putting them out. They do it joyfully, right? And if they get begrudging, then they might become disqualified. Maybe they do need a break. Maybe they do need to come back refreshed. But ministry should be a joy. So it says here, works of pastor being constantly to attend the service of Christ and his churches in the ministry of word and prayer, watching for their souls as they must give an account to him. That will lead us into now our fourth word here of duty of elder. What are they to do? They are to rule, they're to teach, they're to pray, and they're to shepherd. Shepherd. Peter says in chapter 5, verse 1, What's the verb? Shepherd the flock. This is what elders are called to do. You must shepherd them. You must lead them, guide them, guard them, teach them, feed them. Shepherd is kind of a catch-all word for these things, but it often means care for them. Watch over them. Don't let any of the sheep get out of the pen and get lost. Which is, when somebody shepherds you well, it's because you feel known by them. You feel loved by them. You feel seen by them. Shepherds are not supposed to be ghosts. They're supposed to smell like sheep. Right? Shepherds are supposed to smell like the flock because they're with the flock. It's a wonderful thing and a privilege to be able to be with God's church all throughout the week. I see some of you more often, I see some of you less, but it's a godly, wonderful thing to shepherd the flock of God that is among you. What it says, exercising oversight. As we get overseer, that's the word for ruling, you rule the church, not under compulsion, But willingly, I'm not forced to do this, but I want to do this, and you guys agree that we agree who is qualified to this according to scripture, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, there's that not for lover of money, but eagerly, not domineering, meaning not violent, not quarrelsome. over those in your charge, but being an example. Hey, I know that this is maybe a harder conversation, but I understand how this works. Let's go in this direction. Let me show you from Scripture. This is a good way to do it. Helpful, helpful. They shepherd the flock. That is what Hebrews 13 is pointing to. Obey your leaders, command. This is why when you choose them, you're choosing the people that you are going to obey. You obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls. In the same way that a shepherd keeps watch over the flock, they see them at night, they see them during the day, they see them when they're hungry, they see them when they need a little exercise, they think about what does the sheep need? What do they need? Do they need clothes? Do they need exercise? Do they need food? What do they need? They need help? They need an understanding? They need a hug, right? What do they need? That's what shepherds do. That's why you must know your shepherds intimately, so they can look over your souls well. You see, there's many, unfortunately, there's many shepherds in many churches that aren't really shepherding the flock. They're just sort of teaching at the flock, you don't really know them, or they're selling stuff to their flock, or, you know, it's like, oh, you really respect the man's teaching ministry, but you don't know the man. You don't know his family. You couldn't really see if he's qualified. He's kind of a celebrity. You don't really know him intimately. Shepherds must be known intimately because they must know you intimately. So if you're not wanting to meet with the shepherds, there's something wrong. Either the shepherd or the sheep or both, but there's something off there. Shepherds should be in the life, which is why I'm looking forward to when we have our new elders, that that will really enable us to move forward in some of our ministries, including home visits. I'm looking forward to home visits, where we go to the members' homes to regularly meet with them, you know, at least once a year. We go into your home. How's it going? How's your time in the Word? How's your marriage doing? How can we pray for you? Is there anything, struggles that you need? We could do that in my office, of course, but there's something else about knowing you and seeing you in your home and you knowing and seeing me in my home and us in each other's homes. There's just a different level of love and intimacy when we can be in each other's homes. That's the kind of ministry we're called to and we want. It's not just a Sunday thing, it's a whole life thing, right? That's what the scriptures talk about. So, obey your leaders, submit to them, they're keeping watch over your souls, as those will have to give an account. That's another reason for church membership. You can't just come in and out of a church and not be under the leadership of a shepherd. Why? Because those shepherds have to give an account for every single sheep that is on their roll and roster. The church is not just some group that's constantly moving in and out. It's a, you are a member or not a member. You are somebody who I have to take watch over your soul, or I don't have to watch over your soul. If you're not a member, I'm not called to watch over your soul. But you are called to be under somebody else's watch. You see? So there's actually, a lot of people really struggle with church membership. They think it's not necessary or they think it's, or they just don't want it because it requires too much investment. But it's, no, this is God's design. And it's for our good. And it's a wonderful thing when somebody's watching over your soul. Isn't it good when you're feeling terrible, you go to a doctor and they actually figure something out and you're just like, oh, thank you. I got some help. But what about all the rest of your life? It's not just when you're sick. Yes, they help you, but you need to be watched all the time. We all need to be watched all the time. We're watchers of souls, not just watchers of bodies. Soul is constantly needing help and encouragement. So our last question for this morning is, will you commit to pray for and submit to the elders? as they labor among us. As we're in this season looking to God and to the scriptures to help us understand our responsibility as a church to install new, ready, qualified male leaders, in this case elders for this week, are you ready? Are you willing? Are you fasting? Are you praying? Are you ready to submit to these men that God is placing in our midst? because they're laboring for our benefit. This is a wonderful thing. It would be the same thing as, you know, we don't get to choose our parents, right? But we should be, I mean, it's usually the older ones among us who are so grateful for good parents, right? We look back and go, oh man, that was a hard job, and they did pretty good. They did pretty good. May that be our testimony as we talk about members and elders. Hey, it's hard work, but we did it together, and by God's grace, we're doing all right. He's taking care of us. This is a good design. So, would you bow with me as we pray? Father, thank you so much for sending Jesus, your ruler of the church, your chief shepherd of the church, your teacher of the church. And Lord, these elders that are among us, they're just meant to be reflections of your goodness, reflections of your godliness. So Lord, thank you that you have us in this season. I pray that we would take it seriously and that we would be so encouraged by what you're doing in our midst, Lord. Please fill out our church and our ranks so that we can grow in number, we can grow in maturity, we can grow in stability, we can grow in the ability to do more ministry that flings out other churches, that church plants, and that strengthens other churches. What a blessing it is to have more elders and deacons. So we thank you, Lord. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen.