Well, we return tonight, as I started a few weeks ago, a few-part series here on called to the ministry, and we're looking at the offices of elder and deacon, and then chapter four, some will overlap and look at the office of the pastor. But I want to, tonight, focus on the office of elder, and we'll be looking at 1 Timothy chapter 3 the first seven verses if i encourage you if you did miss the first part it was such an important section to deal with that first verse of aspiring to the office and looking at the principles of good leadership and it would be helpful if you have missed that to listen to that to understand how this whole series is is flowing first timothy chapter 3 tonight beginning at verse one. This is the word of the Lord. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive for if someone does not know how to manage his own household how will he care for god's church he must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace into a snare of the devil and i want to read the diak in just a few verses here for the deacons deacons likewise must be dignified not double-tongued not addicted to much wine not greedy for dishonest gain they must hold the mystery of faith with a clear conscience let them also be tested first then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless their wives likewise must be dignified not slanders but sober-minded faithful in all things let deacons each be the husband of one wife managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. It must have been really hard for the Apostle Paul to have established the church in Ephesus and labored there three years with tears, he says in Acts chapter 20, to preach the gospel there and plead with the overseers and plead with them about the seriousness of their duty to shepherd the flock because he knew that savage wolves would come in and not spare the flock that's what he said well it must have been greatly discouraging when in just a short period of time, he watched that church began to fall apart because of the leadership. It must have been astonishing because for many of these New Testament apostles, what you had at the inception, at the beginning of the New Testament church already, they seem to be repeating Israel's history. All the problems that had happened in Israel's history were already rearing its ugly had all those problems in the early church you remember the story of the prophets decrying and and saying so clearly messages of warning to the people because israel's history was a sad history of apostasy from the truth and paul's watching this happen in the new testament church you think of the the cry from jeremiah the prophets prophesy lies the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love to have it so. That perilous phrase, like the one we looked at this morning, but that ominous phrase that comes out of the Old Testament, everyone began to do what was right in their own eyes, and the leadership crumbled. We have a story of both Israel and judah being carried off being carried off because of bad leadership and false messages and the people not listening well you open up the book of revelation and the first thing you get to the church in ephesus is a severe lawsuit from the lord jesus christ himself against the church in ephesus for leaving its first love warning that if they didn't repent and do the first works he would pull the plug on the project he would remove their lampstand you wonder can't people see that all of their compromise of the word of god and their rejection of the word can't they see why their churches are dying haven't they figured it out can't they see why there's no more blessing from the lord on the work don't they have that any discernment at all to see that all of the the corrupt worship and the neglect of god's commands and doing whatever makes people feel good has driven god out and if you understand and appreciate how great of a problem this was in history you appreciate that the pastoral epistles were written to clean up messes in churches to help churches not stay on those paths and get off those paths and the way that paul did that in these pistols was to say to timothy timothy here's what you are to do to clean up the church it's time to clean up the mess in ephesus uh the intention he remember he said of the law has been wrecked you have you've done things in ephesus things have happened in ephesus that are completely against god's creative design you've been ordaining women there you've not fought for the truth you've had doctrines of demons prevail you've had foolish and ignorant disputes and fighting going on over everything you shouldn't be fighting about and so the single great way that paul knew for the church in ephesus that it would be cleaned up had to do with the leadership it was time to address the issue of leadership, false leaders, and those who had no business being in the office and raising the bar again extremely high that God would give to the church gifts. And some of those gifts would be men who were qualified and fit to love and shepherd the flock that was purchased with Christ's blood. That's why 1 Timothy 3 is so important because it gives the God-breathed, The God-inspired qualifications that are necessary for somebody to serve in a leadership position. We looked at last time in verse 1 of the appropriateness, remember, of aspiring to the office, desiring the office. But now we move tonight beyond that initial correct desire that should be in every heart that wants to serve to now look beyond desire and see whether that desire is met with the character traits and qualities that God requires for somebody to serve. You could just simply ask the question tonight, what should you be looking for in a man? This means a lot to the Lord. This means a lot to Him. So it should mean a lot to us. Remember, this made it into one of the five pithy, faithful sayings this is a faithful saying meaning one of the most important things they affirmed in the early church this is a faithful saying if a man desires the position of overseer he desires a good work well tonight as i i looked at this i i i thought there is a lot here how do you preach this uh it was a real challenge to come up and then i thought with with the overall picture but i thought there really are, if you were to break this down, that would be helpful. Four major categories and ways to be discerning about who should be filling the office of elders. And in this list, the qualification for elders and pastors, bishops, all were used interchangeably in the scripture. Paul gives us four things here. The first would be this, look at his character. The second is look at his house. The third is look at his experience. And the fourth is look at his witness. Character, house, maturity, or experience, and witness. When we begin to look at these tonight, as we open up 1 Timothy 3, we have to admit, I admit, all of this is rather intimidating when I read it. I had somebody come up to me last time I read it and said, I can't believe those things are there with that kind of punch and that kind of directness. We just don't hear stuff like that today. You look at the qualifications, and the first thing we sort of do is say, well, we realize how far short we fall of this. That's the first thing we do. Almost everyone says that, though. And I fear, I feel that way. You feel that way. And I think it's easy to look at this and to sort of use that as a cop-out. This is sort of an unrealistic standard that God has imposed on us. I think that's how we treat the qualifications for the office. That God has put something on us that's a bit unrealistic. That God really is not expecting this high, maybe something to shoot for, but no one can really do it. That's what I often hear when it comes to qualifications. No one can really do this. Do you think that's how God wants us to approach this? That way someone could say, well, I don't make the cut, right? I've got bad news. None of these qualifications ultimately are meant just for the super elite that no one else can or should attain to. Nor should we ever look at these and say, we just can't do this. God's qualifications, this is what I love about studying this tonight. The intention of this is that everyone would live like this. That's the intention. What you have put on display are qualities that make for a godly man or woman. It's going to be some of the most practical stuff for sanctified living. And that is beneficial for the entire body because this is what everyone should aspire to in terms of godliness. Godliness is great gain, Paul says. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Here's the pinnacle of godliness. Here's the height of godliness. here's what everyone should be pursuing in terms of godliness in the life well why does god single this single single out elders and deacons for this kind of standard because he wants the most exemplary godly men set apart to model for the entire church what every christian should be doing understand that that's really important tonight he wants to set apart the most exemplary godly men for this to model what every christian should be pursuing in this life and that's why leadership is so important we looked at that last time a great principle of leadership is to always remember that in general people do not advance spiritually beyond the spiritual level of their leadership people will will not advance in their understanding of the gospel beyond the instruction and conviction of the leadership the passion we talked about of the leadership if all that's lacking don't expect it in the people it's kind of like Charles Spurgeon heard a preacher one time and the guy was absolutely boring and he told the guy do you expect the people to be excited about that there must be some kind of passion for this people will not advance in holiness in general beyond the example and patterns set by the leadership paul was always saying this and that's why you get this a lot in the pastoral epistles follow my example which makes a pastor nervous to say do you run around saying that follow my example we should be able to say that note paul says among you godly men and follow their example a low bar a low level of spiritual leadership plays it out plays out in the life of the church and that is why one of the greatest warnings in the pastoral epistles come in chapter 5 when paul openly says do not lay hands on anyone hastily nor share part take part in the sins of others keep yourself pure. Do you understand what he's saying there? When you, when the church puts its hands on somebody to serve, the point is, whoever you have chosen to lay hands on as the church, the relationship between the leaders and the people is so united, is so tied up together, that if you put a man in office who does not meet the biblical qualifications and is not a godly leader, that has serious consequences and who has serious sins in his own life, you are partaking of them that's the tie that's why it's so important remember the old testament principle as the priest so the people as the people so the priest that's how involved and thoughtful we should be in the process so think of it this in terms of this morning as with the church if everything is made common there are no more standards in the church you lose your identity there's nothing there's any more of your witness there's nothing that your identity doesn't stand out anymore there's nothing separate about you anymore when the bar is so low there's no meaning anymore to what we do well the same is true with office bearers if we're just trying to fill the office if we're just trying to rotate men in and men out just to get people in there without regard to qualification who don't exemplify the character that god is after think of what you're doing to the office it becomes common there's no bar for anyone there's no example for anyone so with that in mind tonight we move into what we should look for it's been correctly observed that all but one of these qualifications have to do with ability. That is a really important point. It has been correctly observed that all but one of these qualifications has to do with ability. The striking thing, the one thing that stands out about ability is able to teach. The rest have to do with what godly character that is so important that is so important Alistair Begg makes this really same important point that character is the seedbed from which ability will bear fruit and we're all backwards on that we are all backwards on that we think gifting is the big issue with people if someone can speak well if someone has run their business well we're looking at all the wrong things and i've thought a lot about this with regard to candidates for the ministry the first thing we're looking for today is just an ability to communicate because it's so rare and i would say then that the first thing we should we should start thinking about first is not just about the ability to communicate, but godly character. We do this with the office of elder. The first thing, one of the only things we think about whether a man will be a good elder is whether he does his visits. That doesn't necessarily qualify a man. Paul says first, look at his character. We heard Paul already say to us back in 1 Corinthians that I could have the tongues and speaking abilities of angels. I could understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but have not love, I'm nothing. Well, how true is that for the office? Character drives this, and from character, abilities will flourish and grow. In the reform world, I think we have been rather weak on this. We have to look here at the character that God is after. and the one overarching qualification that stands out, the one that Paul wanted everyone to think a lot about from which everything else will define it is at the beginning where he says a man must be blameless or above reproach. All the others are helping us understand that. That's the great one. Paul is describing here the kind of character that when a name is mentioned, you know what kind of person he is. you know it in other words there's no question about the man's character it's important to say we're not looking at past sins we're not looking at past failings but what we're looking at is a steady consistent present life of how he maintains that life that when the name comes up everyone knows immediately that is a model man put it this way paul would later say There's simply no grounds that if somebody wanted to, they could level a charge. Paul said it this way in 1 Timothy 5. Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment. But those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident. And those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. There are some people's lives that are so open before us that when the mere name is mentioned, you know there are issues with their life. and there are those names mentioned you know they are pillars pillars of good works so what we're looking for is the character of the man being so strong that if his name were mentioned no one would ever ever be able to even bring a charge against him no one would believe it no one would believe it paul said it this way to tie in titus show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works and in your teaching show integrity and dignity and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us if somebody wants to assault us it's to his own hurt because when they assault everyone would say how could you dare assault a man with character like that that's what you're after well what kind of things evidence that what from there from that pinnacle what things evidence the blameless life well he begins the first thing he says is a husband of one wife there has been a lot of question about that one is um is paul saying that all divorced people can never serve in office that's not really what I read is that what you read if any divorced one can never serve that's a pretty big issue that would seem to require some explanation don't you think there's a lot of different reasons for a divorce I believe the concern about divorce should be answered by looking at the big picture what is his marriage like here was the problem in the first century which i believe paul was addressing when he says the husband of one wife marital infidelity was rampant in the ancient world especially when the common saying was in the first century we have prostitutes for our pleasure concubines for our health and wives to bear us lawful offspring Kind of makes sense Paul would say this, wouldn't it? When that's the common thought. Paul is after conduct in his love for his wife. How does he love his bride? If you're going to put him in the position to love Christ's bride, the church. How does he love his bride? Big question. How important is his wife to him? Does he show devotion to her? That's a serious qualification to be a leader in the church. Morally, you know the marriage bed should be kept pure. There should be no adultery in that relationship. The conduct that he has with his wife is an honorable one in the relationship. What an important qualification to think about. Does he love his wife? What does he show with his wife? Does he demonstrate character with regard to his own marriage relationship? If you were to put all that together, what typically runs together with these kinds of sins and a bad marriage relationship, you're going to see certain things running together with that. And it's excesses. Excesses. Think of what follows. He goes on. Husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable. See what he's linking together there in character? You think of what he follows and says later. Not a drunkard. Not violent, but gentle. Not quarrelsome. Not a lover of money. Typically what you see are patterns of excess. You know that in deep-rooted sexual sins come sins of alcohol abuse, and these things all run together. Substance abuse. Certain behaviors follow. Morally, you're looking at excess issues. It's a life of excess. So Paul says when you see a man who has maintained an honorable relationship, a husband of one wife, what follows? Put it this way. A disciplined life. That's what you'll see. A disciplined life. He adds the positive quality of gentleness. A man loving his wife, what you generally see is a man who is gentle. He's a gentle man. The kind who is willing to deny himself for his wife. Paul goes on and mentions sober-minded and self-controlled. His thinking is solid. There's real discernment in the mind. You meet people who are all over the place sometimes. you're looking for a person who's very circumspect he's able to exercise wisdom he's a fountain of wisdom he lives his life there's a real control of his life of his appetites temperate in their approach to life balanced in assessment balance balance is so important oh i can't stress that enough balance is so important sober-minded he's able to discern and look at things and not push agendas he's able to understand what's best for the body of christ and exercise that to weigh the truth to weigh what is good and right to use discretion to understand the times there was a principle in the old testament that the wise men always understood the spirit of the times and then how to apply the work of the ministry understanding the times sometimes you can't push the golden age back on the church today. It's the times we live. Sober-minded. Sobriety and thought to a situation. They're the kind of people you know that if you approach them, you're going to get a very seasoned, balanced, respectable judgment on the issue. Self-controlled. Equality was one of the most important in the Greco-Roman world. To have a controlled behavior is not the kind of person who easily flies off the handle of things. His impulses and emotions are under control. Stable. You know the Bible warns against fits of rage and anger. The person controls himself, controls his actions, controls his state. It's in Proverbs 18. A fool's lips enter into contention and his mouth calls for blows. A fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul. He who, goes on, answers a man before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him. Can't control the mouth. Self-control. The picture is, in this first point, look at his character. You're looking for a man rock solid in character. and he's demonstrated and that's something we all should aspire to something we all should ask the lord for what's the second one look at his house he goes on and says he must verse four manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive for someone does not know how to manage his own household how will he care for god's church what an important one notice that he connects the children's response to the leadership of the father what is their response to the leadership of their father are they submissive or unruly god inspired this god inspired this what paul's describing here is is not a man forcing his family into conformity not a tyrant he warns elsewhere fathers should never provoke their children to anger when he says rules his house well with all dignity he's talking about the respect that follows from being a good leader in the home um what is he describing the respect and honor that is evident in the home that children respect their dad so much so that it promotes a submissive lifestyle unto the lord it's it's similar to husbands loving their wives as christ loved the church he doesn't do that in a dictatorial kind of way he does not a dictator he doesn't say woman submit that's not the way he leads and loves his bride a father loves his children and promotes it and is interested godly leadership in the home is evidence as he treats his children kindly and honorably and they greatly respect him and want to honor him because they look up to him he actually leads them think of this morning what does the father do he leads them in the truth he has real conviction about the truth he explains to them what the church means he has a positive view of the church doesn't tear it down in front of them it's a positive view of what christ did add a man who is think of the contrast that paul's drawing here add a man who is not managing and not loving his wife not managing his home who's given to drinking fits of rage given to excess and abuses, do you think he's going to care about the discipline of his children? See the connection? If you're given to all those excesses, why would you ever expect your children to live a certain way? Remember the principle, people don't progress beyond the state of the leadership. There's that same tie in the home. Children pattern what they learn. If excess drives the head, it's going to come out, generally speaking, not always, in the children. If there's no sober-mindedness in thinking, there's probably not going to be much sober-mindedness in the children. If there's little commitment to Jesus and his worship, you're probably not going to see that in the children in the future do you see the tie if a man is undisciplined in his own life why would he ever care to discipline his children paul says look at the house look at the fruits they'll show itself it's a good way if knowing it's a good way to determine when you look at how he leads in his own home if he doesn't take care of that home god says i don't want a man coming into the church taking care of my church because you see then he's going to impose his very compromised leadership in the church to you. That's bad. The Puritans used to call the family the little church. The little church. Look at the leadership. Third, look at his maturity. I'm not commenting long on this one. He must not be, verse 6, a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. You know, some people are brand new in the faith and there's always the danger of the parable of the sower that they spring up quick, but they're not firmly grounded and as soon as tribulation and attack comes because of the Word, they depart. They depart. And so you can't put somebody who's a novice into this. You can't put somebody who has not been tested into this. Why? Because that's the guy the devil's going after. And that's when he wreaks havoc in the church. Right there. Finally, we'll close with this one. Paul says, look at his witness. There's two ways you can look at that to close this out tonight. You can look at his discipleship to those on the inside. and is witness to those on the outside. Look at this. He says he must be hospitable and able to teach. In the ancient world, everyone had to travel. There were all sorts of economic uncertainties. They didn't have social welfare programs. Poverty and hunger were widespread. Widows and orphans were neglected. And the Bible puts a lot of emphasis on helping people the witness of the church was often tied up with its hospitable being hospitable to these people sharing their homes and belongings and goods and food and care the elder has to be hospitable he has to be willing to open up his life and his home He's got to care for this flaw. That is such an important qualification. And then he says, and with that, to those on the inside, he's got to be able to communicate the truth. He's got to be able to teach. He's got to be able to instruct in the faith. He's got to have a firm grasp on the Scriptures and what they mean and what they teach so that he can help people and instruct people in the truth of the Gospel. And you remember later, he would even say in Titus, that holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine to exhort and convict those who contradict. You've got to admonish. It's part of your duty. I know we all want to be nice today, but we've got to admonish. That's what the Lord calls us to do. skilled in this responsibility, sound doctrine to convict those who are contradicting in their own life. And then on the outside, verse 7, he must be well thought of by the outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace into the snare of the devil. Somebody whose maturity is evident that even on the outside, you hear this kind of separation of, well, they're Sunday and then out in their businesses, they look nothing like Christians. That is the worst kind of person to put in the office. He should be the most model man on the outside to all those around in his witness. So that everyone on the outside even knows. Because if you put a man in, who those on the outside know is a great hypocrite, do you know the damage you do to the body of Christ? You put the whole thing in disgrace. And that's why the devil loves that kind of scenario because then that church will be so ineffective in its witness. That church will not make much of a difference because the devil has, you think about the danger of this, but the devil has so planted in the church now and wrecked the witness and name of the church, nobody from the outside would want to ever go in there. You've heard this story. You know this story. And then you've seen in the life of the church when there's a fall of a leader, how hard that is on the whole body. How many fallen leaders, how many knots to the name of Christ because of these problems. I know tonight I just barely touched this. But the four ways that should help you, you should be able to look at His character, you should be able to look at His home and His leadership, you should be able to look at His maturity, You should be able to look at His witness and know whether this is a man of God. And that we look tonight at the office of elder. I want to reiterate tonight, I understand that people can hear these things and no one's going to run and say, ah, there I am. There I am. No, that doesn't happen. I understand that. But the Lord places that desire in the heart. And the spirit and disposition we have is that with Paul, who is sufficient for these things, our sufficiency is in christ i want to close with this thought we're thinking about a building project here a lot of planning going into that that will mean nothing unless we have the strongest possible leadership if we don't the first thing that needs to be built strong is not in place and i want us always to remember as we go forward the importance of thinking a lot about godly men to serve the high standard of the leadership and the elders so that it would be the benefit of the whole growth of the congregation just as low level of spirituality will assault the progress of the church so a high bar and men who love christ and are passionate about his gospel is going to have a great effect in the church's witness and your own growth for those who are soon to be visited or receive letters for elder and deacon take such a voice seriously it is through you that god is choosing to rule his people and you should see that as we thought a lot about this morning is the greatest privilege and honor that God gives to people that you get the privilege of serving in the church that was purchased with the blood of Christ. What a treasure. What a treasure. He has decided to work through sinful men to accomplish His salvation. May Christ's gospel drive us and may we remember the privilege it is to serve Him, the flock that He purchased with His own blood. Let's pray. Dear Lord, We say with Paul, who's sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency is in Christ. And yet, this is what you desire. This is what you inspired. It doesn't matter how much it may strike us or convict us. This is what you want. And we pray that you would continue to maintain that in the Escondido United Reformed Church. That you would build strong the leadership. Raise up men of real conviction that demonstrate these qualities. And again, for all those who serve now and have done so well, that You would bless them in that service, that they would be encouraged, that they were chosen by You to serve. Encourage them in that work, and may it be a joy to serve the body of Christ in this place. Thank You, Lord, for hearing us tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.