Church Matters: Servants That Lead, Part 1

1 Timothy 3:1–7 ESV

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.

We continue our series through Church Matters.

Today, I want us to begin to consider the church and her leaders.

I was tempted to entitle today, “Take me to your leaders”....

Anytime we begin the subject of church leadership, we need to start where all things start.

God Himself.

The Good Shepherd & His Sheep

In the OT, God was always jealous for His people.

From the time of Abraham all the way through Moses and the prophet.

God has been jealous for His people.

God’s Care for His People

Listen to one scathing rebuke God gives against the leaders who were supposed to care for His people.

Ezekiel 34:2–3 (ESV)

“Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?

You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

These leaders over God’s people not only didn’t care for the sheep.

They killed them and ate themselves.

They were fat because they were feeding themselves but not the sheep.

Ezekiel 34:10 ESV

Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

God is so concerned for His own people that He will come and rescue His sheep from their mouths.

He will come and rescue them Himself.

Ezekiel 34:11 ESV

“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

Ezekiel 34:15–16 ESV

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

God’s promise to His people is that He Himself will come and shepherd His people.

He will come and care for them in truth.

All throughout the OT, we don’t know how this will be fulfilled until Jesus comes on the scene.

The Chief Shepherd

Jesus compares the people of God to sheep, with Himself as the Shepherd.

He is the One who brings them into the sheepfold.

The place of safety and security.

The place of rest and refreshment.

The way that He secures this place of refuge is actually seen in His own Words.

John 10:14–15 ESV

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

He is the Good Shepherd and He will eventually lay His life down for these sheep.

Jesus will lay His life down for these sheep, and they will listen to His voice.

John 10:16 ESV

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Jesus will be the GREAT Shepherd and we will be His sheep.

But He doesn’t stop there.

He goes to the cross and dies in the place of sinners and rebels.

He rises from the dead and tells His followers to make His good news known.

He even commissions His followers to care for the sheep in His place.

John 21:15 ESV

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

In that moment Jesus commissions His disciples to care for the sheep in His stead.

Under-shepherds on Behalf of the Chief Shepherd

He gave His mission to His disciples to follow through on.

The Apostles would later pass the baton to the shepherds and teachers.

What is a pastor?

The pastor IS NOT an entertainer.

The pastor IS NOT a CEO.

There are two offices in the church, elder/pastor and deacon.

There are three words for what we would describe as a pastor.

Pastor = Elder = Overseer

I will use these three terms interchangeably.

It is interesting to note that elder is the only term that does not describe what a Pastor/Elder/Overseer does, but who they are.

An elder/pastor/overseer is first about who a person is before we discuss what an elder/pastor/overseer does.

An important question soon emerges.

Why do under-shepherds’ matter?

We could give many answers to this question.

The Bible is straight forward from the earliest Christians.

What did spiritual warfare look like in the book of Acts?

Ananias and Sapphira are struck dead for lying.

God struck them dead to guard the purity of His church.

But there is another instance that is just as striking.

Acts 6:1–2 ESV

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

Now I want you to notice that there is a real problem happening here.

People would have been dependent on the church for well being.

God’s Protection of the Church

Acts 6:3–4 ESV

Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

There was a real danger in the first century of the Apostles to neglect the Word of God.

It came in an actual need.

It could have been easy to say, “We need to be busy with caring for all these needs!”

Of all of my duties as a pastor...

The central duty that the Scripture’s time and again present is prayer and attending to the Word of God.

I love biblical counseling.

But there is no amount of counseling from the Word of God personally that could ever replace preaching and teaching the Word of God to all.

Who are under-shepherds?

Three common pitfalls that we think are qualifications for elders.

A pastor/elder is NOT a CEO.

The CEO model assumes that because we are a leader in the world that we should be a leader in the church.

A pastor/elder is NOT a “big giver” or “big contributor.”

Contribution is important but does not automatically mean that a person should be an elder/pastor.

A pastor/elder is NOT a “good ol’ boy.”

Living in the same place and being a member of the same church for three decades doesn’t make a man an elder.

All three of these pitfalls exclude what the Bible says is required of elders.

Notice all of the qualifications that we naturally think are geared toward eldership have to do with external gifting‘s.

But the Bible flips this on its head, for the elder, what matters more than gifting‘s is his home life.

If a man has an unruly home, he is disqualified to rule the people of God.

This is not harsh legalism, it is a gift to gods people.

If a man cannot lead his family to follow, Jesus, how can he expect to lead the family of God to follow Jesus?

He may be able to do so for a time, but overtime he will begin to treat the sheep like he does his children.

If you see a gentleman with his children, you can guarantee he will be gentle with the people of God.

God’s Design for the Church

Of the things mentioned in Scripture, all of these qualifications but two categories applies to all believers.

Before we get to what an elder/pastor must do, we must consider what an elder/pastor/overseer must BE.

The difference of DOING and BEING is critically important and has shipwrecked many pastors/elders.

We must see that being a pastor/elder is FIRST about BEING a certain man.

Spiritual Maturity for Qualifications for Biblical Eldership

1 Timothy 3:1 ESV

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Desiring and Aspiring to be a pastor.

The first requirement of an elder/pastor is this idea of desire for the office.

Now this desire is both internal and external.

For example, if a man came to our church and said, “God has called me to be the pastor of this church”.

I would hope we would all stand up at the same time and say, “God did not tell us that you are to be the pastor of this church.”

When we speak of the “calling” of a pastor, we need to recognize this first category of desiring the office.

To desire to office of elder/pastor/overseer is a noble or “good work” and when a person desires it, they should be commended for desiring it.

At the same time, just because a person senses God’s call on their life does not make them qualified or able to do what God requires them to be or do.

Shepherds are Upright

Character Over Gifting

1 Timothy 3:2–3 (ESV)

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach

Above Reproach

When we speak of a man being above reproach, we all know what we mean when we hear this if not in words but in practice.

Being above reproach is if you hear a rumor of a particular man and your first reaction is,

“No way! I couldn’t believe him to do such a thing.”

That is what it means to be above reproach.

It means to be “beyond criticism.”

In a similar way that Jesus was beyond criticism.

Even when his enemies spoke ill of Him, people knew it was a lie.

This is a similar thing seen in 1 Tim 3:7 when Paul takes being “being beyond criticism” as being well thought of by outsiders.

1 Timothy 3:6–7 ESV

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.

“hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.” (1 Timothy 5:22)

If we are too quick in laying hands on a believer after he has been converted, we are setting him up for failure.

Often when a person comes to Jesus, they are passionate and excited about sharing Jesus with others.

We maybe even see their gifting and think, “This guy should be a pastor!”

But we must be careful.

To lay hands too quickly, we are tempting him toward spiritual pride, which is the the condemnation that satan fell prey to.

Well thought of by outsiders

Even outsiders are to see him as someone who “has a good witness” with outsiders.

Outsiders may reject his gospel witness, but he is faithful in his dealings even with unbelievers.

There is no double tongued nature in this man.

No hint of a person who is one way with unbelievers and another with believers.

Even if unbelievers hate him for his witness, they know what to expect from him.

The reason that this is a qualification for an elder is that the leaders of the body of Christ should not be “exposed to public spectacle of insults.”

1 Timothy 4:12 ESV

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

An Example

The pastor/elder is meant to be exemplary.

Philippians 3:17 ESV

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Shepherds are Personal

Under Control on Purpose

1 Timothy 3:2 (ESV)

sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable,

Sober-Minded

The word for sober-minded could also be translated, “one who holds himself within” or “one who always has a halter on himself.”

The sober-minded man is the man who keeps a lid on it so to speak.

Even when others are overly annoying, frustrating, or unruly; this man keeps his cool.

Respectable

The idea behind this word respectable is the man who acts “suitably” he acts in such a way that is proper and appropriate for the position that God has given him over the body of Christ.

Self-Controlled

This idea of respectable is of a man who “behaves in a sensible manner.”

The respectable elder/pastor is the man who “let’s his mind guide his body.”

1 Timothy 3:3 (ESV)

not a drunkard....not a lover of money.

Not a drunkard & Not a lover of money

This man is able to control himself around alcohol and money.

These are two easy temptations which can be a major pitfall in the life of the believer.

This does not mean he does not ever drink alcohol, or he never deals in money.

But he is tempered in his use of alcohol and does not excessively love money.

1 Timothy 3:3 (ESV)

not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome

Gentle, Not Violent

That word for violent could also be translated as “bully”, someone who is demanding their own way in everything.

He is not a bully toward others but is gentle.

He is the embodiment of “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.”(Philippians 4:5)

The pastor ought to be the MOST reasonable person in the whole church.

This is the kind of man that when he walks in the room, he may be firm but there is a wake of peace everywhere he goes.

Shepherds are Relational

Smell Like Sheep

Hospitable

This qualification is often overlooked by pastor/elder.

But to be hospitable is actually to welcome strangers into our home.

This is not our ability to put out a spread to people we already know but the qualification is for how we treat those we have never met before.

The way a man tends to those who cannot and won’t pay him back is indicative of how he will treat those he does know.

If he is willing to care for those he has never met before, then he will be all the more caring to those in his charge.

Hebrews 13:2 ESV

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

This likely refers back to Abraham entertaining the angels that came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Shepherds are Family-Oriented

Manages His House Well

1 Timothy 3:4–5 ESV

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?

Husband of One Wife

This phrase is hotly debated but I think the best overall sense of this phrase comes in it’s most wooden reading “one woman man.”

As a man, I am sexually faithful to my wife alone.

This includes but is not limited to guarding from ungodly relationships, ungodly images, and guarding my marital relationship.

Manages His Household Well

Paul says in other places that the church is the family of God.

If the church is the family of God, then the pastor/elder must be one who can manage his household well.

If this man cannot manage his household well, then he will not be able to shepherd the people of God.

Our Shepherd has entrusted His blood bought people to under-shepherds; they are relationally personal men of character that are worthy to emulate.

2 Corinthians 2:14–17 ESV

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.