Titus 1:5-9 - The Picture of Healthy Leadership

We’re continuing our series through Titus, and today from Titus 1:5-9 we’re talking about the picture of healthy leadership in the church, the qualifications for church elders.

These are the standards we’ve got to hold our church leaders to, and the standards we use when identifying who the Holy Spirit has raised up to be a leader in the church.

But sadly, we don’t always use a good standard of healthy leadership.

Think about it…

If I were to ask you what makes a good leader in the church, I’m sure many people would cite this passage and its parallel passage in 1 Timothy 3.

But there will most likely be other things other qualifications like being a good administrator, or having a certain gravitas or charisma that makes people want to listen and follow, or even a certain amount of experience like the amount of books published or the amount of successful counseling cases or simply the amount of life experience lived.

Some may even list worldly things like political affiliations, humanitarian associations, or even things as simple as enjoying fishing or hiking.

There are so many different things we can end up putting on church leaders as qualifications when the biblical qualifications are hard enough.

And these extra standards are actually unhealthy because they end up distracting us and our leaders from what true spiritual health looks like.

And our tendency is to subtly prioritize these unbiblical and unhealthy standards, subtly because we might not even be aware that we’re doing it.

Because we tend to prioritize spiritually unhealthy standards in our leaders, God has given us clear spiritually healthy standards for leaders in his church.

Through Paul, here in Titus 1:5-9, Jesus has given us the priority of spiritual health among church leadership, and he has outlined three areas a leader in his church ought to be spiritually healthy in order to lead his church, his bride, toward spiritual health.

A leader in the church ought to be spiritually healthy in his home life, his character, and his teaching.

This is the picture of healthy leadership in the church.

So, lets read Titus 1:5-9, and then we will look at the implications and how we as a church can pursue healthy leadership here at GBC.

Titus 1:5-9 says this…

Titus 1:5–6 ESV

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

Titus 1:7–9 ESV

For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

So, first we see in verse 5…

The Priority of Healthy Leadership (5)

Paul says that the whole reason he left Titus in Crete in the first place was to put what remained into order.

There’s a pattern of church planting that is assumed here.

Paul had a certain way he went about planting churches, and he had followed the pattern almost to the end in Crete with Titus.

But there was still some things left to put in order for the churches planted in Crete to be healthy.

Paul’s usual pattern of church planting is outlined very clearly in Acts 14:21–23 “When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

The pattern is this:

First, make disciples by preaching the gospel.

Second, strengthen and encourage the souls of the disciples through continuing to preach the gospel.

Third, appoint elders to continue making more disciples and strengthening and encouraging the disciples there.

Paul had gone to Crete with Titus and planted churches in the cities there by doing the first two steps in the pattern.

They preached the gospel and made many new disciples, and they had strengthened and encouraged those disciples.

But then Paul had to leave before the third step could be accomplished, so he left that task with Titus.

Titus was to appoint multiple elders according to each city in Crete as Paul had already directed him to do.

And this is not just appointing one elder in each of the cities of Crete.

The way the Greek reads is that Titus was supposed to appoint multiple elders per city with a church.

And Paul thought this was such a big deal that he reminded Titus about this priority in his letter.

Paul had already told him to do this, probably when he left.

But here he reminds him of this task again because it’s very important.

A church cannot be healthy if it has no healthy leadership.

Either from a lack of leaders in general, or from an unhealthy leadership.

Now, I want to take a moment here to explain how God’s Word structures leadership in the church because it’s sort of assumed in our passage.

Paul assumes that Titus knows what the leadership structure of the church ought to be like, but he instructs him specifically on the qualifications of that leadership.

So, what does God’s Word say about how leadership in the church ought to be structured?

The titles for the spiritual leaders in the church is Elder or Overseer or Shepherd/Pastor.

Paul told Titus in our passage to appoint elders in verse 5, and then in verse 7 in the same context he calls them overseers.

In Acts 20:17 Paul called the elders of the church of Ephesus to come to him, and then in Acts 20:28 he told these same elders, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

To care for the church of God is actually the verb translated “to shepherd” or “to pastor.”

Peter also uses all three of these terms, Elder, Overseer, and Shepherd, to indicate this singular spiritual leadership role in the church in 1 Peter 5:1–3 “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”

So, Elder, Shepherd/Pastor, and Overseer are all different names for the same office, the same leadership role in the church.

An elder of the church is a man who people look to as an example of how to live for Christ.

An elder of the church shepherds those in his care, he protects them from spiritual threats like wrong thinking about doctrine and unrepentant sin, and he feeds them with right doctrine from God’s Word and encourages them to righteous living as an expression of love for Christ.

An elder of the church also oversees the souls of those in his care as Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

The only other church leadership role in the Bible is that of a Deacon.

Deacons are leading servants.

In Acts chapter 6 a problem arose in the first church that required a select group of leading servants to address it.

At this point there were no official roles in the church of Deacon or even Elder, there were only the Apostles and the disciples God had made through their preaching and teaching in Jerusalem at and after Pentecost.

Some of the widows there were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food or money of some kind.

This problem could have split the first church, but the Apostles told the people to choose a group of men to address it so that wouldn’t happen, and so that they wouldn’t be distracted from prayer and preaching God’s Word.

In this account in Acts 6 we can see that as these leading servants met specific needs, they protected the ministry of the Apostles, and they promoted church unity.

With many thousands of people in that first church, it’s not likely that the few men appointed to this role were the only ones to actually serve to fix the problem.

They very likely came up with a plan and recruited more people in the church to execute the plan they were leading.

The qualifications for Deacons are outlined briefly in Acts 6:3 “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.”

A good reputation, full of the Spirit, and full of wisdom.

These qualifications are more specifically outlined in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 after the qualifications for overseers in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

And the only real difference in qualifications between overseers and deacons is that deacons are not held to a standard of teaching like overseers are.

This is because the primary way Elders are to perform their role is through their teaching and their example of righteous living that matches their teaching from God’s Word, and the primary way Deacons are to perform their role is through their service and practical problem solving and their example of righteous living which matches the Elder’s teaching from God’s Word.

Deacons are very important to a healthy church, but appointing spiritually healthy Elders must come first.

Paul only addresses the qualifications for Elders here in Titus because it’s assumed that the spiritual leadership and teaching that healthy Elders provide will end up producing healthy Deacons.

This is not to say that Elders are more important than Deacons.

Elders and Deacons are of equal importance before God, and equal importance in the church.

But in a very significant way the role of Deacon is dependent upon the teaching of the Elders from God’s Word.

A Deacon’s service and righteous living is only applied as an example for the rest of the people in the church as the Elders teach what service and righteous living ought to look like from God’s Word.

So, in this way it’s important to appoint healthy Elders first before moving on to the equally important but subsequent task of appointing healthy Deacons.

So, the only two recognized offices in the church are that of (1) Elders, Overseers, or Pastor/Shepherds and (2) Deacons.

And both offices are filled with men who have been raised up by the Holy Spirit for those roles in the church.

Elders are raised up by the Holy Spirit as Paul said in Acts 20:28 “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

The Holy Spirit made them Overseers.

Deacons are also raised up by the Holy Spirit simply by the basic qualification in Acts 6 of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Regardless of the process of how someone becomes an Elder or a Deacon, the Holy Spirit initiates the process.

But once the people recognize the Holy Spirit’s initiation of the process, the current leadership appoints them to the role.

So, first we saw in verse 5 of Titus chapter 1, how important establishing healthy church leadership is, the priority of healthy leadership.

And we also looked at the structure of healthy church leadership because it’s assumed in our passage.

Next, we’re going to look at the specific qualifications for the leadership position of Elder that look at his home, his character, and his teaching.

In verse 6, we see the qualifications regarding…

The Health of the Leader’s Home (6)

Titus is to appoint to this leadership role only those whose home life is characterized by faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ.

Remember, those are the things Paul brought up in his introduction that we are supposed to take with us throughout his letter.

Paul brings up the conduct of the Elder or prospective Elder as above reproach.

The context indicates that this is specifically his conduct in his home because he immediately brings up his roles as husband and father.

But what does it mean to be above reproach?

The word “reproach” simply means disgrace, discredit, or blame.

So, to be above that means that there is nothing in your life to bring you disgrace, nothing to discredit you, nothing that you can be legitimately blamed for.

The Greek word used here simply means blameless.

Your life is one that if someone were to try and accuse you of some gross misconduct, those accusations wouldn’t stick because of the way you live your life and the way others can see that you live your life that doesn’t match those accusations.

To be above reproach is a sort of blanket qualification that what follows falls under.

Paul says that a healthy Elder must be the husband of one wife.

The Greek here can be woodenly rendered, “a one-woman man,” or “a man of one woman.”

The Greek word a-NER can mean either man or husband depending on the context, and similarly the Greek word gu-NEY can mean either woman or wife depending on the context.

And the context here is clearly referring to a husband who is faithful to his one wife.

So faithful and devoted to her that any accusation of adultery or unfaithfulness would be absurd.

It’s also important to note, that with this word construction here and in 1 Timothy, God, through Paul, has limited healthy spiritual leadership in the office of Elder to men and not to women.

As far as I can tell in my understanding of Scripture, this particular role in the church is the only thing women are not allowed to hold.

So, this role is closed to women, but it’s left open to unmarried men as long as their faithfulness in their home life can be witnessed to be above reproach.

Although, that faithfulness is much easier to witness in the marriage relationship than it is in a single man.

Look for a man whose home life is so saturated with faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ that his faithfulness to his wife is completely above reproach.

Along with his faithfulness to his wife, an Elder or prospective Elder’s faithfulness ought to be seen in how his children emulate him in the same way.

His children ought to be faithful.

Our translation says that his children must be believers, but I think this misses the point of what Paul is saying to Titus about this qualification.

The Greek is only three words: the participle “having,” the direct object “children,” and the adjective to describe the direct object which can be translated as either “believing” or “faithful.”

In light of the context of the elder’s faithfulness to his one wife, it seems appropriate to me that Paul would move to talk about that faithfulness also reflected in the elder’s children.

Because our children are little copy-cats, they do what their parents do whether we want them to or not.

If their dad is stepping out on their mom, they will notice, and they will live accordingly unfaithful lives.

If their dad excessively indulges in sensual pleasures, think drinking, smoking, or loose women...

Guess what, they will be, too!

To varying degrees and in various ways they will be open to the charge of debauchery, like their dad probably is behind closed doors.

If their dad rebels against local authorities like cheating on taxes or outright breaking the law…

Guess what, they will, too!

Again, to varying degrees and in various ways they will be open to the charge of rebelliousness, like their dad probably is behind closed doors.

The behavior of an Elder’s children is a window into what his home life is probably like.

These patterns can even be seen in young children.

But we have to be careful to not apply this qualification in a wrong way.

Sometimes an Elder is faithful in his home life, but his children are not.

This is not a hard and fast qualification.

It’s a sub-qualification indicating how the Elder ought to be above reproach in his faithfulness at home.

This is simply a good indicator of whether or not the Elder is faithful in his home, not the standard to determine if his home life is above reproach or not.

Paul also mentioned an Elder or Overseer’s home life in 1 Timothy 3:4–5 “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?”

In 1 Timothy he used the Elder’s home life as an indicator of his aptitude to management.

But here in Titus he used it as an indicator of the Elder’s faithfulness.

So, if an Elder’s wife is satisfied with his faithfulness to her alone, and his children emulate his faithfulness, then it stands to reason that he is above reproach in his faithfulness in the home.

These are indicators that the leader’s home is spiritually healthy.

The next area of qualification for leaders in a healthy church is…

The Health of the Leader’s Character (7-8)

Paul repeats the overarching qualification of being above reproach but here, instead of being applied to only his home life, it is applied to his character in all aspects of life.

Paul describes in rapid succession five things a healthy leader avoids in verse 7 and six things a healthy leader pursues in verse 8.

And we’ll briefly look at each one.

First up, the five negative things he avoids in verse 7.

A healthy leader avoids being arrogant.

Paul mentioned this idea in 1 Timothy 3:6 “He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.”

And Peter mentioned this idea in 1 Peter 5:3 “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”

A healthy Elder is a humble example, not arrogant or puffed up, or domineering.

He ought to follow Jesus’ example of humble service from John 13 as he washed his disciples’ feet.

Jesus certainly wasn’t arrogant, and neither should an Elder in his church be arrogant if he is truly striving to be like Jesus and calling others in the church to follow his example as he follows Jesus’ example of humility and service.

A healthy leader also avoids being quick-tempered.

Paul mentioned this and the next three in 1 Timothy 3:3 “not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”

To Timothy he used the synonym “quarrelsome.”

This is not having a short fuse, not getting angry or offended easily.

Basically, don’t pick fights, and try to de-escalate as much as possible.

In our context this also includes social media.

A healthy leader also avoids being drunk.

Paul used the exact same word in 1 Timothy 3:3 that we looked at a moment ago, not a drunkard, woodenly, “not alongside wine.”

This is the idea that the leader ought not to be associated with alcohol.

Now, it’s not a sin to drink alcohol, the Bible even condones it in moderation as Paul told Timothy to take a little wine medicinally for his frequent ailments in 1 Timothy 5:23, Jesus turned water into wine in John 2:1-11, and many passages in the Old Testament that indicate wine as a gift from God to express joy and celebration.

But along with those passage that condone drinking wine, there are even more that talk about the dangers of drunkenness, especially regarding leaders among God’s people.

So, a healthy leader in this church will not just avoid being drunk, but will also avoid even the temptation to being drunk by not even associating with alcohol.

A healthy leader also avoids being violent.

This is similar to not being quick tempered or quarrelsome, but it specifically targets the harm or injury caused to someone else.

Again, Paul used the exact same word in 1 Timothy to describe how a healthy Elder or Overseer will not act to harm others.

A healthy leader also avoids being greedy.

Paul used the term “lover of money” in 1 Timothy to describe this.

And Peter described it in 1 Peter 5:2 saying “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;”

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

And the author of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

All of us ought to serve God and not money.

All of us ought to love Jesus, not money.

All of us ought to be content and trust God to take care of us, not trusting money to fix our problems.

But as all of us strive to do that, we need leaders who are also striving to do that so we can follow them.

Next, we’re going to look at the six positive things a healthy leader pursues in verse 8.

A healthy leader pursues being hospitable.

Paul uses Greek word philo-ZEN-ia, a compound word meaning lover of strangers.

A hospitable person loves even those who he doesn’t know well; he treats people who are not part of his family as if they are.

Paul used the exact same word in 1 Timothy 3:2, but he explained the reception of that hospitality in 1 Timothy 3:7 “Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”

Hospitality, like love in general, must be given and received, not just intended.

A healthy leader also pursues being a lover of good.

This seems like a very general qualification, like, who doesn’t love good.

But similar to hospitality, this is not just the intention or preference for good, this indicates actions or a lifestyle that consistently gives preference to good as opposed to evil because it’s what you love.

A healthy leader also pursues being self-controlled or sensible.

Again, Paul uses the same word in 1 Timothy 3:2 along with the synonym “sober-minded.”

The leader must think clearly and rationally to control his own appetites as well as giving godly counsel for others to control their appetites.

A healthy leader also pursues being upright or just.

This is the Greek word DEE-kai-os, the root of the word for righteousness or justification.

The leader must follow the law and uphold the law, both the law of the land and God’s Law.

He must follow the rules, not bend or break them.

This is similar to what his children’s behavior may indicate by not being open to the charge of rebellion.

But he must also uphold the law, and when others break the law or go against it he ought to call them out on it.

A healthy leader also pursues being holy or set apart.

Paul used a similar word in the passage we looked at last week which meant godly or doing what God wants because of your love and reverence for him.

But this word, HOS-ios, is closer to the more commonly used word for holy, HAG-ios.

This is more like separation from the rest of the world for God’s special purposes.

I would liken this pursuit of holiness with Paul’s qualification for Overseers in 1 Timothy 3:1 “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.”

This office, this leadership role in the church is being set apart for God’s special purposes, it’s holy like the Old Testament priesthood was holy and all the vessels used in the Tabernacle were holy.

A healthy leader also pursues being disciplined or self-controlled.

This is a synonym for the earlier qualification of being sensible, but this word has the connotation of physical self-control where the other had the connotation of mental self-control.

Physical self-control means putting routines and patterns in place so that you keep diligent rather than slacking off, so that you do what you need to do instead of shirking your responsibilities.

Nobody wants a slouch running things.

All of these character traits have nuanced and deep application when seeking to appoint healthy leaders in a church in various locations, cultures and eras.

I’ve really only scratched the surface of what a healthy church leader’s home and character looks like.

But all of them are the result and continuation of faith in Christ, hope in Christ, and fellowship in Christ.

And now we are going to move on in our passage to look at…

The Health of the Leader’s Teaching (9)

Paul says that the healthy church leader must hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught.

A leader’s teaching ought to be based on what they were taught.

And the content of what they were taught and what they are holding onto is God’s Word which Paul describes as trustworthy.

It’s very common to see leaders in churches stray from teaching God’s Word because they don’t see it as relevant, they don’t trust that God’s Word is sufficient to speak to today’s issues.

But they are wrong.

We cannot abandon God’s Word and preach self-help.

That’s like jumping out of a life boat in favor of swimming to shore when you are miles out at sea.

We can’t help ourselves, we can’t make ourselves righteous, we can’t be forgiven by God by picking ourselves up by our boot-straps.

We hold to the five sola’s of the reformation.

Succinctly, we are saved through faith, in Christ, by God’s grace, according to Scripture, and to God’s glory… alone.

Nothing else will save you,

certainly not manifesting good things in your life like some sort of whitewashed witchcraft,

or just doing better because some guy in an expensive suit told you that you are enough,

or that you could name and claim your blessings from God if you have enough faith and if you give enough to the church.

Those are all unbiblical lies from the pit because those church leaders weren’t holding to the trustworthy Word of God as it should have been taught to them.

You can’t manifest good things in your life, that’s ridiculous, but you can obey God, and he typically blesses those who obey his Word.

Also, you aren’t enough, only Jesus is enough, and the only reason you will ever be enough is if you are clothed with his righteousness and striving to look like him… righteous as he is righteous, enough because he is enough and you are in him.

And you can’t name and claim your blessings from God, they are given by grace, unmerited favor, you didn’t earn them, so you can’t claim them as if you had earned them.

Your faith doesn’t determine how much God blesses you, all your faith determines is how much you see God’s blessings in the midst of the abundant curses and difficulties of life in this world.

And giving to the church is not some transactional purchase of God’s blessings, its a response to all the blessings God has already given you, so give without expecting to receive anything in return for your gift other than God’s kingdom advancing and your brothers and sisters in Christ cared for, and any sort of return you might get from giving to the church will be seen in heaven, not here.

Ok, I’ll step down from my soap box and get back to our text.

So a healthy leader will hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, but Paul also gave two reasons a healthy leader will do this.

He said that it’s to give instruction in sound doctrine, and to rebuke those who contradict it.

The healthy leader will take the trustworthy Word he was taught and teach it to others for both building up and tearing down.

His teaching of God’s Word will build up those who agree with it and who live accordingly.

The word rendered in our translation as “give instruction” is actually a form of the word para-ka-LE-oh or paraclete, the same word used of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the upper room discourse in John 13-17.

This giving instruction is more like giving encouragement or helping along like a coach to an athlete.

This is because God’s Word was never meant to be merely academic.

Yes, there is much we can learn from God’s Word if we study it like a text book in school.

But it is much better suited to be read like a window into who God is and what he’s done, and how much he loves us and how we ought to do what he’s told us to do because of his authority and his incredible love for us in the gospel.

And healthy leaders in the church encourage and help those in the congregation by expounding God’s Word to them as they were taught.

But his teaching is also used to tear down those who contradict God’s Word.

This is usually a byproduct of preaching and teaching God’s Word to build up those who agree and live accordingly.

If you don’t agree with God’s Word, if you live in a way that goes against God’s Word, if your thoughts and actions contradict God’s Word, then when you hear it authoritatively and faithfully taught by a healthy church leader, you will find yourself convicted to change to repent by the Holy Spirit.

But sometimes the purpose of teaching God’s Word is to tear down those wrong ideas and wrong behaviors.

Paul explained this aspect of teaching as spiritual warfare in 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

A healthy church leader teaches faith, hope and fellowship in Christ from God’s Word to build up those who agree and live in light of Christ, and to tear down and call to repentance those who don’t.

Conclusion

So, a healthy church leader has a healthy home life that reflects his faith hope and fellowship in Christ by his faithfulness to his wife and his kids copying his faithfulness.

A healthy church leader has a healthy character that avoids the results of unbelief, hopelessness, and isolation, and pursues the results of faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ.

And a healthy church leader has healthy teaching that is based solely on the trustworthy Word of God as he was taught, and he uses it to build up the faith, hope, and fellowship of those who agree and live accordingly, and it tears down or rebukes those who don’t so that they will repent and come to or come back to faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ.

I realize that I am putting myself out there as the Pastor, the leader of GBC.

I am held to these qualifications of spiritual health just like any other church leader.

So, what I want you all to do with this, with these qualifications, is first, to hold me accountable.

If you see me deviate from any of these qualifications, if you see me dip into an unhealthy home life, or unhealthy character, or I start teaching anything other than God’s Word or contrary to God’s Word…

Please tell me.

I’m not perfect, I have blind spots, I need to be growing in Christlikeness just like anyone else.

But, I also want you to consider others in our congregation, other members of GBC.

I believe we have some men among us who meet these qualifications of spiritual health whether they realize it or not.

So I want you to consider if you meet these qualifications, and also if you can think of anyone else who meets these qualifications for healthy leadership and tell me.

Because we need multiple Elders here.

I can’t do this on my own, God doesn’t want me to do this without other Elders sharing this burden.

So, please let me know.

And remember one of the qualifications is desiring it, being called out, set aside by God for this role, so letting me know that you desire it is not prideful or arrogant like you might feel like it is.

You aren’t pridefully saying that you’re better than everyone else, far from it.

You’re humbly requesting the lowest position of servant and spiritual guard or spiritual janitor based on the spiritual health of your life that everyone is going to be looking at under a microscope.

It’s not glamorous, it’s not a privilege, it’s hard work, and often thankless work, but it’s worth it.

And if you’ve been set aside by God for this, then you will actually be disobeying God by refusing to step into this role.

Now remember that one of the qualifications is healthy teaching, the healthy teaching of God’s Word to rebuke those who contradict it.

And if you are here today and your life and your beliefs un to this point have been against God, contradicting his Word, then I beg you to repent.

Please turn from contradicting God and his Word to believe in his Son Jesus who became a man, lived a perfect life, died in your place, and rose from the dead three days later so that you wouldn’t have to die for your own sins, but you can live forever with him… but only if you believe in him and submit to his rule over your life.

Romans 10:9 says that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Saved from God’s just wrath against you for your sin against him.

So if you believe, then confess it to the Lord in prayer, and confess it to us so that we can rejoice with you in your salvation and eternal life.

Pray

Father, thank you for giving us these instructions, the qualifications, so we can know what healthy church leadership looks like.

I pray that you would raise up more leaders for us here at GBC.

And I pray that through this leadership structure, that you would help us all to look more and more like Jesus.

Please help us hold onto our faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ as we follow the leadership you have raised up, as we interact with each other in discipleship, and as we reach out to our community in evangelism.

Lord, we want to be a healthy church, we want to be useful for your kingdom, we want to see your kingdom advanced as more and more people are reconciled to you through faith in your Son Jesus.

It’s in his glorious name we pray. Amen.

Communion

Well, it’s the first Sunday of the month, and that means we get to celebrate communion together.

The elements are going to be passed out as I explain some things about this celebration.

And when the elements come to you, just hold on to them and we will all eat and drink them together after everyone has them.

If you are visiting with us then feel free to join us as long as you’re a believer not under church discipline.

And the best way we and you can be sure that you’re a believer is through baptism.

Now, if you haven’t been baptized then you can still join us in this celebration, but I encourage you to get baptized as soon as possible to confirm your faith in Jesus with the community and in your own heart.

This communion celebration focuses on Jesus’ death on our behalf as a reminder that sort of rejuvenates our soul as we identify with Jesus together.

This spiritual identification with Jesus in his death and resurrection should be experienced first in baptism and then continued regularly in the communion celebration.

That’s why it’s best, but not an absolute requirement, to be baptized before celebrating communion.

In 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 Paul explained, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

This is why we call it communion.

It’s a common participation together with Jesus in his death, in his broken body and shed blood to afford forgiveness and eternal life.

We are one body joined together as we partake of this communion celebration all focusing together on one thing, Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.

Paul wrote these things in the midst of explaining why a person should not participate in sacrificing to idols and participate in the communion celebration.

But he also likened communion to the Old Testament sacrifices, and how the priests participated in the sacrifices as they ate the meat sacrificed to God.

In a similar way we are participating in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins when we eat this bread and drink this cup.

Yes, it’s a reminder of our forgiveness because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, but it’s also a participation with him in that sacrifice.

Not that we are dying with him, that’s pictured in baptism, but that we are participating in his death in a similar way as the priests participated in killing the sacrifices and burning them on the altar, then eating the meat sacrificed to God.

Now, this is not so crude as actually eating Jesus’ flesh, but it is a participation in his sacrificial death as we eat this bread which symbolizes his body broken for us, and we drink this cup which symbolizes his blood shed for us.

I will pray, and then we will eat and drink together.

Pray

Father, thank you for the gift of salvation.

Thank you for giving your best, your only Son, the Son you love.

Thank you for sacrificing him on the cross so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life with you.

As we participate in his sacrifice by eating this bread and drinking this cup, I pray that you would draw us closer to you and closer to each other.

Lord, please bless this bread and this cup, bless us as we participate in this celebration of our forgiveness because of the gracious gift of your Son.

We thank you and praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.