2020-08-16 1 Timothy 3:2 PORTRAIT OF AN ELDER (3): A CHARACTER PROFESSION

PORTRAIT OF AN ELDER (3): A CHARACTER PROFESSION (I Tim 3:2) August 16, 2020 Read I Tim 3:1-2 – Leadership as defined by God. So far we’ve seen that overseers (bishops), elders, and pastors (shepherds) are just different terms for the same NT office, and that in the NT there are always a plurality of elders – most lay elders, but a few who are paid to labor in study and teaching. Now we are studying God’s qualifications for this office. I. Overall Life – He is above reproach – no one could bring a valid ethical or theological charge against him over the last few years of life. II. Moral Life – Chuck Swindoll hit the nail on the head when he wrote: "Ministry is a character profession. To put it bluntly, you can sleep around and still be a good brain surgeon. You can cheat on your mate and have little trouble continuing to practice law. Apparently, it is no problem to stay in politics and plagiarize. You can succeed in business and cheat on your income tax. But you cannot do those things as a Xn leader and enjoy God’s blessing. You must do right in order to have true integrity." Thus Paul introduces 11 moral or ethical qualities that must characterize elders. A. One-Woman Man – We saw that “husband of one wife” = literally “one-woman man.” If married, he is outwardly and inwardly devoted to his wife – avoiding leering glances at other women, flirtatious relationships or any other entanglement that would compromise him or trouble his wife. B. Sober-minded – The next 3 qualifications describe someone under the control of the HS which exhibits outwardly as self-control. The first, sober-minded (νηφάλιον) originally meant total abstinence from strong drink which could lead to lose of inhibitions and self-control. By Paul’s time, the word had evolved to mean someone who is clear-thinking, mature, a rock in time of crisis. An example of sober-mindedness is found in I Chron 12:32 where the writer describes men “Of [the tribe of] Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” Paul expands on this, I Thess 5:6-8: “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober (our word). 7) For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8) But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” Sober-minded people are alert, awake and filled with faith, hope and love – calm in the midst of the storm. 1 I knew of a construction site 50-gallon drum of oil caught fire. Everyone panicked – searching frantically for a Fire Dept number in the days before 911. But one guy just calmly walked over, took a lid off a garbage can, put if over the drum and snuffed out the fire. Calm, sober-minded, clear-thinking. David was sober-minded. When Absalom rebelled, he had to flee Jerusalem but as he did, Shimei, one of Saul’s descendants, began to pelt David with stones and curses. Only a word and one of David’s soldiers would have gladly dispatched him. But David said, II Sam 16:11b-12: “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. 12) It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today.” He showed faith in leaving vengeance to the Lord, love for an enemy, and hope in eventual validation by God. Sober-mindedness. C. Self-controlled – This is someone who doesn’t need a babysitter to align priorities. He is prudent. He knows what, how and when things need to be done. He sees things in light of eternity and reacts accordingly. With God’s constant help, he is in control of himself. We can use our tongue to slander, gripe, complain, straighten others out, nag or quarrel. Not this man. He uses it as an instrument of blessing. He does not lose his temper, but is steady under pressure. He’s not reactive. Lincoln’s Sec of War, Edwin Stanton, came in furious one morning that a subordinate had accused him of favoritism. Lincoln advised writing a sharp letter to the officer. When shown the letter, Lincoln asked, “What are you going to do with it?” Surprised, Stanton said, “Send it!” Lincoln demurred “You don’t want to send that. Burn it. That’s what I do when I’ve written a letter while angry. It’s a good letter and you had a good time writing it. Now destroy it, and write another.” He understood priorities and self-control. Self-control. One new bride asked her hus never to touch a certain shoe box. For 50 years he didn’t. But as he health failed, he found the box, opened it and found two doilies and $2500 cash. When asked about it, she replied, “Mother gave me that box the day we married. She advised me to make a doily any time I got mad at you to ease frustrations.” The man was touched that she’d been mad at him only twice in 50 years, but asked, “What’s the money for?” She replied, “Oh, that’s the money I made selling the doilies.” That’s not just self-control. That’s prudence. That’s turning hard feelings into victories. 2 D. Respectable – The word is κοσμιος from which we get cosmos – root meaning “orderly.” Why do we know the cycles of the moon, where to find Venus in the night sky and when to expect winter and summer? Because the cosmos is orderly, and so is the man of God. It’s no excuse to say, “I’m just not organized.” Then get organized. Chaos isn’t who God is. Gene Getz bought a home in Dallas from another pastor, but found neighbors disappointed another pastor had moved in. The previous guy let grass grow and appearances rundown inappropriate to the neighborhood. That’s not respectable behavior. Pastor Ken told me, always keep your car washed. Half the people won’t care, but it’ll be a big deal to the other half. Be respectable. Be orderly. Be on time. Be prepared. Make your word count. And watch the jokes. One young pastor joked of driving another man’s wife home from choir practice. He’d raise his eyebrows in innuendo. Then he’d drive her home, drop her off and go home. But rumors began. A respectable man wouldn’t have been driving another woman alone on a regular basis, let alone be kidding about it. Elders are to be orderly, respectable, dependable. We need respectable leaders showing how to live; orderly, respectable, E. Hospitable – φιλοξενον – “lover of strangers.” In Paul’s time there were no hotels, and few reputable inns. Travelers sought refuge in the homes of friends or friends of friends. Elders are to be men who show this kind of hospitality, even to strangers. That’s always God’s heart: Lev 19:3334: “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” We’re all to do that, but elders are to be leaders in showing this kind of compassion to new people. This doesn’t prevent hospitality to friends: I Pet 4:9: “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” But hospitality extends much further. A “lover of strangers” is hospitable to everyone, including and especially new people. God puts a really interesting spin on this in Heb 13:2: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Think He really means this? I do. Imagine seeing a homeless person and you go right on by. What if he was an angel in disguise? Could happen. Jesus even says when we see a stranger needing food or clothing and help them – “You did it to me” (Mt 25:37). Needy people are Jesus in disguise. Elders are cliquish. They’re too busy seeking out the new people, welcoming and befriending them – finding out their needs. Eldership is not just about 3 preaching sermons; it’s about living them as shown by how we treat others. And we all have the responsibility to follow that example. A deacon in my first church once told me, “I used to look at my home as a refuge – the place where I could escape from work and all the pressures of life. But I realized I wasn’t giving God a chance to work through my home.” That was challenging to me. Of course, there has to be balance, but it raises the question, is God Lord of your home as well as all areas of life. Hospitality varies widely. Opening one’s home to visiting missionaries or other Christian workers. Seeking out lonely members of our own congregation and inviting them for a ballgame or dinner. Showing love toward neighbors. Having a Bible study in your home. Sponsoring some of the foreign students that Kurt and Melissa work with – opening your life to them. Are we hospitable at church? Do we seek to welcome visitors or confine our conversation to existing friends? Godly leaders will exemplify this for all of us to follow – because it reflects the heart of God. Singer John Charles Thomas wrote Dear Abby in the ‘50’s: “I am presently completing the second year of a three-year survey on the hospitality or lack of it in churches. To date, of the 195 churches I have visited, I was spoken to in only one by someone other than an official greeter – and that was to ask me to move my feet.” Now, you can be so hospitable that you lose the message. We must not do that. But God forbid that anyone would be with us and not warmly received. We must insist on hospitality in our elders, and then follow their example if we are to represent a very hospitable God correctly. F. Able to teach – An elder is a man of the Word, driving to communicate God’s truth to others, able to recognize and refute error. Titus 1:9: “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.” A teaching pastor must be skilled at teaching. But every elder, including lay elders, has a heart to teach. They are men who study the Word, learn it, live it and share it. Note that qualifications for deacons in vv. 8-13 are very like those for elders – except elders are to be able to teach. They have a unique ability to explain truth, defend truth and lead others to the truth. They are students of the Word who can explain it to others. Dr. Curtis Mitchell, took over a church that was “on the skids.” He found only one man who seemed to have a mature understanding of the Word. You can 4 imagine, then, his disappointment when that man came to him one Sunday and said, “Pastor Mitchell, there’s a boy on our street who talked to me about the Lord this week. I told him I’d have you come around next Wednesday to explain to him how he can be saved.” That’s tragic, Beloved. Shame on us if we don’t even know our Bible well enough to help someone give their life to Jesus. Could you? Do you know where to turn? An elder must know that and more. He must be a man of the Word who is capable and eager to share it with others. He may not do it perfectly. None of us do. But he must be a II Tim 2:15 man: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly handling the word of truth.” That’s written to Xns in general. How much more must it be true of an elder. Why is this requirement in the middle of a section listing moral qualifications of an elder? What does ability to teach have to do with morality? And the answer is that an elder must be living what he is teaching. Teaching, in the end, is all about morality. Effective teaching is woven around the character of the teacher. What a man does cannot be divorced from what he says. Richard Baxter says, “He that means as he speaks will surely do as he speaks.” If ability to teach is not married to holy living, it is useless. A man who is truly able to teach is also humble and loving, one who is “speaking the truth in love.” Truth may be presented authoritatively, but never harshly. That ruins the message and disqualifies one from being “able to teach.” Naturally there are a variety of ways this ability to teach may find expression – teaching pastor, small group leader, SS teacher, discipleship leader, counsellor, youth sponsor, presenter at jails, convalescent homes and other groups. I did all of these before I ever became a teaching pastor of a church. Listen, Beloved. God is in the lifechanging business, so His church is in the lifechanging business, and it is the Word, ministered by the Spirit, that changes lives. Someone asked David Jeremiah why his church continues to grow after 30 years. He said, “I don’t have anything to tell them except I just teach the Word every Sunday. There’s an incredible hunger, more so today, perhaps, than when I started being a pastor 40 years ago. The Bible meets people’s needs.” No wonder God requires His leaders to be “able to teach.” Conc – So the bottom line of this sermon is that God’s leaders must be students of truth, livers of truth and teachers of truth. That is all we have to 5 offer. Everything else is temporary relief. The Word provides permanent answers to eternal questions. That is our only business. Chuck Colson once said this: “The authority and truth of Scripture is not an obscure issue reserved for the entertainment of theologians; it is relevant, indeed critical, for every serious Christian. My convictions have come, not from studies in Ivory Tower academia, but from life in what may be termed the front-line trenches, behind the prison walls were Christian scrapple in hand-to-hand combat with the Prince of darkness. In our present fellowships, where the Bible is proclaimed as God's holy and inerrant revelation, believers grow and discipleship deepens. Where the Bible is not so proclaimed faith withers and dies.” We’re in the truth business bc it is the only thing that changes lives and takes people from darkness to light. Therefore, we must have leaders who know, teach and live the Word. And then we must follow. Let’s pray. 6