The Call of Elder
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Good morning!
Thanks, Leah and the worship team.
I’m really excited about this coming year and what the Lord has in store for us.
Last week we spent our time looking at the historical and cultural context of elders.
Our goal for this three-week series is to understand the reason for, call of, and qualifications of elders.
TGP is an elder-led church, which is not very common in this part of the country.
It is good for those of us that have been in this church for a while to review what we mean by elder-led.
It is also good for those that have joined us in the last three years to hear why our church is structured this way.
We saw last week that God’s people have a long, rich history of being led by elders.
In the old testament, we see those men being given that role by their families.
During the exile, that role changed and became more aristocratic.
After the death of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, God re-establishes the role of elders in the new church.
God uses this well-known structure but redefines the way and reason that a person becomes an elder.
The reason and the way are what we will talk about these last two Sundays.
Today we will talk about the reason and next week will discuss the way.
Once again, we will be reading a lot of scripture, so go ahead and get your apps out and ready.
As we saw last week, the basis of the elder relationship with the people was founded in a loving relationship.
During the exile, that role changed and the relational side was lost.
Because of that, there were abuses of power, favoritism, and neglect.
When the Christian church was forming, there became a need for leadership, but not more of the same.
God was the one that would establish this new leadership.
God choosing those in leadership prevented those abuses and neglect.
The need for spiritual leadership is the reason for elders.
The need for spiritual leadership is the reason for elders.
This one may feel like a no-brainer at first, but I’m sure you can remember many headlines or personal experiences with church leadership that was not following the Holy Spirit.
The beauty of an elder-led church is that there is balance.
To use a political term, there is a balance of power.
All too often there are men that hunger for power and authority and unfortunately, they find it in the church.
This was just as much the case for the new church as it is for the church today.
It is for this reason that the apostles took such care in who they appointed to this role in the church.
It was no longer about popularity, prestige, or wealth.
God instructed and the apostles listened by appointing men who were qualified by their daily obedience to the Holy Spirit.
We read a few of these passages last week, but let’s look at them again so we can see what God was doing.
3 As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine
4 or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.
5 Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.
6 Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.
7 They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on.
18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the good fight,
19 having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and have shipwrecked their faith.
There were many that were doing all that they could to take advantage of this new church and to protect them, Paul told Timothy to find men that could uphold the truth of the message.
We see Paul making this clear distinction between those that were teaching false doctrine or focusing on things that didn’t matter and those with love that came from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith.
One of the primary responsibilities of the elders is to protect the church.
God places elders in the church to keep those that were seeking a platform for personal gain from being able to do so.
We see a very similar thing happening in Crete when Paul writes to Titus.
10 For there are many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from the circumcision party.
11 It is necessary to silence them; they are ruining entire households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly.
12 One of their very own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
13 This testimony is true. For this reason, rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith
14 and may not pay attention to Jewish myths and the commands of people who reject the truth.
These are examples from only two churches!
There were obviously some issues and we saw last week that the apostles were appointing elders in every new church to safeguard against these problems.
There are so many churches today that claim the name of Christ, but teach false truths in order to profit.
This is also how we safeguard the church from being deceived.
We can have confidence in knowing that God has placed men in our church that are willing to speak out against anything that would be harmful to our body.
Our commitment is to God, and to the church, to do and say what God tells us to and nothing more.
This is what the early church needed and so God spoke through the apostles to establish the leadership according to His plan.
God tells the apostles to appoint men and gives them very specific qualifications for those that are to be chosen.
The second thing we are going to look at today is...
The call of the Elder.
The call of the Elder.
We have now seen the need for elders, but now we need to know who is God calling to fulfill those roles.
Look with me at 1 Timothy 3:1.
We will spend some time today on just this verse because it is really important that we understand what Paul was communicating to Timothy.
I can tell you, that this particular verse on eldership was a big deal for me.
1 This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.”
For me, as I read this passage, there is an immediate need to define two of the words.
The first word we need to look at is aspire.
I’ll be honest, when I hear that word, it has some negative connotations.
It makes me think of working really hard for something and being prideful enough to think that I can get it.
Part of my struggle is that I am personally motivated by a checklist.
On top of that, we live in a culture that encourages self-promotion.
For me, this is a bad combination because it puts the focus on me and what I can get done.
When I read this verse it makes me feel like I look at the list of qualifications and think to myself, “yeah, I can do that.”
This is not what Paul was trying to communicate to Timothy.
They didn’t need anyone in leadership that felt like they had already attained godliness.
I had to work through this particular passage so that I could understand the difference between worldly aspirations and Godly aspirations.
The second word that we need to look at is desire.
That one is a bit more common for us, but I had to ask myself, do I just want a position that is notable or that comes with authority.
I struggled with this idea before I was ordained as an elder as well.
I wanted to be an elder, but I couldn’t really tell you why at first.
Because of that, I felt guilty about wanting to be an elder.
Again, because of my understanding of what it meant to aspire to do something, it felt sinful to desire it.
During Glen’s sermon series on 1 Timothy, I spent a lot of time praying about this and God showed me that, the desire in me, was from God.
He gave me some greater context into what it meant to “aspire to be an elder”.
Let’s look a bit closer at these two words.
This is Will’s redneck phonetic spelling. Don’t judge me.
Orego ( Or - Eggo) is the Greek word that is translated asAspire: to strive for something, a person is moving toward a goal, but has not yet attained it.
When I saw the word aspire, to me that meant the same thing as to desire and in fact, it is translated that way in some cases.
To further complicate things, I also saw that list as something that had to be checked off in order to even be qualified.
Here is an example of this word used in another place in scripture that can help us get some more context.
13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.
14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return.
16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Prior to this Hebrews passage is the list of all the former faithful followers of God.
These are the “By Faith” passages.
Their faith was moving them towards a goal that they could not obtain in their own power.
In verse 16 we see that same word Or - Eggo.
They were looking forward to something that was better than where they were.
This is the context into which we need to read this passage in 1 Timothy.
To “aspire” means that I am motivated by my past experiences with God to want to be more like Him.
I have not yet attained it, but I want to move in that direction every day.
In 1 Timothy when Paul says that someone is aspiring, he is saying that they are living their lives in pursuit of Godliness.
There is no hint of completion or pride in this word.
They are living this way for the sake of God’s Kingdom.
It is good to want to be like Christ.
We talk about his often, our goal is to know God, by experience, abiding in him, and in doing so we are made into his likeness.
So if you are striving to be like Christ through an abiding relationship, there is no reason for feeling guilty.
This was a new revelation for me.
What I was feeling wasn’t a sense of completion, but rather a longing for more of God.
“Once you stop learning, you start dying.” - Albert Einstein
Our goal is to be in a progressive relationship with God which means that my aspiration to be an elder was motivated by knowing Him, not a desire for a position.
This is a question that each person must ask for themselves and of their elders.
What is the motivation?
Honestly answering this question for yourself is a good metric to understand your relationship with God.
Now, let’s talk about desire.
Epithymeo (Epi -th - may -o) is the Greek word translated as Desire: to set your heart upon, long for, to look forward too, to crave, to lust after, or covet.
Let’s get some greater context because those last few don’t sound like good things.
Here is an example of this word used in another place in scripture.
12 For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13 That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand.
14 Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, but never understand; you will look and look, but never perceive.
15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back— and I would heal them.
16 “Blessed are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.
17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see but didn’t see them, to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.
Jesus is explaining to his disciples that for generations, many desired to see and hear what they were witnesses to.
They craved for it because they knew that this was the answer to the brokenness in their worlds.
Their craving or longing wasn’t for themselves alone, but for their people as well.
They wanted their people to know God.
Again we see this idea of looking forward toward something.
Both of these words, aspire and desire, communicate progression, not completion.
This is an incredibly important distinction because it communicates how we are to see the elders in the body.
We are not elders because we “have it all together.”
We are elders because God has called us to it and we desire to live in obedience.
Yesterday I had lunch with Ben, because I wanted his perspective on what it means for him personally to “aspire and desire”.
He said he doesn’t. lol
As we talked more, what he was saying is that he has no desire to hold a position of leadership.
His desire is to simply know Jesus and to live in obedience.
What Ben has discovered by experience, (and please feel free to ask him any questions you may have, he loves it), is that living in obedience to God is the only place he wants to be.
It’s the sweet spot!
It can be difficult to get Ben talking, but when you do, you see that something is different about him.
He has an amazing heart for God and for people.
If you don’t believe me, ask him about leading his boss to Christ.
There will be tears.
Ben has seen and heard what has been longed for and can’t get enough.
His desire to know God, no matter the cost, is why God has called him to be an elder.
He leads, by example, what it means to walk with God.
This leads us right into the last part that we will discuss today.
The heart of an Elder.
The heart of an Elder.
Hopefully, you are seeing that to be called to be an elder isn’t a sign that you have “made it”, but rather an acknowledgment that you haven’t, but you want to be made more like Christ every day.
I can tell you from personal experience that none of the elders are perfect.
But I can also tell you that every one of them wants nothing more than to grow deeper in their relationship with God.
That is the priority of their lives and it is evident in the way they live and the choices they make.
Look at 1 Peter 5:1-5 with me.
1 I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed:
2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
You know, it is interesting to think about Peter’s life.
When I picture Peter in my mind, he has dark, leathery skin from a life on the water as a fisherman.
I see him as a hard man with an unwavering demeanor.
We see him mentioned a lot in the gospels but not always for good reasons.
Remember he was the first disciple, he rebukes Jesus (mistake), falls asleep in the garden, boldly proclaims his support of Christ, denies Christ, cuts off the ear of the soldier, and we can go on and on.
Here is a man that was bold, often too bold or at least at the wrong times.
In spite of that history, I read this and feel tenderness.
It is obvious as we read Acts and the epistles that Peter’s life is changed by Christ.
Christ changed the heart of this hard, rash, and impulsive man into His own likeness.
That moment on the beach changed everything.
Then Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and Peter’s eyes and heart were finally opened to see what he had missed before.
Peter urges his fellow elders to shepherd God’s flock well.
We are going to look at the qualifications next week, but Peter is addressing the heart behind how they are to lead.
Three characteristics of Elders:
Three characteristics of Elders:
Willingly
God does not force us into things.
The last then He wants and we want is someone in charge that is doing it out of a sense of obligation.
I picture a junior high boy having to do the dishes when I think about this.
As God would have you
This is a reminder to be like Christ.
WWJD lol
Not only are we to follow Christ's example, but also to follow his lead.
God did not have the apostles just appointing wise men to be elders.
That already happened and it didn’t go well.
This new way of having elders required that these men know God and walk with Him daily.
Being examples to the flock
This is a reminder to them that their churches are looking to them.
They are setting the example.
God’s desire for an elder is to be one that is loving and serving as Christ did.
This is the goal, to be like Christ.
This is the heart that we should see in every person that God calls to be an elder.
Not that they are perfect, but they have surrendered their life to that end.
They are relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, not their own.
They are pursuing God for the sake of the body as an act of love for their brothers and sisters in Christ.
As we join together in asking God who he is calling to join the eldership of our church, this is the kind of hearts that we are to find.
Our church needs elders that know God by experience, are called by God to that role and have a heart for God and His people.
This kind of leadership will draw us to the Father, and guide our church in the ways that God would have us go.