Biblical Elders | The Chararcter of Elders

Notes:

fun at mens retreat. Cameron, Tyler, and Favor all got Baptized.

Opener:

10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Adventurers)

The following ad once appeared in a London newspaper: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful.” The ad was signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer. Amazingly, the ad drew thousands of respondents, eager to sacrifice everything for the prospect of meaningful adventure.

Today In The Word, August, 1989, p. 33

Main Passage:

Titus 1:5–8 NASB95

5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, 6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled,

Point 1: Above reproach in His Home

Above Reproach

So what does it mean to be above reproach?

Grudem: “there should be no legitimate accusation that could be brought against the elder that would bring disrepute on the gospel or the church

Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2348). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.”

George Knight sums up what it means to be above reproach well when he says:

This does not mean that an elder must be perfect, but it may be fairly said that each named characteristic marks his life

Knight, G. W. (1992). The Pastoral Epistles: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 289). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.

I need to emphasize that it does not mean perfect. Every elder is still a work in progress. They

Stumble in many ways as James 3 says

They need other Christians in their lives to help bear their burdens as Galatians 6 says

They need to practice regular repentance as Jesus taught us in the sermon on the MT.

BUT the pattern of their life is not marked by a sinful lifestyle. It is not marked by a pattern of some of the following sins mentioned in this passage. It is marked by the fruits of the Spirit. They have really abided in Christ and are bearing real fruit in their life in a consistent fashion.

Story about Carlos the perfect example of Jesus?

I one timed worked for a company that every year had a Christmas/ end of year celebration. The CEO of the company was known for giving a long and heartfelt speech. But somehow many of the compliments he was trying to give sounded more like insults. He was a Christian man and ran a self described “Christian” business. Well at the pinacle of his speech one year he would pick out one employee who out shown the rest. And this year it was Carlos. And before I tell you what he said about Carlos I have to tell you Carlos had a reputation at this company for stealing food from the breakroom. He had been caught red handed and the guys in the shop all knew this about him.

So this years employee of the year was Carlos. And here is the thing I am sure there were somethings Carlos did very well that were worthy of mention. But that is not what the CEO did. Instead he started to go you know what every time I thought of Carlos I thought of Jesus. He is so Christ like. Jesus does this and Carlos does this. Jesus does this and Carlos does this. He went through about 4 what he considered good examples. And all the guys in the shop could think was would Jesus steal our lunches from the break room? So it become the most mocked speach ever at the company to the oblvion of the CEO. And quite frankly that wasn’t fair to Carlos either. He didn’t ask for that despite his bad conduct in the breakroom.

But notice this CEO did MORE damage with his platitudes and promotions because the persons CHARACTER and CONDUCT didn’t match. It actually brought shame to the Gospel not glory. So an Elder must be above reproach. Not someone who is known for x, y, or z.

Faithful to His wife

But notice Paul starts in the home. And he starts with the Elders most important human relationship the one to his wife.

“The husband of one wife”. Not I don’t know about you but when I read that I immediately think polygamy is out fellas. And it certainly is. But that is actually not what the text is referencing.

This comes from NT Bible Background expert Craig Keener:

Polygamy was not practiced in the Roman world outside Palestine, though illegal bigamy and certainly adultery were

Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Ti 3:2–3). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

The words quite litterally translated mean a “one woman man”. The reverse statement a “One man woman” is used of Widows to be held in high honor for having lived a faithful life. While many have debated what this means the idea I think is quite simple. It means the elder is faithful to his wife. If you remember when we went through the 10 commandment series and we preached on the 7th commandment: though shall not commit adultery we talked about the importance of covenant. The 10 commandments were not just commandments they were a covenant: “The Lord our God made a covenant with us” it says (Moses speaking to Israel). And if they wanted to keep the conditions of the covenant one of the most important ones was keeping the covenant of marriage with your spouse. To break the covenant of marriage is to break your covenant with your Creator. And so you cannot claim to be a man of God if you are not faithful to your spouse.

If you remember I said last week the one defining atribute that an Elder must have is “Faithfulness”. This is why this is the one quality emphasized in the progenerate statement of 2 Tim 2:2

2 Timothy 2:2 NASB95

2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

and if you remember at the end of this section these elders were going to men who held “fast to the faithful word”. And if you can’t be faithful to your spouse you aren’t qualified to lead God’s people.

Elders your marriage is the most important human relationship you have. Guard it. Invest in it. Cherish it. Protect it. Work on it. Grow in it. One of the things our church is going to be doing is sending the men and their wives who are stepping into marriage to a family life conference called a weekend to remember. It is an enjoyable experience, not burdensome. But a time to focus and work on your marriage. I would encourage any married couple here to go. Me and Janna have been to two we hope to go to many more.

Children faithful to him

The next standard is interesting as well. While the elder must be faithful to his wife, his children must be faithful to him.

“having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion”. The phrase “having children who believe” is “τέκνα ἔχων πιστά”. That last word “πιστά” could be translated “believe” or “faithful”. If you look at how it is used in the pastoral epistels it is used both ways. You can lead your kids to the Lord but at the end of the day you have no control over their faith. Training them and governing them though is a different matter. Children honor their parents by good behavior:

Proverbs 29:15 NASB95

15 The rod and reproof give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

But it is the parents responsibility. One of my favorite Bryan McCrea one-liners is “if you do not correct your children you are helping them disobey God”. You see your children honoring their mother and father isn’t something you can say… Oh I don’t care about that honor stuff. It is not your command to set aside. It is God’s. and if your children don’t obey and listen to you and you stand idely by then you are a participant in sin.

Notice it says: “not accused of dissipation or rebellion”. This is referencing the children. So this would have included older children that where still under the responsiblity of the parents (under your roof). Dissipation means squandering resources on sinful appetaties.

Parents in the Old Testament could bring their disobedient children before the elders of the city:

Deuteronomy 21:20 NASB95

20 “They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’

How a man is faithful in his own household though is the FIRST thing Paul looks at when deciding if a man should be a leader or not.

1 Timothy 3:5 NASB95

5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),

Friends the members of your own household are a precious gift from The Lord. Cherish them. Take responsibility for them. And do the work of the Kingdom first in your own home.

Point 2: Above reproach in His Heart

Notice the heading “above reproach” emerges again but this time with a different focus:

Titus 1:7–8 NASB95

7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled,

Notice there are essentially two aspects that follow what it means to be “above reproach” here. Verses 7 has a list of 5 things you cannot be. An Elder is not qualified to be an Elder if he has these qualities, characteristics, tendancies, or habbits. And then verse 8 has 6 things he must be. When an examaning the qualifications for elders we must make sure there isn’t bad fruit and we must also make sure there is good fruit.

The Negative

Most of these terms we know what they mean. “Pugnacious” means a brawler. Gets in fights. I want to focus us on the first one though because it speaks to motivation. The word is “self-willed”. Some say arrogant. But the idea is that they are focused not God’s will, and not on the needs of the people, but on one thing. Their will. Their way. Their desire. Their opinion. They are “self-willed”.

You see the whole job of these elders, these Shepherds, was to walk in the foot steps of the Great Shepherd and lay down their life for the sheep to the glory of God. The mission, calling, purpose come from God and the glory goes back to Him. But the the compassion, the mercy, the exortation goes to the sheep. In other words the job of the Shepherd is to lay aside their self will and put the interest of God and the needs of the sheep before their own. In 1 Peter 5 it sums it up well:

1 Peter 5:2 NASB95

2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;

I want you all to see this today. Because we are getting a picture into the heart of Christ. The love that he pours out into those qualified to lead. And friends these motives here are things every Christian (man, woman or child) should strive for.

“John Henry Jowett (1863-1923), said: “One volunteer is worth two pressed men. I am not quite sure whether the proverbial saying is pertinent.... On the high planes of spiritual service no number of pressed men can take the place of a volunteer.”

Did you see that? So it not only that the elder must

not be “self-willed”

and secondly that he must have his motives right in wanting to please God and meet the needs of the people

but three he must also be “motivated”. He must want to do it. He must be eager to do it. In 1 Timothy 3 we see this as well:

1 Timothy 3:1 NASB95

1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

Notice the man must aspire and desire. He must be “eager” to serve. If someone is pressed into the role of Elders they are not going to do a good job. They are in fact probably worse than a hired hand. There is only one thing that produces this kind of benevolent eagerness to serve. The love of God poured out through the cross of Christ.

Jesus, out of His great love for us, laid down His life on the cross so we could be redeemed. The great Shephered saught and saved us.... not under compolsion. The Father didn’t make the Son go against His will. He gladly gave up His heavenly rights and came from heaven to eartth to die a criminals death to save us from the just punishment of our sins.

And friends we need more Christians with this kind of motivation to serve.

C.T. Studd — 'If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.'

I just want to say it is a joy to be the bondservant of the Lord! Oh what a joy it is.

The Apostles REJOICED the first time they got beaten for the Gospel. Rejoincing that they who once forsook the Lord got to walk in the footsteps of their great Savior and suffer for His name! It is a funny thing the love of God does to your motivations.

Marry Reed who was a missionary who spent over 50 years serving those with lepresy. She eventually contracted the disease herself and kept on serving. One of her friends commented to her all Christians everwhere should pray for your healing. She replied: “' I have not yet received any assurance of healing ; per- haps I can serve my Father better thus.'” And she would sing this song: “" Straight to my home above, I travel calmly on, And sing in life or death, « My Lord, Thy will be done.'

Is that not the heart of the Savior. So we Christians are called not to be self willed but motivated by the Sacrificial love of God to His glory.

The Contrast

But notice the contrast in the passage.

The Elder is not to be arguing, seeking his own way, focused on his own pleasures, fighting for his own… instead he is to be Hospitable… instead of seeking his own he is sharing his own. He is bringing people into his own space!

He is to be “sensible” and “Just”. Instead of fighting for his own no matter the cost, he is fighting for what is right even if it cost him. Instead of arguing he is sensible. He is making peace not war.

He doesn’t love his own pleasures and vices… instead he loves what is good and is self controlled.

Do you see the beautiful contrast here friends. This is a work of God in the cross of Christ. A work that saves us from our sins. What did Jesus save us from friends? Think about it? What did he save us from? OUR SINS. So our sins must not have master over me because I have been saved from that.

Titus 2:11–12 NASB95

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

To be an Elder you must have a proven track record of the grace of God at work in your life. The fruit of salvation of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ must be EVIDENT. But make no mistake this is the call of God on EVERY CHRISTIAN.

Point 3: He must be called by God

Not this part is very important. There is actually some deep theology here and if you pay close attention the same building blocks of what it means to be “called” by God will be useful to you in other areas.

Acts 20:28 NASB95

28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

But if we look back at Acts 14:23 we see how this took place:

Acts 14:23 NASB95

23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

So when Titus and Timothy were instructed to the same thing “Appoint elders in every city” this wasn’t just a fleshly exercise. It was a spiritual. But the Holy Spirit helps us in two ways:

The God Breathed Scripture gives us objective standards. The Holy Spirit is the Author of Scripture did you know this. And these Prophetic Scriptures operate at a higher standard in the Christian’s life then does the gift of prophecy in the church. Did you know that? The New Testament Scriptures are to be believed and obeyed and New Testament prophets are to be examined and tested. We see this throughout the New Testament. I will give you some obvious examples:

The Great Commision. Jesus says with all authority on heaven and on earth to go and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to do all that He had commanded. This was simply to be believed and obeyed. Do it. You don’t have to pray about it. You don’t have to examine it. Just do it.

This idea is carried forward in the book of Acts where the early church from day 1 “devote themselves to the Apostles teachings”.

This same idea is echoed in Jude 17 were believers are to battle false prophets by remembering “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

John dramatically appeals to this Apostolic Authority in 1 John 4 where he says, “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

But make no mistake this is not a mere human endevor. Jesus had promised to send them the Holy Spirit and “lead them into all the truth” to help them “remember” all that He had taught. and of course He had promised to be with them to the very end.

In regards to Elders, since the Scriptures are to be beleived and obeyed, this means if somone is appointed to the office of Elder and does not meet the criteria that the HOLY SPIRIT lays out for us in black in white… no matter how much prayer.... no matter how much fasting.... they are NOT a Biblical Elder.

But it is not enough to just look at the black and white Scriptures. We must also prayerfully be lead by the Holy Spirit in appointing Elders. Having met the criteria The Holy Spirit lays out in Scripture we can then prayerfully appoint Elders and commend them to the Lord.

Notice in all these examples of Eldership appointment a senior leader is appointing them. Whether it be Timothy, Titus or Paul and Barnabas. While the government of the local church rest on an Eldership team we can still have father figures to our church. Church planters like Bryan. We will be privileged to have the help of Bryan and Ron when we appoint Elders.

All this to say much like the rest of the Christian life appointing Elders is The Word of God and Prayer coming together… empowered by the Holy Spirit to the glory of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Biblical Elders are important when choosing a church

The government of a church is often make or break for it. Next week we will talk about how the grace of God can even save a church with disfunctional elders and what to do with it.

There are lots people look at when deciding where to “go to church”. I don’t even like that language. We are the church. Come be the church. The Church certainly gathers. That is what the word means. Assemblies assemble. But when you think about the reasons a person commonly gives how high up is “Biblical Leadership” or “Biblical Elders”. It should be really high. Sometimes a church can even have leaders that meet the qualifications but the structure is so messed up they can’t function like God intended. But FAR FAR FAR FAR to often there are people in leadership positions that have tallent, ability, and gifting but sorely lack in the CHARACTER category. I will submit to you that in some of the examples we have seen of celebrity pastors falling from grace that is exactly what is going on. We make exceptions for talent. We have not right to do that. We are constrained by the Word of God.

I say all that to say we are a church planting church. We have vision to plant more churches beyond here in West Fargo and down in Sioux Falls. We have vision for Minneapolis and Ghana and Fort Collins, Co. But let me say this for us this is extremely important… that as we do we do what Titus 1 calls us to do:

Titus 1:5 NASB95

5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,

Appoint Biblical Elders to the glory of the Gospel.