Calling Is Character | 1 Timothy

What should we look for in those who lead the church? Pastor Cameron walks through Paul's qualifications for elders and deacons and finds a striking emphasis: calling is measured by character far more than by gifting. From 1 Timothy 3, he shows why godly, trustworthy leaders matter so much for the health of a church and the protection of its people.

1 Timothy 3:1-12 | additional: 1 Timothy 5:17-20, Titus 1:9

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Cameron Lienhart

Cameron is the Senior Pastor of Conduit Ministries

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Heavenly Father, Lord, this morning I ask that you would speak to our hearts, that as Pastor Cameron opens your word, we would open our hearts and ears, and that we would not hear words of wisdom from a man, but we would hear your words to us today. Or I pray that you would bless the preparation that Pastor Cameron has put into the sermon, or that you would be his divine editor, that you would give him wisdom, and that you would fill him with your spirit. Lord, might all these sayings be glorifying to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Good morning, church. How are you this morning? Good. Brad Anderson, love the shirt. Anyone else wearing their shirt this morning? I guess if you know, you know, and if you don't know, then you're really confused as to what's going on right now. Last November, about 40 of us showed up with the same shirt on, courtesy of our significant others, and so every once in a while we end up with the same shirts on again. So my name's Cameron. I'm lead pastor here. It's good to see you this morning. Well, we're in for our sermon today. We're continuing our series in the letter to First Timothy. Last week we started

The second chapter, or we, I, we, we, I'm sorry, we finished the second chapter, verses eight through 15 last week, where Paul, as a reminder of our context here, Paul is writing a letter to his protege Timothy, a young man who is pastoring the church in Ephesus, the city of Ephesus. And in many different ways, Timothy was in need of some direction, in need of, in need of some wisdom, in need of some, some admonition. Hey, Timothy, you have to make sure you are doing this. You have to make sure you're avoiding this. Last week we talked about those, we talked about those passages in scripture from First Timothy too, that it would be, would be really easy to just skip over to avoid any controversy or difficult discussion. And so if you weren't here last week, I would encourage you to go back and you can go on our YouTube channel, YouTube page and watch that, watch that sermon from last week. But Paul is writing to Timothy here who is, who is leading a church. And so the context of his writing is applicable to or applies to a local worshiping community.

What Paul does here, we're going to, we're going to be in the third chapter this morning. What Paul does in the third chapter of Timothy is he begins to, he begins to describe or to lay out in more specific detail what the leadership structure over this church should look like, what the leadership structure over churches of which Paul is kind of has an apostolic covering over what it should look like. And he's going to use, he's going to use some terms here that may or may not be familiar to us or to you and may or may not be different than depending on like what version of the scripture that you are reading out of or you're used to. You might see a word or a term that we're not really familiar with as it pertains to the leadership of the church, but we'll try to clear that up a little bit this morning here. I'm going to be reading this morning from the ESV, the English standard version. Sometimes I read on the NIV and so that's very similar as well. Some of your versions here are going to see the word that's used here in verse one. This saying is trustworthy

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer. Some of your, some of your versions may say pastor. Some of your versions may say elder. Some of your versions may even say bishop depending on the type of translation you have. You don't need to be, you don't need to be too stressed out about that. What we're going to talk about in a moment here is how Paul generally uses these words interchangeably in all of his letters and all of his correspondence. So we're going to talk a little bit about the differences between those in a minute, but suffice it to say it's Paul's intent here in the first part of First Timothy chapter three to describe the type of men that he is encouraging Timothy to place in leadership in this one particular role of leadership, I should say in, in, in his churches. So let's read. We're going to read First Timothy chapter three verses one through seven this morning. 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 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 and into the snare of the devil. Heavenly father, I pray that you would come upon the reading of your word this morning to give both me and us an insight that can only come through the witness of the Holy Spirit, that your spirit would reveal the truth of God's word into our heart this morning, that we would be eager to hear it and even more eager to obey it in Jesus name. Amen. So the very first thing that I kind of want to talk about this morning as it pertains to this passage is just to give a little bit of some clarity of terms here because Paul

Here in the like in the ESV uses the word overseer. Some of your versions, like I said, may have the word elder, some may have pastor, some may even have bishop or something similar and as you read the New Testament, you might see these terms or these titles, these roles pop up all over both Paul and Peter's writings. So Paul here in 1 Timothy, Paul also in the next chapter or in the next book of 2 Timothy, Paul in the letter to Titus, which is after the Timothys, you'll see Peter use this word, use these words as well. First Peter in particular, first Peter chapter one, first Peter chapter five. You'll also see these kind of terms in a lot of the historical New Testament books. What I mean by that is like the book of Acts is a book that kind of traces the early history of the early church just after Jesus ascended back into heaven and these terms, elder, overseer, bishop, pastor, shepherd, are all used within that writing. And the question there is, then the question is, well, when I see these terms, when I see these titles or these roles in the New Testament, one, like, are we talking

About different things each time, right? Like, is an elder different than an overseer, which is different than a pastor, which is different than a shepherd, which is different than a bishop? Like, is there a substantive difference in the way that these roles work their way out in the early church? Because that is the application of that or like the domino effect of that has application for us as well as, as we consider as a New Testament church, how we would have how our church would be led. Who would lead? What would they do? What would be the qualifications of the characteristics or the descriptions of those people? So there's three different terms here that are used primarily in the, in the New Testament. There's the term elder and the Greek word for that is presbyteros from where we get the word presbyterian, right? Overseer, episcopos is the Greek word that shows up every time you see the word overseer in your scripture. And episcopos is where you get the, it's where like generally the denomination, the episcopalian denomination has come out, but episcopos also means bishop.

Okay. It's bishop run. So overseer, elder, overseer, and then a pastor shepherd are used interchangeably as translation of the Greek word poiman, which you see both in the gospels and in the historical writings, both the letters and the book of acts. And so particularly in Paul, Paul and other New Testament writers and church historians uses these different titles at different times. So in one verse, Paul will say, Hey, elders, I need you to do this. Hey, overseers, if you're going to be an overseer, you need to be doing this. But Hey, also, if you're going to be pastoring, pastoring and shepherding the church, you need to make sure you're concentrating on this. And it can be a little confusing to understand whether or not, if Paul was using them differently or if they were interchangeably for Paul. I will say that these titles in scripture, what we believe here is we see that these titles and scriptures are, are used interchangeably with one another throughout the new Testament all the time. Meaning we have no real good indication that Paul was in particular describing something different when he was described using the word overseer

Than when he was using the word elder than when he was using the word pastor. The reason that we believe this is cause there's several examples where Paul in speaking to the same group of church leaders over a long period or paragraph of scripture uses all of these words in the same paragraph to refer to the same people. So Paul was talking, for instance, well, we're gonna, we're gonna all read to you a little way. It's going to be an ax. Chapter 20 is a good example. Okay. Acts chapter 20. I'm not going to read the whole thing to you, but I'm ax chapter 20 verses 13 through 38 is an example. One example, where Paul is talking to the same group of people, but uses these three terms interchangeably in that one conversation. And, coincidentally, for our purposes this morning, he's actually talking to the leaders of the Ephesian church. So the same people that he would be talking to, to essentially in his letter to Timothy, he's talking to in the book of acts here in chapter 20. All right. And so we have a really good consistency and congruency of thought

And like theological, power here. And, without reading this whole section of scripture to you, I want to point out the, the two primary verses where Paul is talking to the same people, but using these terms interchangeably right from the beginning. He says from Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. And the word here in the Greek is the word, presbyteros. That's an ax chapter 20 verse 17. And then he goes through a large, like not a diatribe, but he's, he's speaking to the Ephesian leaders about what he wants them to consider, what he wants them to focus on. He's telling them, he's essentially making the case that, Hey, I have, I have proclaimed to you and I have given to you the gospel as it was given to me by the spirit of God. Now, as elders in the church, I need you to stand firm in this gospel. Do not let false teachers in, protect the people that you're, that you're, that you're watching over that are in your care from being swept away by these false doctrines. And so this is the way that he starts from Miletus. Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders or the presbyteros of the church.

Hey elders, I want you to come. We need to have a conversation here as he continues down in X chapter 20, we get down to the end here in X chapter 20 verse 28 or verse 28. And he uses the other two terms in the same sentence to describe and refer to both the role, the task and the people themselves. He says, keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy spirit has made you overseers or Episcopos be shepherds, employment of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. So Paul, in a, in a single address to a particular and specific group of people uses the three terms that we see used most often of this person or of this role in the church, the elder, the overseer, the pastor or shepherd. He uses them interchangeably to talk to this group of people that he considered to be having or sitting in this role. Now it may seem confusing. Like, oh, why would Paul do that? Why wouldn't he just use the same term all the time? And, and it may

Seem confusing if you're thinking about it too much, but when we're just honest with yourself and you're like the only way you talk, like you might begin to understand it. Like I will tell you over the course of 20 years of ministry, the titles that I have been called, very day to day, week to week, year to year, person to person. Okay. You might say, Oh, that's my pastor. He's, I've had people call me a reverend. Don't much care for looking. Well, I'm not a reverend. I don't, but whatever, not the reverence type. Okay. People have called me a reverend. Some people just, you know, will refer to the modern day pastor, like as, as a minister. Oh, he's the, he's the minister at the church or even more specifically, he's the preacher. Oh, you're a preacher, right? Like, sure. Yep. That is, yep. That's one thing I do. I've had, I've had the occasional person usually coming from the Catholic background who, thinks it's, who wants, thinks it's appropriate, to call me father. And so the reality is, is that even in our own

Speech and conversation, we can kind of understand like those three, three things. Well, they might like mean a little bit of that might mean different things in our like technical language that we're referring to the same person, the same role, the same tasks, the same leadership, position or authority in the church, pastor, reverend, minister, father, elder, overseer, poignment, shepherd, like they refer to the same thing. So when we read about these things and we seek understanding and how to apply them to our lives and our context here at conduit, we should, we shouldn't fall into the trap of saying, Oh, well, why are we, why would we be following or, or seeking, seeking a biblical model of elder or overseer here? When that was just in like, we don't really know if that's what Paul was talking about when he was talking about, this list here, or maybe he was talking about a different type of role or a different type of leadership capacity. Since we don't have overseers here, since we don't have elders here, we don't have to follow these types of declarations from Paul, that would be a false, that would be a false way to understand

These passages and a false way to understand the whole of the new Testament, as we have it. Okay. So for the purposes of our sermon today and future sermons, just understand that if I use the word elder or I use the word pastor, or I use the word, I'm probably not going to use the word Bishop. But if I use the word elder or pastor, probably the ones I'm most likely to use that I'm not talking about something specifically different than an overseer, as Paul says, reads it here or states it here in first Timothy that I am, that I have in mind the sick, trying to wrap my mind around the way that Paul uses it as well. Okay. So hopefully that was clear enough for us to move on with the rest of like actually digging into the text. Verse one of chapter three, Paul says, if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. It's clear that Paul viewed it and wants us to view this office of overseer, this role of elder or overseer

As not something that it is, that is wrong for someone to desire to be in. Sometimes in a somewhat false sense of humility, as people are being understanding their calling and their giftedness, and they're being raised up into that position. There is a, there is a desire to deny, to deny the desire to hold the role of elder. And what Paul out of like a item, I couldn't do that. I'm not gifted enough. I'm not called enough worthy enough. I get that right. But there can also, it can also go in the other direction where, where he, where, cause Paul is clearly saying here, like, listen, this is a noble thing that someone can desire. This is a good thing that someone can desire. And the reason that I think Paul is saying, Hey, look, this is a noble thing that people should desire is, is because of how Paul understood what it takes to be in the role of elder or overseer, which we're going to talk about now. It's not, it's not wrong to desire it for, but it's wrong to desire it for the wrong reason. It's not wrong to desire the office

Or the position of elder or overseer, the one who is in leadership of the church, but it is definitely wrong to desire it in for the wrong reasons. What would be a wrong reason to desire the role of elder or overseer or pastor in a church? Well, Paul is going to help us to understand it by telling us what exactly, what exactly the kind of the minimum requirement for, for these men are. So I will say this, it's wrong to desire it for the wrong reason. And it is also wrong to desire the role of elder or overseer or pastor because one simply has the gifting that sits on the outward facing side of the tasks that a pastor has. For example, we might encounter someone in our lives who has, who's very, who is very articulate, has a, has a, a tremendous ability to communicate. They, they speak clearly. They have a charismatic presence. They can take complicated things and they can break them down and make them simple for others to, to, to understand. They may, they may have a, even a great understanding of the scripture. They may have great knowledge and be able to take that scripture and to, because they have a good charismatic teaching

Gift, they're able to, they're able to communicate that well, they're an exciting person, right? They're fun to be around. They have kind of like this sticky or gregarious presence or personality to them. And when we see someone like that, right? Charismatic personality, really fun to be around, really articulate in their speech, seems to know a lot about the Bible. We say things like, wow, you should be a pastor because for, because in a lot of ways what the contemporary church has done is notice giftedness and then assign calling to giftedness. Okay. And this is, this is backwards. Okay. We don't, we don't see and recognize the gift that a person has and then declare that because they have the gift, they have the calling. The church, when churches do this, they do so at their peril when they elevate people and pastors who possess the gifting necessary, but not the character necessary to hold the position. And when churches elevate gifting over character, eventually gifting runs out and character catches up and the whole house of cards comes falling down. Right. And, and so when we, we, when you possess the gifting, but

The character, but not the character, then the spiritual weight of the task ends up being crushing and ultimately exposes and ultimately does damage to both the church itself, but it also has the possibility of bringing disrepute on the name of Jesus to an unbelieving world. This is why Paul here in his list to Timothy says really twice, Hey, listen, this person needs to have a good reputation with outsiders. Why? Well, because the actual rep, reputation and, and like character of the elder or the pastor is representative of the believing community to an unbelieving world. Here's one thing we need to understand about the lists in first Timothy about what it takes to be what Paul is saying it takes to be an elder or a pastor over a church. The spiritual description or I'm sorry, the scriptural description of elders focuses more on their character than on their gifts. It's very clear. It focuses more on the nature of their, their character rather than on the possession of their gifts. So it's not just, Oh, he has got a charismatic personality and he's able to articulate well.

He has a knowledge of the, he has the gift of knowledge, right? And is able to communicate the word clearly and passionately. He, he should be a pastor because he has the gifts. What Paul is going to say is he's not going to, with the exception of maybe one, all of these are either character qualifications or character disqualifications. Meaning like you must have this as a part of your character. You cannot have this as a part of your character. And there's maybe just one that has to do with giftedness. And that's when he mentions about the ability to teach. Okay. So Paul's emphasis is always on character, never on gifting. Those in church leadership should be driven by character in pursuit of holiness. And so when it comes to saying like, okay, if you were to ask me like Cameron, what is it? Describe for me, your calling then. It is, it's, it's tempting and it's usually kind of like the reflex to say, well, I am called to be a pastor. And while most people understand that, understand what I'm saying, it's, it's actually like, it's actually not

True because when you consider, when you consider the way that Paul describes the, the nature or the character of the men holding the role as elder or pastor or overseer, you see that like, listen, my first calling is not to the job or the position of elder or pastor. My first calling is to faithfulness to Jesus myself. That is the foundation of my qualification to occupy the role of pastor or elder. The first calling of any elder or any pastor is faithfulness to Jesus. What are you called to? I am called to be faithful to Jesus. I'm called to be faithful to Jesus. I'm, I'm called to pursue the image and likeness of Jesus Christ in my own life, to repent of my sins, to trust him daily, to put on humility and forgiveness. These requirement lists are, are not meant, are, are not to be read simply as a full, like they're not to be read as a full description. You have all of these things. Okay. Because that's often something that gets said like, oh, we read these lists in first Timothy and we're going to talk about this in a few minutes, but like there is consistency

In what we read in first Timothy in the whole rest of the new Testament on what is required of elders or pastors. It's consistent in first Timothy. It's consistent in Titus. It's consistent in first Peter. It's consistent in the book of acts. It's consistent in the, in the, in the early new Testament church. There is not like multiple lists of quality character qualifications and disqualifiers that exist in scripture. And we're just happening, happening to pick this one. It's, it's extraordinarily consistent throughout the new Testament, but we should not read and understand these lists as the full description of what it means to be an elder. I hold the opinion, many scholars do happen to believe this opinion as well, that these are not the maximum standard of what it means to be an elder or a pastor, but that these things are the minimum standard. Like at a minimum, Paul says to Timothy, the elders and the overseers need to be this at a very minimum. And like I said, we see consistency this in, in Timothy in Titus, Peter and elsewhere. It may not be,

It may not be clear in, in your version or your translation. But there, there is a little phrase here in verse two, the scripture of our first Timothy chapter three, this is therefore an overseer. And it's this one must be this phrase must be. And in, in the Greek here, in the English, they take out that must be before every one of these character qualifications. Cause it just kind of like fluffs the passage up. But in the Greek, this little phrase must be is in front of every single one of the character qualifications and a must not be is in front of all the others. And the, the term here or the phrase is, it's day D E I. And it is, it's meant to denote the necessity of possessing these things. It is necessary. It's meant to convey a moral and divinely demanded necessity of possession of these qualities. Meaning it's, it's not like a, well, I mean, like they don't have, if they're like got three quarters of them, it's okay. Right. If they got all of the others, but they're, a drunkard or a lover of money, we can probably overlook those ones. All of them are meant to denote the minimum

Responsibility for the men who would hold these roles. So here we're going to talk about each one of these in, kind of a little bit of a rapid fire order here. We're going to go through each one. Like I said, your, your translation may have a little bit different phrasing of these, therefore an overseer, an elder must be number one. I'm in verse two of chapter three, first Timothy three, an elder must be above reproach. What does it mean to be above reproach nowhere in scripture? Does, does either Paul or Jesus or any of the new Testament writers require a sinless perfection of those in the elder or overseer role above reproach is not to mean that there is, that there has never been any sin or continues to be no sin. Reproach is when character is called into question on a regular basis. In fact, in the gospels, it said that Jesus himself was reproached by the Jewish leaders. His, his character, his qualifications were called into question. Who are you to say that you can forgive sins, only God alone can forgive him and they reproached him. Okay. So it's not a, it's not a pursuit of sinless

Perfection rather it is meant to denote, an extraordinary or the word stellar character has been used free of obvious character defects, or this is, particularly important or hypocritical inconsistencies of character to be above reproach. Number two, to be the husband of one wife. This is meant to denote the faithfulness and fidelity of the man that would hold this position or this role. Now this does not, this does, this does not, we should not, we should not read this. It's not indicated in the Greek, nor has ever been really indicated that this, that this verse, the faithful husband of one, one wife prescribes that elders must be married because how can you be faithful to one wife if you're not married? So if you're not faithful to one wife, you're not married, you can't be an elder. This is not meant to be a disc or a prescription of what must an elder must be, but rather a qualification of what is normally the case in culture, both then and now. Most men are married, most women, most of the time are married, and in that there should always be for elders and overseers an absolute pursuit of faithfulness and fidelity to the marriage

Covenant. Faithfulness and fidelity to the marriage covenant. Number three, elders and overseers are to be sober minded. Some of your translations may have the word temperate. This is really beginning to or trying to indicate for us or describe to us as one who clearly and who has intentionally understood or come to grips with the responsibility of what it means to hold the role of overseer or elder and does so with sobriety and not flippancy, meaning they take the role seriously, right? If they're not flippant about it, they've considered it, they've weighed it, they understand it, they are sober minded towards the task. It is not just the way in which they earn a paycheck. It is not just the thing that they do, right? They are sober minded towards the task. They're not flippant about it. Their mind is tempered towards it. And they are self-controlled, Paul says. Now, you could really get in your head about what it means to be self-controlled and really shouldn't don't overthink it here. We're not controlled by other things. We're not mastered by other things. We are disciplined and in control of our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical

Appetites. We are not tossed back and forth with an undisciplined life that does not allow us to show a self-controlled manner. Number five is respectable. Having characteristics or qualities that evoke admiration or delight. Now, this is not in an effort to puff up the reputation or the person that holds the role. But this is a guard or a protection against an unbelieving world's accusation. To be respectable is to have having characteristics or qualities that evoke admiration or delight. To be hospitable is to have a welcoming and open heart towards others. We often talk about hospitality as the way in which we host people in our homes and in our physical environments. Now, this is absolutely true, of course. You say, well, that person is so hospitable. They welcomed me in their home. They sat me down in a comfortable seat. They let me put my feet up. They got me a warm drink. They served me a nice meal. I felt so welcome and comfortable there. They just had this way in which they ordered their environment that I felt like, man, they really wanted me here and I was welcome. Certainly

That is part of it. But hospitality does not primarily exist in a physical environment. Hospitality exists primarily in the culture of our heart towards others. Do others, do you receive others in safety, in grace, in love, in compassion, and in care while they are in your physical presence? It is a posture of our heart. Hospitality is a way in which we care for people in any environment that we are in. With dignity, with love, with respect, and with openness, having an open heart towards one another. Now, these 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 have been or are very clearly about the character of a person of the elder or overseer not particularly pointed at a gift or a task. This next one is the one that I said, if any of these are about a task or about a gifting, it could be or it would be about this one and that is the ability to teach. They must be able to teach. This is the end of verse 2. In another place in the letter to Titus where Paul is giving the same instruction to Titus as he is giving to Timothy here, the same quality characteristics as he is giving to Timothy, Paul gives to Titus in Titus chapter 1. In

His letter to Titus, Paul says this in particular, he says, "Overseers must hold firmly, " this is Titus chapter 1 verse 9, "Overseers must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it." One of the most primary roles, positions, gifts, tasks, whatever you want to call it, of the elder in the local church is to teach sound doctrine as it has been revealed in God's word and to protect the church from the teaching or spreading of false doctrine and to directly oppose those who would bring it.

I would say that in each of these, you begin to see how the different words that are used to describe these men can kind of bring added insight to them. Like for instance, here at the end of Acts chapter 20 where Paul was essentially saying the same thing in Acts chapter 20 about protecting those under your care from the teaching of false doctrine, he uses the term, not elder, not overseer, but he uses the term poiman or shepherd, one who protects the sheep from outside or internal danger, who stands in between those who would bring false teaching and rebukes them with sound doctrine. Now we get into four little qualifications or I should say disqualifications of this role, elder or overseer. Number one, the beginning of verse three, he is not a drunkard.

There is no, there's not really any funny interpretation of this. There's not really any, there's no like secret understanding of this. This is not someone who has the occasional drink or who has a glass of wine with dinner once a night or anything like that. This is someone who perpetually is under the control of alcohol so as to eliminate their ability to be controlled by the spirit. The scripture says do not be drunk on wine, but what, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. That drunkenness is the antithesis to the filling of the Holy Spirit that allows us to be fully alive to the work of the spirit in our life and fully under control of the spirit rather than under the control of alcohol. Not a drunkard. The next is not violent, but gentle. That not only in their words, but also in their actions and in their demeanor. They should be not weak. This is not weakness because as we've seen in the ability to teach and to refute some sound doctrine and to protect the flock that it actually takes extraordinary strength. But there is a difference

Between being not violent and being weak. Violence is proactive that it sees it sees the other as someone to attack. Always attacking. Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, right? That is unlike the heart and that is unlike the heart and character of Christ who was certainly not weak, but was also not violent. He was gentle and at every hint of violence among his disciples and among his followers, he often brought rebuke.

When the servant's ear was cut off when in the garden of Gethsemane and they were coming to the mob was coming to rob or to take away Jesus. They took the sword out and cut off the servant's ear in an effort to like you're not like no, like we will we will protect Jesus with we will protect our Lord with violence. Jesus response was that was a response of rebuke and healing. Like this is not the way this is not what we're doing. Gentleness. Not quarrelsome. Proverbs chapter 20 verse three says it's to one it's to one's honor to avoid strife, but a fool is quick to quarrel.

This is of course tempered with the other responsibility to refute false teaching and doctrine. Not being quarrel or not quarrelsome is not the same thing as being conflict avoidant.

We cannot avoid conflict, but that is different from being a perpetual pot stirrer. Not quarrelsome means that I'm not being rude. I'm not being domineering. I'm not being pugnacious. Hope you know what that word means because I do not.

Next thing that we can't the last thing that they cannot be is not a lover of money. Hebrews chapter 13 verse five contains the only other New Testament use of the word that Paul uses here. And Hebrews 13 five says this he says keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. It's meant to denote a person who is not in pursuit of extraordinary wealth beyond that which keeps them in a spirit of contentment about what they have and do not have. Three more to manage his household well. The word manage here means literally means to give assistance to or to be intent or devoted to something in the supervision and protection of others. Meaning that they elders men husbands are not disconnected from the life of their family for the sake of their ministry.

They do not cast off the responsibility to be a faithful and fidelity filled husband of one wife and a present active intention intentional and involved father to their children.

Ensuring that the task of the their ensuring that the task and goal of their children's both health future faith emotions and mind is under their care under their protection under their intentional devotion. Are they intentionally devoted to their household and that they have children. This is a this is a one that is often causes a little bit of controversy. He must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children. The ESV here says submissive yours might say obedient. Well we talked about what submissive means last week right. It's not a domineering or authoritarian authoritarian top down type of approach but a willingness to place ourselves under the authority of others. Do your children willfully and joyfully accept and receive the authority of God of the of the of the way that God has ordered the house. And this is of course reflective. This is not like Paul's idea. This is reflective of all of Christian and Jewish history all the way back into into the Decalogue or the 10 commandments Exodus chapter 2012 right. This is the this is just the expectation of the application

Of Exodus chapter 20 verse 12. Honor your father and mother. Now listen the these two qualifications about managing the household well and children who are obedient and submissive often often get used. How do I say this? I don't know how to say it gently. Often get used as a way for men to be domineering in their in their homes to their wives and to their children putting extraordinary pressure upon them to act right, be right, do right because my reputation depends upon it. And when fear gets mixed in with that then both then it can turn into aggressiveness and authoritarianism. This is not that at all even a little bit. I'm going to read to you a section here from a commentary by Robert Yarborough on this on this on these two particular points. He said this qualification then is not about a husband cracking the whip at home so he can bring the same people taming talent to a congregation.

It is rather about the love of the father through the gospel for his people finding full and authentic expression in the real daily private life of a father and husband as requisite before he is considered for appointment to shepherding God's flock. Key congregational essentials are exercised first in the marriages and homes of church members or it is sheer hypocrisy to pretend that they exist on Sundays. Forgiveness, care for others, prayer and regard for God's word, self-sacrifice, loving service, respect for others, listening to others, finding joy in what pleases others rather than oneself, making personal changes and forsaking sin for the sake of improved relations with other family members in many cases seemingly endless delayed gratification and much more. Paul writes to Timothy to cultivate congregations of real life authenticity not showcases for religious pretending. This task requires big men not little autocrats. The next qualification we have is to not be a recent convert

Or the person may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil is what the scripture says here. He must not be a recent convert or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. This is indicating that after being too much of a recent convert to the faith and being elevated so quickly to a position of leadership and authority that one may develop an unhealthy pride in the position and the knowledge that it requires leading them to the same place essentially that we understand caused Satan's fall which was pride or comparison with God himself and then finally he is well he is what moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil. This is again the expectation of being able to have a reputable or respectable character. Now this is not the only section here this is not the only section where Paul talks to Timothy about elders in his letter to First Timothy.

In chapter five verses 17 and 20 he also offers a very brief commentary about how they are to be viewed and treated and what is to happen if one of them falls into character disqualification.

And first in Timothy five 17 through 20 let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor especially those who labor in preaching and teaching verse 18 for the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages. Let's stop here and talk about that. What in the world is Paul talking about here? Okay well he says really clear the elders who labor in the work of preaching and teaching are worth double honor what if they rule well especially those preaching and teaching. This honor that they are to receive is connected with a phrase where he says for the scriptures say you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. This is a direct reference to Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse four okay and in that reference it's talking about the way in which an agricultural system works where a ox an agricultural animal of the ancient near east would have a yoke and would be pulling a large cylindrical object over top of the grain of the agricultural producer to crush the grain

Into a meal in order to use as flour right so that's the way that they produce their flour for cooking. Well what would happen as oxes often do when they're working really hard is that they would bend down and try to eat some of the grain as they were working as they were doing this work right think about it as they're walking around in a circle right treading on this grain breaking it down so that it can be used for the purposes of cooking and they're hungry and they swoop their head down and they grab well a lot of people didn't like this why well I mean like this and this is just this is just basic business the more grain the ox eats the less grain I have to sell

So they would muzzle the ox so that they could not eat and the premise here that Jesus that both in Deuteronomy and here that Paul is saying hey look they're doing the work that is necessary for the task for which they have given the ox deserves a little grain or the labor is worth his wages Paul here in Timothy is making an argument for the financial provision or the payment of or the occupational paid status of elders or overseers in the church he continues to say in verses 19 and 20 do not admit charges against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses as for those who persist in sin rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear

Paul Paul makes room to say hey look we sometimes raise elders up into positions of the church and it sometimes bad things happen some things sometimes decisions are made character traits are exhibited things happen in an elder's life that is obvious sin what do we do in the midst of the obvious sin of those who are being held up as the leader of the worshiping community a first thing we need to recognize here is what Paul says what he doesn't say Paul does not say if an elder sins they are to be rebuked publicly

Paul says if an elder persists in sin meaning continually without repentance without another without a change without a change of behavior without a change of attitude without a change of character if they do not change that they are to be removed from that role

And the and the reason is that so that others may understand how high the stakes are for this position

So we do have I've got three other pages here's what we're going to do we're going to save these three other pages to the beginning of next week okay because I want to give you a little bit more on I want to give you a little bit more on eldership and actually can you sit with me for like three quarters of a page okay all right let's sit with three quarters of a page we can deal with one main topic here and then we'll we'll continue to worship in communion okay because there's other comments in the new testament about the role of elders about the role of elders and about about how they function in the local church all right and we're gonna I want to deal with I want to show just a few of them now in the book of hebrews we see a few instances hebrews chapter 13 verse seven it says remember your leaders those who spoke to you the word of god consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their

Faith often often is often is the case where or I would say you can often make the case that if you would not want to imitate the way of life or the faith of the man preaching to you that you should prayerfully consider the outcome of their way of life

Remember your leaders those who spoke to the word of god consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith later in that same chapter chapter 13 verse 17 the writer of hebrews says that now we should not just remember our leaders but we should obey that our 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 groaning for that would be of no advantage to you

I want to keep that in context here as we read also what james has to say about this in james chapter three verse one he says not many of you should become teachers my brothers for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness

The role of elder or the role of overseer or the role of pastor however you would like to describe it is a role that does not just have an expectation of additional spiritual responsibility in the new testament worshiping community but it has an additional accountability not even just to the local church but an additional level or layer of accountability to the lord himself that myself and pastor luke

Will stand under a higher degree of judgment before the lord because of our positions as elders in this church and because of our role as teachers of god's holy word

That and that alone should lead to the sober mindedness that paul talks about here in first timothy but also want you to know that we are not unaware of this extraordinary responsibility and labor in the word for your benefit daily this is connected to what the primary role of elders in scripture is we've already read part of this in titus chapter one verse nine that he must hold firmly 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 first or titus chapter one verse nine why why is this so important well the one of the primary roles primary roles of the elder in the new testament church is to protect the church against the teaching or spreading of false doctrine

False doctrine does spiritual harm and keeps people in immature and debilitating stages of spiritual life

Paul talks about this in Ephesians chapter four about avoiding not avoiding but confronting and rebuking false teachers who are teaching doctrine that are spread sending people to and fro like waves blown in the wind and then lastly as a method as a matter of like

As a matter of maybe another description of Paul about this task itself the protection of people under our spiritual care from false doctrine Paul ends this section in acts chapter 20 to the Ephesian leaders in this very way remember acts chapter 20 where we saw the three uses elder overseer pastor in the same paragraph right at the end of that paragraph Paul Paul reminds the Ephesian elders hey look this is your this is your primary task says in verses 27 through 32 of acts chapter 20 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole council of god pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the holy spirit has made you overseers to care and shepherd for the church of god which he obtained with his own blood

I know that after my departure this is Paul saying hey look I know as soon as I leave this is bound to happen so be aware I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and in among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them therefore be alert remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears and now I commend you to god into the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified Paul's like hey look elders you need to be aware that especially when you are like either physically not present or mentally not there that it is an opportunity for fierce wolves to come in seeking to destroy the flock not sparing them at all and so it is your job to protect the flock from those that would seek to destroy it through the promulgation of false teaching and false doctrine about our lord and savior

So we're going to have a little bit more about this in the coming weeks about how we see this about how we see these realities applied and played out here at our church here at conduit

We want to get we wanted to get this we wanted to get this teaching into you here so that we can begin to build some framework for how we understand leadership here pastoral leadership here at the church so lord would you pour out your spirit on this place and on these people

What it as that as we sing about the desperation of your presence we may not have to know it we may not have to know the absence of it lord but that we can know the presence of it that we might know the presence your presence with us in us and among us lord jesus father we worship you in spirit and in truth thank you lord for the gift of your son given to us lord for the forgiveness of our sins we worship and we praise in unity of that faith in jesus name amen conduit you are loved have a great week we will see you next time