Character Qualities For Elders, part 2

Transcript

GR1764
4/27/2014
Character Qualities of Elders, Part 2
I Timothy 3:3-7
Gil Rugh

We’re studying the book of I Timothy and so if you would turn to I Timothy chapter 3 in your Bibles. Paul has left Timothy at Ephesus to set some things in order in the church at Ephesus. Paul established this church. He ministered there for some time but there are problems that have arisen in the church and this letter opened up by Paul getting to the issue at hand very directly.

In verse 3 of chapter 1 he said: “I left you in Ephesus so that you could instruct (literally command) certain men not to teach strange doctrines.” Certain men had come in and had become part of the church at Ephesus and were teaching things contrary to the truths that Paul had taught so chapter 1 focused on that and on the salvation provided in Jesus Christ.

When we came into chapter 2 he encouraged the believers to be praying for all men because God has provided salvation for all men through the one who is the “Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all,” in verse 5 and 6 of chapter 2.

Then he began to break down the differing responsibilities between men and women. The responsibility of men and the responsibility of women as you came through the rest of chapter 2.

Then in chapter 3 he focuses on the men in particular and those who would become leaders, overseers, elders, pastors in the church and he sets down primarily character qualifications of what must be true of them. There are also a couple of ability qualifications as well. We will be talking about one of those this evening. We’ve talked about the other, “able to teach.” We will talk about leadership responsibilities. Overall the requirements that he covers are marks of maturity among a godly person but here he is concerned that those who would be put in places of leadership in the church must be of godly character.

You know the church errors going from one extreme to the other. Some churches would set up a system of church government that basically ignores what is said in I Timothy chapter 3 and the parallel portion in Titus chapter 1. We set up our own form of leadership and put people in not in light of what God says is required and what their duties are but because of other reasons.

The other side of that we want to be careful of is we don’t look at these qualifications and make them unrealistic. None of us have yet reached perfection in Christ. So we are not talking about men coming into leadership positions because they are super spiritual. They are to be godly men and only men are qualified. He touched on that at the end of the chapter, chapter 2 where it is man’s responsibility to provide the leadership and its men who are dealt with here but these aren’t perfect men, they are godly men. To a certain extent as we have noted that will be relative to the congregation; for example, a congregation that has been in existence as long as ours ought to have men who have arrived at greater maturity over time. A newly planted church that has been in existence a short time, the elders appointed there, may be mature for that group but they won’t have perhaps the level of maturity of an older congregation but none of the leaders has been deficient or lacking in any of these.

When we have been involved in starting other churches, the way we usually have gone about it is that our board of elders maintains the oversight of that church. We often have men in that church appointed as responsible for the ongoing activities there with the ultimate oversight still resting with the elders here and then when certain men are recognized as being qualified and ready to serve then they would serve and become independent.

We had a situation where one of the churches we established and had men serving there but not elders but under the authority of the elders got off track doctrinally and our elders had to step back in and remove certain individuals including the pastor from that position. So we want to maintain the Biblical structure and plan. As we are going to see, these men aren’t the dictators of the church but they do have oversight responsibility and we will be coming into that.

Let me just read these verses so we tie them together since we have been taking them in pieces over time. We pick up with verse 1 of chapter 3: “It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer it is a fine work he desires. An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach; not addicted to wine or pugnacious but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity but if a man does not know how to manage his own household how will he take care of the church of God? And not a new convert so they will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil,” and he will turn to talk about deacons and their qualifications and responsibilities.

We’ve talked about the initial qualifications here and the one qualification that is not a character but an ability, a responsibility to carry out is “able to teach” at the end of verse 2. So that would be in addition to just the requirements of maturity. He must be adept with the Word and we looked in Titus chapter 1 which gives parallel instruction regarding elders given to Titus for the churches in Crete and the elder must be able to exhort in sound doctrine and also able to refute those who would contradict sound doctrine. So he is responsible for the doctrinal purity of the church if you will. And, when necessary, carry out a responsibility that Timothy is carrying out in putting a stop to any contrary teaching.

We also looked at in verse 3, “He can’t be addicted to wine,” no drunks allowed. It didn’t say he had to be a total abstainer but he can’t be one who drinks more than he should. He can’t be pugnacious. We don’t want a combative person in leadership, one who is always ready for a good fight as you might say. That word really meant a pugnacious person, a striker, someone who would fight with his fist. It carries the idea of just a contentious person. You know, everything is going to be an issue. He is ready to fight over everything. That is not a quality you want in a leader. It is not a mark of a godly person. You see the following qualifications here put that in balance. Not pugnacious would be the negative side, gentle, the next qualification. One Greek commentator noted conciliatory, meek, yielding, gentle, kind. This is a person who understands that he is dealing with human beings. They have weaknesses. They must deal with them in an understanding way and a kind way. That doesn’t mean he is tolerant of error and where Timothy is here in chapter 1 you “command certain men not to teach false doctrine” but this doesn’t mean now you have an unyielding man you know, who’s right on everything and it has to be his way. This is a gentle person, meek, kind, understanding; qualification for an elder. Someone put it not insisting on his own rights. It doesn’t have to be his way, that idea. It is a characteristic of Christ.

We won’t turn to all these parallel passages but II Corinthians chapter 10 verse 1: “Now I Paul myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” A characteristic of Christ, He was meek, He was gentle, He was understanding, He was compassionate. This is kind of person to deal with but there were times when we find Christ, He was in the temple turning the tables over, driving the money changers out. Meekness, gentleness is not what we might call whimpyness; the person is never firm. No, but even in his firmness there is an understanding and he has a gentle spirit.

Philippians chapter 4, verse 5 Paul tells the Philippian believers and they are experiencing conflict in the Philippian church. He says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.” So this is a qualification that should characterize us as believers. In a sense we say we are easy to get along with but we have our own opinions on a variety of things but we are understanding. People have different opinions, different views. That is different than saying different doctrines. We aren’t allowed to teach strange doctrines but we have different views.

We just went through a remodeling project not too long ago. We had different views on what should be done, what’s best to be done, what I would like, what you would like, what they would like but that’s alright. We are willing to yield and be thankful as a congregation we come through that and basically it was fine after I got over the carpet. You know it was good. We learned that it doesn’t have to be my way, kind of thing.

So a gentle spirit and you know this person expects, it doesn’t become personal. People are going to do things that hurt us that maybe weren’t fair but this person is understanding. He is gentle in dealing with others.

He is peaceable, the next qualifications. Literally it means adverse to fighting, not a fighter. Again we want to be careful. People read these kinds of passages and say well see we as believers ought to get along and there ought not to be disagreement. That is why I keep taking you back. Timothy is there to “command certain men not to teach other doctrines.” And chapter 1 ended with Paul naming two men to be turned over to Satan because of their teaching so there is a time to plant our feet, there is a time to fight but we shouldn’t be fighting over everything. Most of the divisions and splits that seem to come in churches have to do with things that aren’t really doctrinal. Not an issue, is this truth or not truth? So peaceable, not a fighter, not contentious, not a quarrelsome person.

Look over in II Timothy chapter 2, verse 23: “Refuse foolish and ignorant speculations knowing they produce quarrels. The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all.” Not quarrelsome, not a fighter, peaceable, the same basic word we are talking about. “Able to teach, patient when wronged with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition; if perhaps God make grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,” and so on. So you see that spirit that is there. Even when they have to do opposition the desire is the person will see their error and be turned to the truth.

Come over to Titus. It is just a page or two over. Titus chapter 3, verse 1: “Remind them (believers) subject to rulers, authorities, obedient, ready for every good deed to malign no one. To be peaceable (there is our word) “to be peaceable.” Then you have the word “gentle;” “Showing every consideration for all men.” Dealing with unbelievers because what? We realize that at one time we were foolish. We stand, we proclaim the truth. It is with the right spirit and understanding, not from a position of spiritual superiority. Oh, I don’t know how you can be so foolish. I can understand how you can be so foolish. “At one time I was myself, ignorant, disobedient, enslaved to various lusts” he goes on. So the attitude of a true believer – he has an understanding spirit and he’s a peaceable person and among ourselves. We are of the family of God, the household of God. He’s going to move on to this again in a moment. We shouldn’t be fighting among ourselves. We ought to be understanding of each other and that doesn’t mean that we never do something stupid or foolish; we are understanding. We want to help one another.

We saw in Hebrews some believers that are weak and they are weak kneed and hard to get along with. We want to come along side, we want to help, have a right attitude, gentle.
In a congregation, a family, some people do things that are thoughtless, unkind and hurtful. We don’t want to carry around a grudge. We are not passing them in the hall, not talking to them. You know, they have to crawl back and make it right; this kind of peaceable spirit.

Come back to Timothy. This should be true of all of us but it has to be true of the leaders. Again, they are not perfect. Leaders do stumble as well but this must be the characteristic of their lives.

“Free from the love of money,” the end of verse 3. Paul used himself as an example with the elders at Ephesus. Back in Acts chapter 20 remember he met with the elders at Ephesus and gave them some instructions. Obviously there are things that need to be strengthened in the church at Ephesus even among the leadership but Paul told the elders, “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.” You know, things that you could lust after that others have. Paul said I didn’t covet any of that from you and an elder is to be free from the love of money and for elders or pastors who are in paid positions that is important. But the general characteristic of an elder, he must not be one who is after money. You know, his life revolves around money. He is always looking for ways to have more money. It doesn’t mean an elder can’t be wealthy but he can’t love money.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in I Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 5 and said: “For we never came with flattering speech as you know, nor with a pretext for greed.” Paul was very careful even about taking collection among people he ministered to. He told the Corinthians this that when he came and ministered among them he didn’t take money from them. They didn’t want it misunderstood. He took money from other believers but he didn’t want anybody to think he really was here for our money. I was here to preach to you the Gospel and to lead you to salvation in Christ. But then there comes a time when it is right for people to support those who do the ministry. Paul will tell the Corinthians, “I robbed other churches.” We went beyond. At the time you should have been supporting my ministry you still weren’t and I was being supported by people in other churches. There has to be a balance.

I was just reading an account in the last few weeks of a man in another country who was noted for having one of the largest churches in the world. He is going to prison for embezzling millions of dollars from the church. What in the world, greed, the love of money? So in looking at this man, you know, he just is noted for, he always is interested in things. Well, he would not be qualified to be an elder.

Turn over to I Peter, just after Hebrews so go from Timothy. You will go through Hebrews, the next big book, then James and then I Peter, chapter 5. Peter writes to the elders. In chapter 5, verse 1: “Therefore I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder. Peter identifies himself as an elder and “he is a witness of the sufferings of Christ; a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God among you.” There is an example, remember the elders are shepherds, pastors, they are overseers. “Not under compulsion but voluntarily according to the will of God.” Note this: “Not for sordid gain but with eagerness.” So the labor is worthy of his hire as Paul would write to the Corinthians. But you are not in it for the money. You are not doing it for the money and we have to be careful. You know a world where everybody wants to have this and that. We have to be careful as a pastor that it’s not the money, not a way to acquire things. “Nor as yet,” and we will pick this up because this is where we are coming to next in Timothy. “Nor as yet lording it over those allotted to your charge but proving as examples to the flock.” And we will talk about the leadership of the elders but keep this in mind, it’s not lording it over. The characteristic of false teachers: they are in it for the money.

I was listening to one of the television people a number of years ago and he was a preacher and a pastor of a church and he was boasting, “Of course I’m rich, I’m a servant of the Lord. I’m not ashamed I have a private jet to get me around. Why should the Lord’s servant be driving around in a rattle trap?” And he’s going on like this, not embarrassed at all to tell people that they should be supporting him in a lifestyle far beyond what they have. They are false teachers.

You are in Peter, turn over to II Peter, chapter 2 and he is talking about false teachers in verse 1Verse 2: “Because of them the way of the truth will be maligned. In their greed they : “False prophets arose among the people just as there will be false teachers among you that will secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the master who bought them.” Will exploit you with false words.” He’s talking about influence that comes in among believers. False teachers and they are in it for the money, exploiting the people because they are greedy. And pastors can be in a position to exploit the people because people appreciate their role, so characteristic of false teachers. Down in verse 14 of the same chapter of Peter, “These false teachers have eyes full of adultery, never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed.” They are accursed children.

As you come back to I Timothy you can stop in chapter 6 of I Timothy, verse 3: “If anyone advocates a different doctrine, does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing.” So you see the church and believers, and the leaders have to have a firm stand on the truth and the false teachers are bringing the corruption in. In verse 6, end of verse 5: “Who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” Now these men make infiltration and people follow them and respond to them. They think godliness is the way to get rich. Godliness is a means of gain but not what they are thinking, not because of worldly benefits but because of what we have in Christ and the blessings.

Down in verse 10: “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.” It doesn’t say that money is but “the love of money” is. “A root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many griefs.” And here Paul has to say, “Some have gotten off track. They have their eyes on money and possessions and they got turned aside and they have made a ruin of their Christian life, a ruin of their testimony.”

So all of this, come back to chapter 3 of I Timothy, elders can’t be those who are in love with money. And these are things we look at you know, you evaluate, we evaluate people; they have to demonstrate you are looking at a life. Well, I think he has too nice of a house therefore he shouldn’t be an elder. Well does his life give evidence of the love of money? Is that what seems his life is built around and that he’s always looking for?

The next qualification moves us back to the second ability qualification. The first one was “able to teach.” Now the next requirement as far as an ability is: “an elder must be able to lead.” The two responsibilities that he has is to be able to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who would contradict sound doctrine and secondly he must be able to give oversight in leadership to God’s people. So you have in verse 4: “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?” He is going to talk about managing God’s family and an example or a demonstration that he has the ability to manage a family is his own family. If he can’t manage his own family how is he going to manage God’s family? So he must be one who manages his own household well.

The word “manage,” means here’s a dictionary kind of definition: “The ability to oversee, to preside, to manage, rule, direct. It involves administration,” so it is used of church leaders. They have a responsibility. Here he is managing his own household well because this is what overseers as they are called in verse 1 are to do. They are to oversee, they are to manage. They are to give leadership, direction to the people of God. It is used of leaders, spiritual leaders over in I Timothy chapter 5, verse 17. We won’t go into the details of this because we will get here in our study of I Timothy but just note, verse 17 of I Timothy 5: “The elders who rule well,” that’s our word, “manage” well, who rule well are to be “considered worthy of double honor.”

Back up to just before I Timothy to I Thessalonians, I Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 12: “But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you,” there’s our word, “who manage you,” who have leadership over you “and give you instruction,” so the two things we are talking about in Timothy; the ability to teach and the demonstration of the ability to lead.

Come back to I Timothy chapter 3. “He must be one who manages his own household well.” You know, manage them well. What does that mean, “Keeping his children under control with all dignity?” He manages his home. You see again, the man is responsible for the conduct of his children. Now that doesn’t mean that the wife doesn’t share in oversight responsibility but ultimate responsibility is delegated by God to the man and he cannot delegate that away. I can’t say, “Well I don’t know, my wife’s in charge and she doesn’t get the kids to do what they should.” Well I can’t delegate that away. God will ultimately hold me accountable. That’s the point. So I must have my children under control with all dignity. So this is not just someone who puts such fear in their kids that they are afraid to step out of line. There is a dignity to this; a respectability here. Obviously a grown man can terrorize his children. We have examples of that in our society in these days I fear but we are talking about a godly man managing his household well. That means his children are under control with all dignity. He does this in a manner that is worthy of respect and honor.

Back up to Ephesians, the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians. In chapter 6 of Ephesians, verse 1: “Children obey your parents.” Children are under the authority of both of their parents, father and mother but the ultimate responsibility is to see that the children are functioning as they should rests with the father. And if my children in the home are not obeying their mother they have a problem with their father and the father has to take care of it.

We were out the last couple of weeks and there was a little kid and the mother and the kids is carrying on. I think, I wonder if she has a husband. That should only happen once. We are going home and your father will take care of this when we get home. That ought to settle it. The father has to bring his house in order.

“Children obey your parents in the Lord, this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with promise.” And then a word to fathers: “Fathers do not provoke your children to anger. Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” You are not to have that kind of oppressive leadership that is so frustrating that it just causes children to have that anger. They are to recognize this is being done like we saw God’s discipline of us. You know, I respect Him and I love him. I know when He disciplines me it is for my good. So fathers have to have the right kind of discipline, not provoking them. A father can get them to do whatever he says, whenever he says it but it’s only provoking them. It’s not fair discipline. It is not a discipline properly administered.

Ephesians, come over through Philippians to Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3, family relationships here, verse 18 of Colossians 3: “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be embittered against them. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, that they may not lose heart.” I mean the unfairness of the way a father deals with his children. They are exasperated. They are discouraged. The discipline doesn’t encourage them and strengthen them to conduct themselves properly. You know, it takes the heart out of them. So a man must have demonstrated that he manages his home well “having his children under control with all dignity” not because he’s such a fearful person that everybody trembles but because he knows how to manage his home in a godly way, not provoking his children, not exasperating his children but having his children respect his authority, the authority of their mother and conducting themselves with appropriate behavior.

Come back to Timothy and go through Timothy to Titus, a parallel section in Titus as we have referred to several times because they are talking about Titus appointing elders verse 5 says: “I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” And then he gives instruction about the responsibilities similar to what we have in Timothy. Verse 6: “Namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.” And that word translated “believe,” can also mean faithful, children who are faithful. I think in the context here and in the context of Timothy “faithful” is a better translation. An elder can be expected to have his children under control, to function as they should. I can’t make my children become believers but even in an unbelieving home children can obey. When I was a young person my parents weren’t believers but my dad still kept order in our home with three boys. By the time my sister came along both my parents were believers but in the home there was still order. So even if the children in my home are not believers they have to function as they should in our home. So the point is, this is something that he has control over. I can’t make them trust the Lord and be saved. I think the point here is that they are faithful and the negative side of that is not accused of dissipation or rebellion. Dissipation is a general lack of self-control you know, a wild, uncontrolled life so you see what you get here would be age. It shouldn’t be a two year old although there are some of those who are pretty uncontrolled but here we are probably talking about older children, I take it are still in the home or rebellion, undisciplined, disobedient, rebellious, the meaning of the word. So that’s the point. A man has to show that he can manage his home by having his children under control with dignity. They are not out of control, not accused of dissipation or rebellion, why?

Come back to I Timothy chapter 3. The question, “If a man does not know how to manage his own household how will he take care of the church of God?” Chapter 3, verse 15 we have looked at a number of times says “The church is the household of God.” If you can’t manage your own household how are you going to manage God’s household, God’s family? So it’s the same kind of thing. You will note: “If he doesn’t know how to manage his own household how will he take care of the church of God?”

So the analogy of leading the church is the family, not necessarily running a business, being a CEO. It is more family care and the kind of leadership you carry out in a family and caring for your family, doing what is best for them, the right kind of discipline because in the church there will have to be discipline. Certain things are not acceptable in God’s family. They have to be dealt with. They have to be dealt with properly. Certain things are not acceptable in the physical family. They must be dealt with but they must be dealt with properly. That word “take care of.” It’s only other use, we won’t turn there, is in Luke chapter 10. Remember the account called the Good Samaritan and the person who was beaten and robbed? Well the words used there “taking care of him,” all that’s involved of taking care of the family. So managing involves taking care, looking out for the well-being and good health of your family and that’s what the elders are doing with God’s family, caring for it, looking out for its good health.

We will get to this in Hebrews but come over Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17, instruction to the people and the congregation, the believers in the congregation. Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” God has entrusted and appointed elders, pastors, overseers. These men have been appointed by the Spirit to oversee God’s family. That means God’s family should submit to their oversight. They are not dictators. That doesn’t mean they have the right to control every detail of every situation, those kinds of things but they do have the responsibility of leaders. So you obey your leaders, you submit. Why? They keep watch over your souls and they will give an account because the elders are under the authority of the One who is the head of the church, Christ and so they have been entrusted with the responsibility to be sure that God’s family is properly cared for. They should always be doing it with their best in mind and it wouldn’t be profitable for God’s people to be disobeying the leaders that He has appointed. I realize there is abuse of this and pastors become dictators. Well we need to be careful. We live in a democracy and everybody ought to have their say and we vote and that decides but that is not how God has set it up. That doesn’t mean there is not input from God’s people but it does mean there are times when you disagree with the leaders but you submit to them because they are the leaders and at times when you say, “Well, if I was making the decision I would make a different one.” “But they are the leaders and I pray for them and I support them,” otherwise there is not true leadership. You know, yes, they are the leaders and until they do something I disagree with then I don’t follow them anymore. Well then it is not leadership. So the responsibility here is a natural follow through. If the Holy Spirit appoints leaders for God’s family as it is put in Acts chapter 20, the elders’ responsibility as those appointed by the Holy Spirit then it follows that what? God’s people are to follow God’s leaders. So the balance comes and that enables the church to function. That doesn’t mean that if the leaders get off and start to teach false doctrine, well I just submit to false doctrine. The leaders are accountable and then if the church so declines and becomes unbiblical in its doctrine probably you are going to look for another church family. We want to be careful here because one of the things that the church does is guard the doctrine of the church and that is not always easy and we come to that and then personalities get involved. We say, “Well you know, I don’t see why that, I think they are good people. I like this person, I like that person.” The issue is truth and that is the elder’s responsibility so we want to be sure but we both have responsibility. The elders to lead, knowing they will give an account to the true head of the church for their oversight, the care and condition of this part of God’s family and it wouldn’t be profitable for you if you are constantly rebelling just like the children are to obey their parents and so on, so the principle.

Alright, come back to I Timothy chapter 3. Isn’t it interesting, what God has set out it is pretty clear. We say, “Well I don’t know that the Word of God is clear on this.” It is pretty clear when you go through it, isn’t it? How did the church get to be such a jumble? Well, we just don’t do what the Word says. Well it works out alright. I think this works O.K. and people have different opinions and of course we want everybody to be able to have their opinion. It just doesn’t work that way. We have to get on with what God has called us to do.

Alright let’s wrap this up in verses 6 and 7. Not a new convert, that’s easy. Not a neophyte, basically what we get the English word neophyte from. This word, “not newly planted” used here and only here I believe in the New Testament for a new convert, someone just starting out as a Christian. New Christians often have a zeal and enthusiasm, an excitement. We think, O boy, you know they would be good. They’d bring energy to our leadership and a new perspective and so on but young Christians, immature Christians by the fact you know there is nothing wrong with being an immature Christian if you have only been a Christian for three months and I’m sure you are. And you may have grown a lot in three months but you can’t do 30 years of growth in three months or twenty years or ten years or whatever so there is the balance here. Being an elder is not a training ground for new Christians or immature Christians. We say well we will appoint them to the board. It will be a good growing opportunity. Well, these are those who have grown, you do grow. We are not done growing, none of us are. I’ve grown a lot as I have been privileged to work with the elders. It has been a maturing process for me but we don’t put immature people in there. And again this will be somewhat relative, not a new convert, but a church that is relatively new as Paul in chapter 14 and when he appointed elders in the churches he had recently planted. They had been relatively new for that group so we want to be sure that they are just not new Christians. They have the stability because there is the danger. If you appoint new converts the danger is they will become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. Conceited, puffed up. You know, there is a song, I think, we won’t be singing it, “Smoke gets in your eyes,” but you know this is the word, smoke, steam. Their head is in the clouds. They are not able to sort things out. The conceit, they become deluded, they think they are more mature than they really are and then they become arrogant. We are all aware of that. We have all gone through it at stages in our life just generally as we have grown. We thought we knew a lot more than we knew. We joke about it how smart our parents have gotten in recent years. We’ve gotten older and we’ve come to appreciate what we didn’t know so this is the danger. You put a new convert, someone who is spiritually immature into this position. They get a faulty view of themselves. I must be a godly person. They put me into this position the result is disaster. They fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil and we won’t go back there but Ezekiel 28 and verse 12 to 19 talk about the devil and what did he say, “I will be exalted. I will, I will, I will.” His arrogance to think he could be like God brought about his decline. “God is opposed to the proud but He gives grace to the humble” in James chapter 4, verse 6; I Peter chapter 5, verse 5. Proverbs 16:18 puts it this way: “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”

So it is a serious matter. It’s damaging for the person, it’s damaging for the church. We want to have mature, godly people who are settled and established, who have a proper perspective and won’t be carried away with their own self-importance.

He must “have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” It’s important what unbelievers think of him. Not to be careful. Of course Paul was slandered, Peter was slandered. They have reminded us that that’s what a slandered will do, the devil. He’s the slanderer. So it brings false accusations but there shouldn’t be any truth to those things, no foundation.

Listen to how Peter puts it in I Peter chapter 2, verse 12: “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles.” He’s writing to believers of the diaspora, the dispersion, Jewish believers and so he says, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” Verse 15: “For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.” You can’t prevent people from slandering you, saying false things about you but you can be sure there is no substance to that and over time it becomes clear to people, those accusations weren’t true. There was no foundation to that.

Sometimes, you know, our reputations get dragged through the mud so to speak but what we can be sure of is we give no occasion for such a thing and that’s why I even have to be careful about the appearance of evil as much as possible. I don’t want to give anybody an occasion to have a reason to think if I can prevent it. I want to be doubly careful as a believer so if I am a believer working in a business and I have responsibility with money I want to be careful that I don’t put myself in a position where somebody could attack me for not handling the money properly and I don’t have the proper controls in place so that I may look bad. You know, I will take the money home from the days’ receipts and I will keep it in my bedroom and I will deposit it in the bank later in the week; probably not a good idea because people accuse me, well it looks bad. “I keep my behavior excellent,” the point.

So we don’t want a person who becomes an elder to have a bad reputation among unbelievers because then that casts a cloud over the church. So he must have a good reputation with those outside the church as far as his business dealings and so on. Again, we want to be careful. Paul didn’t have a good reputation among those who were opposed to his doctrine. They were always slandering him, accusing him but you know he wasn’t doing anything wrong and unbelievers even respected as the book of Acts make clear. It is in his testimony.

“You fall into the reproach and snare of the devil.” The reproach and snare of the devil is the trap of the devil. I Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” If you don’t keep a reputation above board you put yourself in a position to be trapped by the devil and snared by him, give him opportunity to ruin your reputation. You know, I have to be careful of that in my position because there are people who would delight because if my reputation gets the marred the reputation of the church gets marred.

We have so many examples of that. Remember David sinner and God sent Nathan the prophet to rebuke David and here is what he said in II Samuel 12:14, “By this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.” Now David really did sin. You see what happened? You give an occasion to the enemies of the Lord. You gave them opportunity. We as believers have to be careful we don’t give them any opportunity. We maintain a good reputation.

We had a pastor when we lived in the East and in many ways he had a good ministry but there was always a cloud over it because there was always the way he was with women bothered people. You know he had his arm around them and always standing close. He never did anything wrong but it didn’t help him. Why, why do that? Why give people a chance to raise it?

I remember an example when I came here. The church began to grow. We had 500 people. We didn’t have another person on the staff. We didn’t have a secretary. I was always concerned. We hire a secretary, what are people going to think? Here I am in this building. It was just a little building over there with a chapel all day long with this other woman. They would drive by and say, “Well there’s that woman’s car and there’s the pastor’s car. I wonder what they do in there all day?” Why would I do that? Even if I never did anything I would what? Give people an occasion maybe to make accusation; now you’ve got accusations that it’s hard to defend against, so just don’t do it. So you have to have a good reputation even among unbelievers. So these aren’t perfect men but they are men of godly character who demonstrate and have demonstrated godly character in their behavior in a variety of ways; have demonstrated the ability to teach, the ability to lead and they desire to be used of the Lord in leading God’s people and then we seek God’s will if this indeed is one of those that He has set apart and then we recognize that and appoint them to leadership.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the way You have blessed us as a church. Thank You for providing godly men to work together in leading Your people, caring for Your family. Thank You for a body of believers who are supportive, who are encouraging and who submit to the leadership of the overseers that You have appointed. You have blessed us as a church. Lord we give You praise. We desire to function in a way that is pleasing to You. We are Your family. We want to live in obedience to You so that You are honored and we are a testimony to Your grace. We praise You in Christ’s name, amen.