Responsibilities of Elders

Transcript

GR1763
4/13/2014
Responsibilities of Elders
I Timothy 3:2-3
Gil Rugh

We are in Timothy chapter 3, I Timothy chapter 3. It is important as we handle the Word of God that we keep a couple of things of mind: First, it is God’s Word so we believe it is fully verbally inspired. In other words, the very words of Scripture are the words that God used to communicate His message. A departure from that leaves you with man sorting out because you can’t just have the ideas of Scripture because the ideas are communicated in words. So it is God’s word and we believe in the verbal inspiration of Scripture.

Secondly, we believe in the clarity of Scripture. If God has spoken to communicate to us He has done it in a way that we can be expected to understand it and be accountable for understanding it. So it is very simple. We believe in the clarity of Scripture. That doesn’t mean there aren’t portions that take more study to understand but God didn’t speak in order to confuse us. He spoke in order to enlighten us.

He spoke with clarity and so the third thing we want to keep in mind as we come to Scripture is we want to interpret it properly. If you say “Yes, we believe in the verbal inspiration and yes we believe God communicated with clarity” but then we don’t interpret it properly, we will still be in a world of confusion. We believe in a literal, historical, grammatical approach to Scripture. Sometimes we call it the normal interpretation of Scripture. We interpret it, if you will, at face value. I don’t want to be simplistic in this but the reality of it is these were letters written to common people, not scholars but ordinary people. Paul told the Corinthians, “There weren’t many wise, mighty and noble that God has called” so he is speaking to ordinary, average people like we are and I take it we just read it and basically take it as it is, following normal rules of interpretation like we do with reading other material whether it’s the newspaper or other writings. In other words, we recognize there are figures of speech used and so on that’s not contrary to literal interpretation. We talked of a portion in Hebrews this morning about the limp hands and the weak knees. Well that was a figure of speech that is understandable. We interpret literally and the picture it is conveying is a literal picture of the exhaustion and so on that is being portrayed. I say that because as we come to I Timothy for instructions for God’s people in functioning together as the church it’s not complicated. The church has such confusion because it does not take seriously putting into practice what God has said.

We are in chapter 3 of I Timothy where he is giving instruction regarding leaders and leadership in the church. That’s rather simple. He’s appointed elders, overseers and pastors. We looked and saw these are three names used for the same position or people. They are not three distinct separate ones but we saw the names were used interchangeably of the same people. This identifies the leadership of the church and he is setting forth some of the character qualifications and within this there will be two specific responsibilities that those in this position must carry out.
Chapter 3 began with “It is a trustworthy statement if any man aspires to the office of overseer it is a fine work he desires to do.” I want you to turn over to I Peter chapter 5. This is a passage we will come to off and on as we move through this section in I Timothy 3. I Peter chapter 5 gives you a balance to this of what he has just said, someone aspiring, desiring the office of an overseer. In I Peter chapter 5 Peter writes in verse 1: “Therefore I exhort thee elders among you.” This is the same group as are called overseers in I Timothy as we have seen. “I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and partaker of the glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock.” There’s our word, “to pastor.” The elders are to pastor. We sometimes use the title pastor. “Shepherd the flock of God among you exercising oversight not under compulsion but voluntarily.”

So you see the balance there is in I Timothy 3, verse 1 spoke of men desiring the office. I take it the Holy Spirit puts the desire in a man’s heart to serve in this way. The other side of that is men shouldn’t serve in the role of elder, oversight of the church, under pressure. Well you know we need additional men to serve in leadership. We won’t expect much of you but we would really it if you would take that responsibility on and so we put the pressure on. No, this is a voluntary thing, so the balance there. The Holy Spirit puts the desire in a man’s heart and so for example in our local church as the board may consider a man for serving as an elder as we have talked about the man and as far as we can see he is qualified and so one of the things we would do is contact him if he would desire such a position. He may be qualified but for whatever reason before the Lord he doesn’t believe that is something the Lord would have him do at this time. That is fine. That doesn’t mean he is not being spiritual. It doesn’t mean he should do it whether he feels like he desires to do it not. No, that’s enough. No, I don’t believe that is something he doesn’t have to give all kinds of reasons or excuses, so to try to follow the Scripture and be Biblical.

We have to start with examining what the Scripture says one who would serve as an elder, on overseer, a pastor must be qualified. What are the character qualifications if you will and that’s what we have been looking at in verse 2 of I Timothy 3.

You might say the first one is, he desires the office. Something the Spirit has given him as a desire to do. Then he must be above reproach. That is an overarching character qualification. That is a broad statement, above reproach. In other words there are no obvious things that would be something that would disqualify him that he might be accused of that would indicate he is not qualified. Then he gives some specifics of what it means to be above reproach; “the husband of one wife” or as we have looked at this already, a one woman man. It doesn’t mean a man can’t be single as Paul was but if he is married he must be faithful to that wife. “Temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable" – these qualifications that we have looked at; the man who is balanced who is self-controlled, who functions in a respectable way.

What we come to now is not a character qualification but a responsibility he must be able to fulfill. He must be able to teach. That would exclude to teach; able to teach. This means a man must know the Word, know the Scripture; have the ability to explain or communicate the Scripture and then a willingness and readiness to do that. The key element of the elder’s responsibility is his doctrinal soundness and not only doctrinally sound but able to explain that, to instruct others in it and along with that as we will see in a moment, he must be able to refute those who would try to teach doctrine that is not Biblical. So he must be able to teach.

This word is used one other time over in 2 Timothy, chapter 2. Come over there and you will see the context, "able to teach." 2 Timothy 2 and for the context here we will pick up with verse 23. This is Paul’s second letter to Timothy and it is Paul’s last letter as you are aware as he is awaiting his sure execution. “But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.” You note it’s not the sound doctrine, it’s not the truth that produces quarrels it is the error that produces quarrels so you are not to have anything to do with that. “The Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all.” Here’s our word, our expression, “able to teach.” Patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God would grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.” So you see in this context of “able to teach” here is a man of godly character. He doesn’t want to just argue over possibilities and things that really are not clear teaching of the Word of God. They are just foolish, ignorant speculations. The elder must have the discernment and the clarity of thinking and judgment to sort this out. If not, it will become a quarrelsome person in a place of leadership. So he must be able to teach and be patient when wronged. We are dealing with some of these character qualifications but it connects to his teaching and ready to correct those in opposition but do it with the right spirit with a desire that God would grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. So in the “able to teach” he is not only instructing in sound doctrine but it is correcting error and those who are in error. We will talk more about this in a moment but just want to make clear when he says in verse 25: “With gentleness,” that’s not the same thing as whimpiness. Well, you know, we don’t want to… When it is the truth that is at stake remember the man writing this is the man who wrote to the Galatians and says “If anybody teaches anything contrary to the Gospel that I have taught you he is anathema, cursed to hell.” Some may say that is not very gentle but this is a desire that those in error be corrected and respond and change their view. We are not out just to prove them wrong. We are not there to humiliate them for their error. We are there to instruct them in the truth but we might silence false teaching. That’s how we started out in 1 Timothy, remember.

Come over to Titus chapter 1. Paul wrote a letter to Titus, another young man who served with Paul. And as Timothy had been left at Ephesus to further bring order to the church at Ephesus Titus had been left in Crete and in verse 5 of Titus chapter 1: “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.”

Now Paul had already evidently been involved in appointing elders in the church at Ephesus because he established the church in Acts chapter 19 and then on his return from Greece he stopped and met with those elders that were there but Timothy at Ephesus things have deteriorated and the church has become lax and men who ought not to be in that position have come to be in that position and false teaching is being tolerated. Here the churches need to be organized in a more basic way. Titus is to appoint elders in every city as I directed you and then the qualifications. Namely, if anyone is above reproach, husband of one wife, children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. We are coming to that qualification in a little bit in I Timothy. “The overseer must be above reproach.” So you see he is appointing elders giving their qualifications and then in in verse 7 he calls them an overseer. It is the same word used in Timothy which will relate to their other responsibility in addition to teaching which will be further developed in I Timothy 3 as we move through that passage.

Qualifications, coming down to verse 9, the one we are talking about; “Holding fast the faithful Word which is in accordance with the teaching.” He must have a firm grasp on the truth of the Word of God. He must know sound healthy doctrine teaching. He has to hold it fast because conflict comes, false teaching comes. You can’t have an elder who is all over the place. Well, you know maybe there is something to that teaching. Maybe this is a new insight. Maybe we should be broader. An elder has to have a firm grasp on the Word of God. This is absolutely essential.

I shared with you a meeting I had a year or two ago with a young pastor talking about how he wanted to organize his church under elder leadership. I was talking to him about the qualifications and their importance. I told him if you are going to be a church built on the Word of God that teaches the Word of God conflict will come. False teaching will try to make its way in. If your leadership is not sound and solid your church will unravel, be led astray. They must have a firm grasp on the truth of the Word of God and they must be committed to stand for it. Note why – so that they can do two things: “both be able to exhort in sound doctrine.” Doctrine is just a translation of the word teaching and the word “sound” is the word “healthy” and we bring it over into the English healthy. It is healthy teaching. So they must be able to exhort, encourage and challenge with healthy teaching and also to refute those who contradict. They are going to have to oppose error. Why? Well there are many rebellious men, empty talkers, deceivers and as Paul faced it, especially those of the circumcision, Judaizers. They must be silenced. So they are to do this with a right attitude, gentleness but you will note this doesn’t mean you yield the floor so to speak to those teaching in error. They have to be silenced. They have to be refuted and silenced like Paul told Timothy in I Timothy 1. “You must command certain men not to teach certain doctrines.” There is not any allowance. Why? They must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. They must be severely rebuked and corrected at times.

Down in verse 13: “Reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith not paying attention to foolish myths, commandments of men who turn away from the truth.” So we have a serious issue here. This is God’s family. I mean in your human family you just don’t let someone come in who would pervert your family, corrupt them, lead your children astray. Of course not! But somehow in God’s family there is not the seriousness about it.

Well, we want to be open. We are not open to contrary doctrine. We are not open to teaching that is contrary to the Word of God. We have no room for that. We can have different personalities. We can have different interests. There is room for diversity. There is not room for diversity in doctrine because it is God’s truth and what happens when it is tolerated? We saw this in a little different analogy in our study of Hebrews earlier. What? That root that will produce its poison and bitterness that spreads. The apostasy that we saw when we went back to Israel and that picture that spread and corrupted the nation.

How many churches have not taken seriously the instruction on leaders, their qualification and their responsibility? So you have men who are in positions of leadership in evangelical, Bible believing churches that are clueless about sound doctrine. How are they going to nurture the people of God in the truth of God and refute error when it comes in? They are not even sure. It’s sad.

I had a pastor call me a number of years ago in another part of the state. He said “you know, I have graduated from seminary. That taught me all the views and now here I am pastoring. I know all the views. I don’t know which ones are right.” Where is that church going to go? I had a combination of pity and anger and frustration with the man and with the seminary. I mean is that what the seminary would do to prepare men to come out and help to lead our churches, expose them to all the different views? And then you pick or choose which ones or just teach them all?

You know we have to know. The elders have to know the truth and they have to be able to stand for the truth. In the many years I have been here we have had different controversies. What has given stability to our congregation when the elders planted their feet and stood firm on the doctrine of Scripture. If we had been a congregational form of government, everybody had a say we would have people all over the auditorium arguing and promoting their ideas, how would you resolve it? It would just tear the church apart. In that kind of setting what the church decides to do with is not deal with it because they see the disaster it will be. I’ll say, “What are you going to do?” Well, we should back up and establish the church with the order that God has instructed. So those situations come. Once they are there it’s too late to deal with it Biblically. Oh wait, we won’t deal with this doctrinal conflict. First we have to back up and try to establish a Biblical form of government. No, we have to have things settled.

Not everybody in the body is going to have the same grasp on truth, the same discernment to sort out error from truth. The elders have to. I can’t stress this enough. That’s why I believe it is essential for churches to call their leaders what the Scripture calls them. Not because the name in and of itself is what’s important but when we quit using the Biblical titles we drift away from having Biblical qualifications and requirements. When we call them elders we can go to the Scripture and say, “Here is the qualification.”

So when we interview men for elders they have to fill out what we call an elder questionnaire which is basically evaluating themselves. We have tried to evaluate them in light of the qualifications and then answer the doctrinal questions. And they must be men who have demonstrated their faithfulness, men that will be able to be relied upon when the church comes under attack from within or without to stand unshakeable, to stand fast, hold fast and stand refuting those. And in issues we have had, the board takes time trying to work with those you may be promoting teaching we believe may be contrary to Scripture but there comes a time when the line has to be drawn. We can’t go on.

I will give you an example. After a period of some months of working through in one of our conflicts trying to bring those who teaching and opposing doctrine became clear. The person at the center of the opposing doctrine stopped me in the hall and said to me. You stay out of my area pointing his finger just like that. Where do we go? The elders which I am the chairman of the board in our structure are to stay out? What does that mean? Everybody can establish their own little realm and sphere and I will teach what I want and you teach what you want. It is just not going to be. All of that about leadership. He must be able.

Come back to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. We have been here. this is where Paul meets with the elders from the church at Ephesus so we have been here before. The church at Ephesus was established in Acts chapter 19 on Paul’s third missionary journey. Then he left Ephesus, remember, and went over into Greece. On his way back from Greece he stops in a port. He doesn’t go into Ephesus but he sends a messenger and asks the elders to come and meet him at Miletus and so that’s what we have in Acts chapter 20, verse 17: “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church." These are recognized leaders in the church, overseers. They had come to him and he said to them, “You yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia how I was with you the whole time serving the Lord with all humility with tears, with trials and which came upon me through the plots of the Jews.” Now note this: “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. Teaching you publicly and from house to house solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now bound in spirit I am on my way to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying that bonds and afflictions wait me. I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the Gospel of the grace of God.”

I read that because most of you were here in our study of Hebrews early. What are we talking about? Finish your course. Paul says I know there is trouble, there are trials and there is suffering ahead but I am set to finish my course. That’s what we were studying in Hebrews. Then he goes on, verse 25: “Behold I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face.” Verse 26: “I testify to you this day I am innocent of the blood of all men for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” And this is the responsibility he wants these elders to understand and assume. You know they are not responsible to build a big church. They are not responsible to have a popular church. Paul says I am innocent of all blood of all men because I taught you the whole counsel of God; faithful to the Word of God. Be on guard for yourselves. You see now he is passing this on because it is his conviction as you get to the end of the chapter that he’ll never see them again. He assumes that the afflictions that await him will result in his own death. He says I don’t expect to see you again.

So he is passing on this responsibility. Not that they are apostles but now they are the overseers, the elders, the pastors of this flock. It will fall to them. Paul did battles when he was there. The opposition from the Jews and those who infiltrated with false teaching, now it’s your responsibility. "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock." The elders must be careful of their own spiritual condition and care. None of us are above the trickery of the devil and so the elders must be careful and "you must be on guard for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." That’s what he says in I Timothy chapter 3, “If any man desires the office of elder." I take it that desire is put in the heart of the qualified man, a man the appointment finally is by the Holy Spirit, the solemnness of the responsibility. Our church, oh our church decided to make them an elder. Our church decided to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in appointing this man to serve as an elder in our body and we have joined together. That is why we present them to the congregation, that recognition and response to them.

He has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God. That solemn reminder we keep emphasizing. This is not my church; it’s not your church; it’s God’s church. It’s my church in the sense this is the church I belong to; your church in the sense that you belong to this but not in the sense that we own it. It is God’s church. He purchased it with His own blood which then we are remembering especially this coming week, the crucifixion of the Son of God. That is what has enabled the church to be brought into existence.

We need to be very careful. There was an awesome price paid for the church, for our being privileged to be here gathered as the body of Christ in this place. It took the death of Christ, the eternal Son of God who became a man. It’s the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. What a solemn responsibility given to these elders. You guard it, you shepherd it, and you protect it. "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock." That’s why Timothy is at Ephesus. Savage wolves have come in to tear the flock apart, to lead it astray and aside from the truth of God. The church is to be the pillar and support of the truth and you have false doctrine being taught in the church at Ephesus already. Timothy has to be there and command these men to stop it. There may have been some among the elders. We are not told. We know the teaching is there and it must be ended. Savage wolves will come in. We know how the devil works. We are not ignorant of his devices and we should not think well he has gone away, he will leave us alone. It doesn’t happen. One of the great strategies of the devil is he is relentless. He keeps coming, he keeps coming and he keeps coming. What is happening when we are studying Hebrews? The danger begins to wear down, get exhausted, weary of the constant battle, the struggle. The elders have to lead the way and protect the flock.

“From among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.” That is the false teachers that Timothy has to deal with at Ephesus. “Be on the alert.” And verse 32: “I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Then Paul’s personal testimony – he didn’t do it for money; he didn’t do it for personal gain and so on; so the seriousness here of the elders and their ability to teach. This involves that firm grasp on the truth of the Word of God. It doesn’t mean that the elders know everything. We are all growing. But they must have a solid grasp on Scripture, a solid grasp on how to approach the Scripture to sort out error by sifting it through the Scripture. They must be of such a constitution that they will stand no matter whether it’s family, no matter whether it’s friend; the truth of God supersedes that. Those closest to me, if they promote error. Remember Peter? What did Paul say about Peter when he wrote to the Galatians? I withstood him to the face because he did the wrong thing and his actions were a denial of the truth of God’s grace in establishing the church. Well you know Peter, you don’t just stand against Peter. Yes, I had to because he was wrong. He was to be condemned and furthermore even Barnabas got carried away. It has to be stopped.

You know, this is God’s church and His truth supersedes all. If I become unbiblical, well I’ve been here a long time. We will just wait until he dies, he’s getting old. No, you have to deal with it. You know you just can’t find reasons. We all look for reasons. Well maybe? You know we do. We hope it can be dealt with. We hope the error can be corrected and the person will respond to the correction but we must be faithful to the truth.

Come to one other passage on this, Ephesians. We are spending time on this because it is one of the two major requirements in the duties of an elder. The other character qualification is very important as far as the responsibilities he will be exercising. Ephesians, the letter to the Ephesians, this church plays a prominent role. We keep coming back to the church at Ephesus. Jesus will address this church first among the seven churches of Asia in Revelation chapter 2. We come to Ephesians chapter 4. Paul gives instruction based on the finished work of Christ, His death, resurrection and ascension and the gifts He has given to men. Verse 11 of Ephesians 4: “And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers.” This expression, pastors and teachers are closely connected together. The pastors, the shepherds, might be talking about elders, be talking about overseers. They are teachers. They are given for the equipping of the saints for the work of serving to the building up of the body of Christ.

So through the ministry of the Word, the exhorting and the teaching of believers, they are nurtured and nourished in God’s Word like new born babes long for the pure, unadulterated milk of God’s Word that they might grow with respect to their salvation. That is to equip the saints to doing the work that God has for them to do. It’s not all there is to the body developing in a healthy way but it is the nourishment that enables all the parts of the body to function as God would have them function. He has gifted them but the nourishment for them to exercise their gifts is the truth of God built into their lives as they take it in and submit to it and that goes on to build up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith. The unity we have and the truth of God that is being taught. That is what gives us unity. The division comes from those who would not be faithful to the Word, who would teach contrary; the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, a mature man; the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. we talked about in Hebrews. We are growing up to be more and more like God Himself, like Christ, the Son of God; His character, His holiness, His righteousness, His peace all of that aspect of His character in us. So we are "no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, the trickery of men, craftiness and deceitful scheming."

It pictures the church today. I cannot believe what I read going on in evangelicalism. I said, "Is anybody there?" I mean what is acceptable, what is tolerated, what is being encouraged as though this is good. As though this isn’t God’s church. It’s our church and we’ve come up with great ideas and we are doing great things and look at all we are doing. That is not the measure. The measure is faithfulness and children are immature. They are easily swayed. That’s why we are concerned. The younger they are the more careful we are with them and exposure that could be harmful to them and we want to raise them so that as they become young adults they’ve developed the maturity and discernment. How does this happen? "But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies." So every individual with the gift that God has given him contributing to the development of the body.

You know what happens? Your body, all the parts are functioning but you stop being well-nourished and your body begins to deteriorate. You get weaker and then the parts aren’t able to function as they should. It is the strategy of the devil to corrupt the truth, the purity of God’s Word so that It no longer nourishes God’s people and the subtlety of it they don’t even know how weak they are getting.

I talked to a man and as far as I could tell he was a believer but he served as an elder in a church that was primarily an unbelieving church. He said, “You know what we had to do as a board? We had to speak to the pastor and tell him he could no longer come into the pulpit on Sunday mornings when he was inebriated, drunk." That’s what it comes to?

Truth, once you lose your way where does it end up. I talked with that pastor, it’s been years ago and he stood there, drink in his hand at a meeting that we were, it wasn’t at a bar but it was at a wedding. He says to me, I know what’s going on at Indian Hills. I was raised in a fundamental, Bible believing church. I almost went to Moody Bible Institute for my training but I went elsewhere. And here he is, here he was, a man devoid of the truth. He knew about it but it had never impacted and changed his life.

We want the truth to be built in. How do we get there? The church begins to tolerate things and then wrong teaching comes in. What has happened to the major denominations? Has the truth taught by John Wesley, Martin Luther and others just lost somewhere along the way so the importance of truth.

Come back to I Timothy. That is a major requirement of an elder. The character qualifications, we said these character qualifications must be true of an elder but they are the marks of a mature, godly person. Sometimes we have looked at other passages or related to them but the particular requirement to be able to teach that is a responsibility and a duty that an elder has. Not everybody may have that or will have that but an elder must have in addition to the character qualifications.

We will move on and look at a couple of others of these and then we will done. You are in I Timothy 3. "He must be able to teach." Some of these character qualifications are basic, "not addicted to wine." He must be above reproach in the use of alcoholic beverages. You know one person wrote, literally it means being drunk, tipsy, slightly drunk. Now the Bible doesn’t say an elder can never have a drink. At Indian Hills the elders have decided for our testimony that when you serve as an elder you must agree that you will not partake of alcoholic beverages while you are an elder. We want to be clear. That is in addition. We have other requirements for serving as an elder at Indian Hills in addition to the Biblical requirements. We are not adding to Scripture. They are separate. In other words, you must be able to meet with the board at scheduled times. In other words if somebody’s job kept them out of town six months at a time no matter if they met all of the qualifications they couldn’t be on the board of elders because if you can’t meet with the board of elders here you won’t be able to participate with the responsibility of elders here. That is an additional qualification. The Bible doesn’t say he must be able to meet every month but for us to meet we have other qualifications like that. We acknowledge they are not the Biblical qualifications but we think for elders for their testimony we ask they not partake of alcoholic beverages and agree to that. I had occasions where we have men who have refused to be an elder if they can’t continue to partake of alcoholic beverages. I had one man say to me, “I can’t understand why you would forbid me from having social drinks when I choose, the Bible doesn’t.” I said to him, “I can’t understand why having an alcoholic beverage is more important to you than being an elder. The Bible doesn’t say you have to have a drink either.” It doesn’t bother me at all. You know we can have those.

I went to a Bible college where they didn’t allow you to go to movies while you went to college there. I had friends there that that just bugged them to no end. That’s legalism. No it wasn’t. They didn’t say I wouldn’t go to heaven if I went to movies. They just said I wouldn’t go to their college, fine. It’s their college. They can have rules.
You know there is something happening in the evangelical world that does concern me. This is a little aside but it’s free, well maybe it’s included in the cost. What I see going on in evangelical colleges, it was up here a few months ago from a well-known evangelical college. They have changed their rules, they used to require that their professors not partake of alcoholic beverages but the reason, I don’t want to mention the name of the college because it wouldn’t serve any purpose and there is more than one. The reason they gave is their professors said they felt excluded when they met as professors. They are part of scholarly organizations that meet and they would go there and not be able to partake of alcoholic beverages. It was hard for them to be part of what was going on. I say is that what it comes to? I mean you can’t go there and they are having drinks and you say, “No thank you?” Well if you are not going to drink you can’t be part of us. Is that where believers come to? So now the professors are free. They are not to do it on campus but their homes or off campus they can do what they want.

George Eldon Ladd, some of you are familiar with the writings of George Eldon Ladd who was a professor as Fuller Seminary. He was a drunk. He would come to chapel drunk. He would sit at the local bar and drink. I don’t understand what we have to do to fit into the world but I do want to admit and I have been with some members of our congregation who have a glass of wine when we have been at dinner. I say that’s fine. You know, they ask if I would like to have, no thank you but you know you feel comfortable to do what you choose. I don’t look down on people who have a glass of wine. I choose not to. If I wasn’t an elder at this church I would still choose not to. Do you know why? I know me. I think I would like it. In fact I might like it too much. So I have enough things to deal with. That’s just one I choose to exclude.

So elders can’t be drunks and we help them with that at Indian Hills. They can’t even sip it while they are an elder but we understand the Bible doesn’t require that but at Indian Hills the elders have agreed to that.

I like the next one and we will stop here. What will balance it as we move on next time. “Not pugnacious.” I mean do you have to put this in here? Literally it means somebody whose ready to come to blows over things. You don’t understand the church in the early days you know. There are people who are fighters and in one sense you have to be a fighter from the sense of being willing to stand for the truth and oppose error. We don’t want somebody who is pugnacious, who is inclined to fight over everything. He just likes to get into a good scrap and you know he will argue over everything. I mean he will get into it over Nebraska football or he will get into it over Scripture. It doesn’t matter. He just likes to mix it up. He’s got strong opinions and he’s got strong opinions on everything so a pugnacious person, quick tempered, quarrelsome he can’t be an elder.

And the next two qualifications balance that. He has to be gentle. That gives you the idea he has to be peaceable. So you see these put together. The quality you want. It doesn’t mean he has to be weak. We have talked about that, whimpish, not willing to take a stand, always yielding where he shouldn’t yield. An elder has to know when he can and should yield and when he must not yield. So we don’t need elders who are pugnacious and we would spend our board meetings arguing and battling and that. The Lord has blessed us. We often remark about this and thank the Lord for it as we pray together, the unity and harmony the Lord has blessed us with as elders but that ought to be the norm, right, if we are godly people. We ought to know where we can yield.

We don’t always get our opinion or our, you know, what we would want. You know, we yield. It’s not an issue of sound doctrine here. So yes, I think we should do this. I would prefer we do this. I think this would be… but in the discussion we have to have the give and take and there are things we can yield on. We don’t need somebody there who is planted on everything, has their mind made up and comes to the board ready to do battle. I was talking with an elder from a church in another state. He was getting ready for a board meeting. He already had his mind made up. He was going there to do battle and he hadn’t even had the board meeting to talk about it yet and he already had his mind made up and is going in ready to do battle. We don’t want an elder like that. No, we want a gentle, peaceable elder. We want peace, we want harmony. Is there a way I can yield on this, give up my right even though I may still be convinced this would have been the better way to go? We don’t have to go that way. We don’t have to do it that way but you have to know when the truth of God is at stake there is no yielding, there is no backing off and that is where we stand and we want elders who will stand together on this because we have committed ourselves to stand for healthy truth.

I trust you pray for the board of elders. It is a great responsibility. In times the elders are working through things that are difficult and it puts added pressure. These are men who have other responsibilities with family and jobs and so on but God has given them the desire and the willingness to serve in this capacity and He has appointed them. I trust you pray regularly for the elders as we will talk about as we come to their next responsibility with managing and leading the congregation. They are not the boss of the church and in that sense the people with the gifts are in a better position to be carrying out the various ministries. The elders are responsible to care for the church and be sure it is staying on track, being faithful to the truth, consistent with the truth, guarding it against error and providing an environment for the people of God to grow, exercise their gifts so that the body together might continue to grow and mature.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the provision You have made for Your church. How important it is as Your people that we come and submit ourselves to Your Word. Lord we would acknowledge that we are not the perfect church, we are not the perfect people. Lord we are still growing and maturing. Lord we want to have an attitude of submission and obedience to Your Word. Lord we thank You that there are many churches across this country and around the world that You have brought together and share that same desire and commitment and Lord we desire to be faithful. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Your Spirit. Lord thank You for all the blessings that we enjoy as a local congregation. People who are faithful to You and serve faithfully. Thank You for the men You have raised up to leadership positions, Lord the response of the people to the leaders; the faithfulness of leaders to the people. Lord may we be a testimony of Your grace and work in our lives that You might be honored we pray in Christ’s name, amen.