Those Who Desire To Be Elders – PT.2
(1Tim 3:1-7 & Titus1:4-9)
Last Sunday
morning, we discussed the function of the elder but spoke very little about
what the qualifications for eldership are. This week, we begin the task of
looking at the Biblical qualifications and investigating what each of them mean
by both the biblical description and putting them in the proper context by
using the Bible as its own best commentary. Some will be pretty obvious, while
with others we’ll need to look into the Greek wording and use our minds in an
attempt to draw logical conclusions.
First, we
need to understand where these qualifications originate. If you asked most
people where the qualifications come from, they’re answer would be something to
the affect that Paul was the one who came up with them and we know what they
are because of the letters he wrote to Timothy and Titus concerning the elders.
But was it
truly Paul who put the qualifications together? Did Paul sit down one day with
pen and paper and think to himself, “Now what should I teach about what kind of
men the elders and deacons should be?” In his letters to the young evangelists,
did he, at the time, just arbitrarily decide that he had to come up with
something to tell them about the leadership of the Church? Hardly!
Paul, as we
know, was an apostle; A man who received his direction from Jesus Christ,
Himself. And since we know this to be true, let me ask: do you really think
that these qualifications, as we call them, really came FIRST from Paul? To the
true, God-fearing Christian, the answer to that question should be obvious.
These aren’t Paul’s directives, but those of Christ Jesus. They aren’t
man-made, but Heaven sent. And that being the case, we need to do our very best
at understanding them, in spite of what the traditions of men, which Jesus was
so opposed to, has taught us. Let us, being true seekers of the Truth, look
upon these instructions from Christ without bias; without preconceived notions;
and without the influence of the preference of men. There are two specific
qualifications that I’ve seen as controversial in nature either because of
ignorance or, as I’ve mentioned, the traditional views and likes of men. I’ve
decided to speak on those last. So, having said that, let us begin.
1. ABOVE REPROACH:
Paul, in writing to Timothy and
Titus, who I’ll refer to from this point forward as “the evangelists”, used two
different Greek words which have the same basic meaning. To Timothy he wrote “anepileptos”
(an-ep-eel'-ape-tos), which means “blameless or unrebukable”. To Titus, “anegkletos”
(an-eng'-klay-tos), and that word has the meaning of irreproachable, blameless,
and unaccused.
This is speaking about a man who
has no handles; nothing in his life that someone else could use to control him.
Even if somebody wanted to bring a charge against him, by his very nature it
could be seen that the charges were false.
Now, does that mean that an elder
has to be perfect? No; they can’t be. They’re only human beings with the same
affliction that we all have: a sinful nature. Simply, they’re just men.
When the Holy Spirit sent Peter to
Cornelius’ house, Cornelius bowed before him. Do you remember what Peter said?
He told Cornelius, “Stand up; I myself am also a man”
(Acts 10:26 ) As a man,
even though Peter was an apostle and an elder, he recognized that he was not
beyond human weakness. We can’t expect more than that from our elders. But they
must lead honorable lives to be unaccused.
2. HOSPITALBLE
This command is the same in both
letters to the evangelists. It
literally means to be a lover of strangers. In the first
century, Christians were despised by the pagans who wouldn’t be friendly toward
any Christian travelers. But an elder is happy to take in a traveling brother
or sister.
3 John 1:
1-11 says, “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I
love in truth. Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in
good health, just as your soul prospers, for I was very glad when brethren came
and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. I have no
greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. Beloved,
you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and
especially when they are strangers; and they have testified to your love before
the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of
God, for they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the
Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow
workers with the truth.
I wrote something to the church; but
Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For
this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does,
unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself
does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so
and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what
is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen
God.”
3. ABLE TO TEACH
To be an
elder, you need to know what God’s word says and be able to teach it in an
understandable manner. This is needed not only to advance the understanding of
sound doctrine but also to refute false doctrine, when necessary. A shepherd doesn’t
just know what to feed his sheep, but how to protect against the wolves and
roaming lions, as well.
Now “to be
able to teach” doesn’t mean that the elders are the only teachers or even that
it’s a requirement for the elder to be a teacher. If we say that, we’re making
the qualification more difficult to fulfill that God has.
4. NOT
PUGNATIOUS
If you’re
like me, chances are, you don’t use this word very often. Other than talking
about eldership, I don’t think I ever have. So, if you’re wondering what
“pugnacious” means: according to the American Heritage Dictionary it means to
have a combative nature; to be eager to fight; hostile or aggressive.
An elder in
God’s Church doesn’t use his position or power to get his way. A godly elder
isn’t a bully nor does he use his office for ill-gotten gain by the use of his
power. He must, in all things be meek. And if there comes a time when an elder
is forced to practice church discipline, he is to face the task out of love of
the person or people being disciplined; not through fighting or anger. Those
are the devil’s tools.
Mark 9:50 records Jesus as saying, “Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what
will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one
another.” And Paul, speaking to the church on Corinth
So,
in no matter what situation, the elder is to deal with it, not by autocratic
rule, but in the message given to us by God over and over again: in love.
5. MANAGES
HOUSEHOLD WELL
If we take
a serious look at the scriptures, we can see that, contrary to the typical
thinking in our society today, the man is the head of the household. There’s
been an unfortunate occurrence within the last few years. And that is that men
have given up their backbone and make their wives wear the pants in the family.
If you’re a man and done that, regardless of whether you’d consider being an
elder or not, you need to grow one back. If you’re a woman and have taken away
your husband’s God-given role as the head of the house, you need to give back
what’s rightfully his. Paul wrote again to the Corinthians, “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of
every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”
Then, there
are the kids. This seems to be an area of controversy among those in the
brotherhood. Paul wrote to Timothy, “keeping his
children under control with all dignity” (1Tim 3:4), and to Titus, “having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or
rebellion” (Titus 1:6ff). So where, you might ask, is the controversy?
There are
those who believe that Paul is speaking of any your children, no matter how old
they are or even where they live. In other words, if you’re a 60 year old man
living in Meyersdale and you have a 40 year old son living in California that
is not a Christian, that disqualifies you from being an elder. But, does that
line of thinking really go along with the context? Weren’t we talking about
managing his household?
My father
passed away several years ago. And even though I was still my father’s son, I
moved out when I was 22 years old. Now, while I lived under his roof I had to
abide by his rules; after all, it was his house. But, after I moved out, was I
still a member of his household, or did I begin a household of my own with my
own set of rules and standards?
I’ve seen
qualified men disqualify themselves because they had an adult child who didn’t
live with them who wasn’t a Christian. I, for one, don’t believe this is God’s
intent.
I do think
that if a man can’t spiritually maintain his home, that’s an entirely different
matter indeed because “if a man does not know how to
manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God
6. HUMBLE
First and
foremost, let’s understand that the opposite of humility is pride. Pride for
all intents and purposes is the cause of much of the world’s sin; it’s the “me,
me, me” and “mine, mine, mine”. Is that what Jesus taught; to think of yourself,
first? Is that why he, being both Lord and Teacher, washed His disciples’ feet;
to teach them pride?
Of course
we know that’s a ridiculous question. We all know that the reason Christ did
that was to teach humility; to be a servant; to live a decent and modest life.
As His gift to His Church, would expect anything to be different in that
respect? Actually, we’re all to live that way. Aren’t a lot of these
qualifications good standards for every Christian to obtain?
7. OF GOOD
BEHAVIOR
I think
this is pretty self-defining, so we’ll just have a brief word study. The Greek
word used here is “kosmios” (KOS-mee-os) (1Tim 3:2). The general meaning is:
orderly, well behaved, and modest. When doing the Lord’s work in the Church,
things aren’t to be done haphazardly or with “self” in mind. They’re to be done
in a thoughtful, humble manner; knowing that their work is for God.
8. REASONABLE
Paul, when
writing about this qualification to the evangelists, writes the positive to
Timothy and the negative to Titus. To Timothy, he says the elder is to be mild,
gentle, and patient (1Tim 3:3). To Titus, the elder is not to be self-pleasing,
arrogant, or self-willed (Titus 1:7).
9. PEACEABLE
The elder
is a man who does his best to achieve harmony within the congregation. He’s not
to be quarrelsome, argumentative, or belligerent. He’s not to be
quick-tempered, but to have the ability to keep it.
10. NOT GREEDY
FOR MONEY
Any leader
of the congregation should never let the idea of money in his pocket cloud his
convictions or become a factor in his decision of what is right and wrong. Even
though “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,” and “The laborer is
worthy of his wages” (1Tim 5:18), an elder must realize and abide by the fact
that right is right and wrong is wrong regardless of the cost and that “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.” (1Ti 6:10 ).
11. DEVOUT, HOLY,
AND JUST
An elder
mustn’t be a new convert, but knowledgeable of the scriptures and unshakable in
his faith. He is to show a high level of holiness and devotion in his service
to God. In the time of Jesus, a man wasn’t taken seriously until the age of
thirty because that’s when that culture decided that that’s when a man was
mature.
In Christ’s
Church, does age necessarily mean maturity? I’ve seen it, and I’d guess you
have, too. Where a man’s been a Christian for years, but has little practical
knowledge about the Bible; then another, maybe half as long; strong in his
faith and scripture. Now, assuming that this second man is not a new convert,
which one do you think would make the best elder? The one with physical
maturity or the one with spiritual maturity? The answer’s simple. The
spiritually mature.
Now then,
we might see a new Christian on complete fire for the Lord and think, “That
fella’d make a great elder with all that enthusiasm.” Well, I’ve seen a lot of
new converts so excited about being a Christian that you’d think they were
going to burst open from it any minute and they grow in their faith because
they love the Lord. Then again, some are like fish: they’re easier to catch
than they are to hold onto. Oh, they’re excited at first. Then you find
yourself chasing after them, trying to encourage them to meet with the assembly
of believers…After a while, you realize that you’ve done all you can do for
that person, and it’s time to focus on somebody else. So you see, a man has to
be committed to spiritual growth to be an elder.
12. SELF-CONTROLLED
We know
that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God.” (Ro 3:23) And we continue to sin. I know that, and you know that.
And “if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving
ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1Jo 1:8) But does that mean the
elders, too. Well, are the elder included in “all”? Even the Apostle Paul said,
“Not that I have already obtained it or have already
become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I
was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” (Php 3:12) But he also wrote, “But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that,
after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
(1Co 9:27 )
In other
words, Paul was doing his best at practicing self-control. He knew he wasn’t
perfect. He knew he stilled sinned. But, realizing that, he did his best to
fight off his sinful nature and live as purely as he could. Again, all we
Christians should be doing this very same thing. An elder must!
13. LOVER OF GOOD
Finally,
for this week, we end with another qualification that should be obvious to us
all: producing the Fruit of The Spirit. “The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.” (Gal 5:22) Sound like anything we’ve
already talked about? You see, an elder must be these things and have these
things to do God’s work appropriately. An elder, above all, has to be a
follower of Christ, first.
“Whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,
dwell on these things.” (Php 4:8)
Next time,
we’ll look closely at two qualifications that we went around this morning.
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