Transcript

As you’re being seated, grab your Bibles and go to 1 Timothy 3 and if you’re in high school or under, that means you use a Bible and you don’t use a phone, you don’t use a mechanical device and you don’t explore the internet while I’m preaching or I might just confiscate your device. My screen on my iPhone busted this week anyway. I need another one. So moms and dads, I know you support me in that but sometimes the temptation is a little strong to check the ball game score or whatever. We don’t do that. We look at the word of God. We purpose to discipline ourselves for that end, amen? Alright.

1 Timothy 3. We’re talking about calling the church to prayer concerning the installment of new elders into our elder body here and we want to look at this and I’m doing my best to take four weeks to do what should take at least eight weeks to do so please forgive me if I’m skimming fast at times this morning.

Paul is writing to Timothy, his young understudy. Part of Timothy’s responsibility is to appoint elders in all the new church plants that he and the Apostle Paul and their associates have established throughout the known world, actually. This is why some churches that we have a very dear and close kinship to, like Dr. MacArthur’s church, believe only in the present elders appointing future elders because in the New Testament that’s all you see as elders or apostles appointing future elders. But we believe as the church developed and we believe there is scriptural foundation, that there was more of a congregational input in that process. Certainly the present elders have the final say in who is presented and as we’ve experienced many times before, some very very qualified and very godly men who were highly nominated, as a matter of fact, two of the men who got the most nominations of any men who have ever been nominated both declined the office, feeling not led to do so. And we don’t make that public, we just say, “Well, praise the Lord. Thank you for seeking the Lord and that’s where you need to be.” So there is a process in there where sometimes a brother doesn’t feel like maybe my life is where it ought to be right now. Well, that doesn’t need to be public knowledge. We just set that aside and pray that maybe in the future God will do that. So I’m saying all of that to say there is a congregational input; we want your nominations. It would be absurd to think that a man has distinguished himself as being called and qualified to be a church elder and you not have discerned it and so we want the congregation’s input and then the elders do their process of reviewing and questioning and that includes the wife, of course, and then if everybody feels good, we go forward from there. So anyway, we go a little further than Paul is with Timothy at this point in the process but nevertheless, the qualifications for elder stand fast forever. God gives some liberties in processes and procedures. As a matter of fact, sometimes he gives lots of liberties but in the qualifications, they are quite clear.

1 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 1 going through verse 7.

1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. 2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 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.

We began talking about church leadership last time I was with you and we talked about how it is an important calling. As a matter of fact, Paul uses a phrase here to emphasize this is of high value and extreme importance. As we said before, why elders are not essential to the existence of the church, elders are certainly essential to the well-being of the church.

Secondly, not only important but it is a limited calling. He says, “if any man.” The Greek is clear, it’s the male gender word. There are plenty of other words he could have used if he wanted to include ladies or women but it is for men. It is a limited calling.

It’s, thirdly, a compelling calling. He says, “if any man aspires to this office, it’s a fine work he desires to do.” The point is: God the Holy Spirit will begin to put this leading in a man’s heart and he feels that he’s compelled by it and he’s even done a lot of his own work and study, not to be in authority and leadership but to understand the truth, to understand the church, to understand what God’s will is for his work through his church in the world. That compulsion, if you will, that compelling should be very evident in a man’s life.

We talked about it being a responsible calling. The Greek word “episkopos” is used and that’s a word for one who has great responsibility, including great authority; there is a huge responsibility. Now, we do not shirk from teaching clearly the authority God gives to the office of pastor or elder but scripturally we also want to make it very clear the authority is not the thing with me or us so much as it is the great responsibility God holds that man to who takes that office. The Bible speaks of him having a much higher level of judgment come upon him by the Lord himself if he assumes that office. As a matter of fact, I would say to any man anywhere and, again, I try to clarify what I’m thinking more about a vocational preaching pastor versus just an overseeing elder. I think those are different though in the body of authority they work together. There is a difference and that is if you can do anything else, do it. Do not push yourself into the office of being a preaching pastor. Trust me. The challenges, the difficulties and the sufferings would be overwhelming if you don’t know God put you there. There is a responsibility to this work and Paul instructs Timothy in 1 Timothy 4 that he is to be literally up in his ears in study, prayer, preparation and preaching of the word of God. He is to literally the text would say in the original Greek, “Timothy, labor to the point of exhaustion in your study, prayer, and preaching and teaching of the word of God.” So it’s an awesome responsibility. Whether you are the primary preaching/teaching pastor of the church or just an overseer, and elder in the church, it is something that carries with it an awesome and high responsibility.

Now, let’s go to new material this morning and let’s talk about the concept of being blameless or, as the New American Standard puts it, “being above reproach,” and we see this, of course, being in verse 2 where he says, “An overseer, then, must be above reproach.” Now, I’m going to go really fast so listen really quick. It’s an essential requirement, I. He says an overseer must be above reproach. In other words, being above reproach or blameless is an absolute necessity; it’s absolutely mandatory. We are not looking primarily for men with talent or ability or charisma or personality or warmth or winsomeness or everybody loves him. That’s not the main point. The main point: is his character blameless? The last thing the church of the Lord Jesus Christ needs today is another winsome, dynamic, talented man who doesn’t have the character for the office. So it begins with he must be blameless and all the requirements given from the second part of verse 2 down through verse 7 outline and illustrate the aspects or areas of blamelessness that must be in his life.

Now, let me caution here as I will numerous times: we’re not talking about perfection and a man may have areas he’s weaker in than others, but overall he would be considered blameless and if he has had a struggle in an area, it’s known that he was humble about it and he was repentant and sought accountability to grow out of it. If you wait for perfect men, as a matter of fact, these requirements – now listen to me – these requirements are not hard-edged law, they are more general principles and they kind of one bleeds to the other. This isn’t the Ten Commandments and if some of you have an OCD issue which is really idolatry and I’m one of you, by the way, we do get a lot done but we can be terrible at times. If you’re bent that way, be careful that you put a microscope on this text and on people’s hearts because no one is ever going to qualify like that. But above reproach is mandatory in the sense the Scriptures lay it out.

Let’s go to the second Roman numeral: not only is it essential, let’s talk about the extent. The extent refers to the original language here leads to this interpretation: it means a present state of blamelessness. If you go back to a man’s teenage years or his early adult years, he may have been a hellion, he may have been a rebel, but there’s likely been many many maybe decades since then and now he has established a present state of blamelessness. If you go too far back and too introspective in any man’s life you can find something that could appear to be blameworthy. So it means he has lived and God’s grace has maintained that he has a present state of blamelessness, that is, he has sustained a reputation for being above reproach.

Now let’s explain that, III: what does it really mean to be blameless or above reproach? Literally the idea is he is not able to be held. An accusation may come but there’s just not enough credibility to it, it just kind of falls off after a little while. Trust me, especially if you’re going to be a preaching pastor of the truth in this age, you’re going to get a million and one accusations and rumors about you, but the point is given some time they just kind of fall off. The point is since that’s not a real true pattern in the man’s life, it doesn’t stick, the accusation falls off. That’s what it means being above reproach.

Do you remember, I say this just to illustrate how these things could happen, the rumor where I beat Pam up and took her to the emergency room at the hospital? Many of y’all remember that rumor. It was out all over the place. Nurses at the hospital began that rumor and I know who they are. I really don’t but that rumor was out there. Here’s what happened. A pitiful mentally deranged lady showed up in our backyard at 3 o’clock in the morning years ago and she had a baby in her arms and she had been living, according to the sheriff’s deputy, she had been living in the woods around our house, and somehow in her mind she connected that Pam and I could help her. And she knocked on our door and she looked awful. She looked like she had been beaten and living in the woods and the poor baby had worms on it. I’m not making this up. And we called the law enforcement, tried to help her, tried to talk to her. She ran and got into her car and left but we found out early the next morning, the sheriff told me, that she had gone to this emergency room. So I went down to the emergency room and checked on her and so when I was there with that lady in the hospital, the story got out that was Pam. I had beaten her up and had to take her to the hospital at 6 o’clock in the morning.

Here’s my point: that stuff’s going to happen in ministry or in any public position. Amen, Brother Ron? In any public, but it doesn’t stick because it’s not real. It has no lasting effect. And so that’s what you’re looking for, so be careful because, for example, if we’re looking at a man and he works in an office and he’s a faithful witness for Christ, I guarantee you there are non-Christians in that office that want him to look bad. So you’ve got to be careful saying, “Yeah, but I heard this. Yeah, but I heard that.” That’s why the Bible says we need two or three witnesses before we will even receive an accusation against an elder. Are you hearing me? Because it’s probably somebody took something he said, put a twist on it, or she said sometimes, and trying to put them in the worst light, but if he’s blameless, that kind of stuff just kind of falls off after a little while. It has no sticking power. That’s what being above reproach means.

Now, why is it so essential? Well, elders are supposed to be examples for the rest of the flock. Now, flock, listen: the elders are not held to a higher standard. You’re all to be blameless. You’re all to be godly. You’re all to be faithful. And like the elders, if you blow it, you’re to humble yourself and repent. We love each other and put our arms around each other and go again, amen? But so just because this is in the context of elders, it doesn’t mean this doesn’t apply. It applies to all Christians, it’s just that if a person has a glaring pattern in his life of lack of character in these areas, he’s not ready for the office of elder, the Bible would be saying. So he’s a model to others by his position while all of us should be living according to these holy standards.

Also, he needs to be above reproach because he’s guarding Christ’s reputation. If an elder falls into a grievous sin or some sort of public scandal, it has more capacity to dishonor the reputation of Jesus Christ. I have been grieved at times when I have seen scandalous sin mentioned among church leadership somewhere and when the leadership addresses it, they talk about everything but the reputation of Jesus Christ. They talk about the hurt people and this and that, and that’s all legitimate but the main thing is when that happens Christ’s reputation is so damaged. So he needs to be blameless, above reproach, because of Christ’s reputation and you have to understand that the pastor is Satan’s favorite prey. In a war, who are the enemies always going to point their arrows at? It’s always going to be the leader.

Now, moving on quickly, let’s talk about the areas that the apostle points out to Timothy the elder must be blameless or above reproach in. First of all, in his moral character. In his moral character. Now, sexual purity is the first one he lists here and probably because that’s the one where perhaps more men have fallen and lost their blamelessness in than any other. He must be, he says here in verse 2, “the husband of one wife.” Sexual fidelity is the first of the qualifications listed because it’s likely the most important. Now, literally the phrase here in the Greek means “known as a one-woman man.” He’s known as a one- woman man. Now, there have been lots of opinions, even in Baptist circles, as just what does this mean, “the husband of one wife”? Let me just run through them that I don’t agree with. Some say, “Well, it’s just prohibiting polygamy, a man having more than one wife.” Well, that wasn’t really an issue when this was being written in Paul’s day. One of the main reasons was because the Roman and Greek men had their prostitutes, their concubines and their slaves, they didn’t have to have more than one wife and so typically it just wasn’t an issue. It does exclude that, obviously, but that’s not what he’s directly talking about.

Some say, “Well, it means an elder can’t marry a second time under any circumstance. A man who is going to be in this office can’t have had a wife before, even if she’s deceased.” That’s not really what it’s saying here. Paul clearly taught in other places that people have permission to remarry, particularly in the death of their former spouse.

Some would say it means an elder can in no wise, no case, be divorced. Well, the question would be then why doesn’t Paul use the clear Greek word that would prohibit divorce? That’s a clear Greek word that he could have used but he doesn’t use that phrase. Now while it may not be probable and it has not been our practice to install a man who’s had a divorce in his past, I can’t tell you biblically that it’s always absolutely forbidden. There could be a case. I personally believe it would be a very rare and unique situation but the text is not saying that. The text is literally saying he has to have a known reputation as a one-woman man.

Some would say, “Well, it means an elder can’t be single.” Well, the Apostle Paul was single. How could that be?

Lastly and I believe this is the correct interpretation: that he must be one who is known to be devoted to only one woman. If there are rumors, if there is some legitimacy that he’s had a roaming eye, he’s not been faithful and pure, then he is not qualified for the office of elder. Now, he may be a repenter. He may have caught up with that thing and it’s not a part of his life and, hallelujah, amen? We can repent of anything and be right with the Lord and serve the Lord again. But if there’s any prevailing blight on his reputation, he is no longer qualified, at least not until that’s completely cleared up over an extended period of time, in my opinion.

Well, secondly he says he’s not excessive. The word in the New American Standard is he has to be temperate, which means not excessive; it means without wine or unmixed with wine. And the point would be that if you want to drink something, you’re being excessive when you make it wine; when you put the intoxicants of wine, you’re going too far. So this man must be a guy who is balanced. Now, it does refer to drinking, it does have a wine connotation and that was a big problem in the church at Ephesus in this day and other major cities, in fact, drunken orgies were part of the worship at the temple of Diana in Ephesus. But wine was a common drink in biblical times. It was hot and dry and it was necessary for folks to consume large volumes of liquids just to keep their bodies replenished but it was the known pattern of the people of the day and especially the godly people of that day, that they diluted their wine with water so as to diminish any real intoxicating effect. The point would be a man who chases after a drink to get a buzz out of it is excessive, he is not functioning in the way you want your elder to function. Now, there is so much more I could say about that but a bigger sense here of being temperate or not excessive is that he’s a man who is alert and watchful. He’s a man that denies any excess in life that might diminish clear thinking or sound judgment. That’s the idea of being temperate or not having excess.

Number 3, these tying together very closely, Paul uses the word translated in the New American Standard: prudent or self-disciplined or self-control could be another way to say it. So the result of being temperate or avoiding excess means you will naturally lead an orderly and a disciplined life. This is a person who is serious about spiritual things. He doesn’t have the reputation of being a clown. It doesn’t mean he’s not funny at times or he avoids humor, he just appreciates what really matters and he knows things that are serious and things that are not serious. I like the word “propriety.” He has a propriety. He knows when something’s a 5 and he knows when something’s a 2 and he knows when something’s a 9 on a scale of 1-10. He doesn’t get all bent out of shape over things just because it’s his little personal agenda. He has a spiritual discipline and propriety about himself.

Closely connected to that, Paul says continuing, he is respectable. You could say this is well organized. Number 4: well organized. It means he has good behavior. He approaches all aspects of his life in a systematic and in an orderly fashion. In other words, a man who is qualified for the office of elder can’t be a man who lives a chaotic life. How many men have I run into, not necessarily here at Grace Life, but how many men have I run into through the years who had prominent positions in churches because they were good talkers and they were good influencers and they had a charismatic personality but when I found out about their personal life, it was just a mess. Just their life disordered. Their finances were just a mess. And Paul is saying, “Just because a man is impressive doesn’t mean he’s qualified for the office.” Well organized. Respectable.

Number 5: generous to the needy. The word he uses is “hospitable.” Hospitable. I’ve seen men excuse the weakness of their pulpit ministry because they say they’re great at hosting fellowships in their home. Well, this isn’t about who can do the best dinner parties. That’s not what the word “hospitality” means. The context is this was a day of great persecution among Christians and it was common for Christians to travel from city to city with just the clothes they had on their back and nothing to eat and nowhere to go and inns or hotels of that day were more or less brothels, they were not decent places, so Christians in general were called upon, unlike we are, this really has no context to us because we don’t have that. I don’t know that we’ve ever had a vagabond Christian come through town because they were persecuted for the Gospel. But in this day they did and he’s just saying this man is known to have a heart to help those and minister, open his home when necessary to minister to those people. So he has a heart for the genuine needy in the church. You remember both in Matthew 25 and in James 2, the writer gives strong admonition that when Christians are persecuted you’ll know true Christians by the fact that they associate and welcome those persecuted Christians. They will clothe them. They will feed them. They will visit them in prison. And that’s the same principle here, that if this has been a snooty and elitist kind of person who didn’t care when there was legitimate hurting among the Christian community, he’s not a man qualified for the office of elder.

Now hurrying on, he has to be a man who is qualified or able to teach. Able to teach, he continues on in verse 2, the last one of verse 2. Now, several things that need to be said here. First of all, it means that his life has been such that when he teaches the word, there are not those things that cause you to say, “Well, I saw you do that and I saw you do this. I heard you when you said…” You know, he’s credible when he teaches. He must be the man who has the gift of teaching. Now, a lot of people have the gift of teaching who will never serve in the office of elder but one who serves in the office of elder has to have the gift of teaching.

He must be a man and this is particularly important at Grace Life, he has to have a good grasp, you could say a good reservoir of understanding of sound doctrine. I forgot how many pages but I think we have a 40 page questionnaire on doctrine that a man must complete before he is even considered here for the office of elder. Folks, sound doctrine is essential to a sound church and Paul even says that part of the elder’s primary responsibility is – now here is his word – guard sound doctrine. You can’t guard it if you don’t know it. So he needs to be one who has gained a reservoir of sound doctrine.

He’s diligent in Bible study. He’s just a person who’s motivated to get in the word. I’m not saying every week is the same but overall it’s his passion for studying the Scriptures and knowing the truth and wanting others to know the truth is very obvious.

He avoids false doctrine and, boy, this is so important and Satan gets so many inroads in churches because it’s so convincing sometimes when a man is really functioning in the flesh and putting on a false spirituality and a false humility and false teachers always have that. Are you hearing me? False teachers are always very impressive. False teachers are always the people who when they come into church people say, “They’re so committed. They’re so devoted. They’re so compassionate and they’re so sweet.” Yeah, and they’re wolves in sheep’s clothing. A man who is qualified for the office of elder needs to have wisdom and discernment not to prejudge people but to know when that is true spiritual spirituality and true spiritual humility and not a flesh put on because false teachers are masters at counterfeiting that. It doesn’t mean he’s perfect at that but God’s given him some wisdom. In other words, he’s not a sentimentalist. You can’t just wow him with glad-handing him and him pampering your ego and using clever words to win your favor. You’re more mature than that. You see through those things.

He’s got to be a man that in his preaching and teaching he has courage and conviction. The whole principle of teaching the word and, of course, preaching the word, involves calling people to repent. It involves calling people to see the error and turn from it and embrace the truth and in various settings. Now, a lot of that ground has been plowed here and it’s easy for a man to preach the word with boldness here because you love that and I say that to your commendation, but overall there’s a real challenge to preach and teach the word without compromise. So all that is under being able to teach. You see why we need at least eight weeks and I’m just skimming the surface on this thing.

Number 7: he must not be a drinker. Not addicted, verse 3, to much wine. Now, that phrase means his reputation is that he’s not associated with drinkers. An elder cannot be one who is known by the cocktail crowd. It just doesn’t fit him. He just doesn’t hang out with the honky-tonk crowd. It’s just not what he is. Now, we’ve had good and godly men in our church that have to have business dinners and the corporation or the company they’re dealing with have men who drink. I’m not talking about that. Paul says if we totally don’t associate with people like that, we’d have to leave the world. God knows you have to associate in some of those settings, but we’re talking about a man who his desire is he enjoys that kind of setting. And can I go a little bit further, brothers and sisters in Christ? It’s just wisest and best to be a total abstainer in this area and we’re going to hold at Grace Life Church that in any capacity you’re in leadership, you can’t be known as a drinker and especially in the office of elder. Not a drinker.

Number 8: not a fighter. Paul uses the word “pugnacious.” It means he’s not a person who settles his disputes with his fists. Not quick tempered. He doesn’t resort to unnecessary violence as 2 Timothy 2:24 says, the servant of the Lord must not strive. Now don’t get me wrong, he’s not talking about manly boldness and courage and there may be a time even in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ where a man’s got to stand up and say, “Don’t do another thing.”

I was in a meeting many many many years ago at a discipline situation where a man was being terribly deceitful and lying and trying to incriminate the innocent and I took over the meeting and I said, “Let’s pray,” and I said, “God, somebody’s lying and I pray you’ll kill him.” I did that and that man immediately confessed in his prayer and confessed before the men there that he was at fault and he was the one in sin. I didn’t do that before, I’ve never done that since but there’s a time for a man to be a man. But also he must not be one of these pop-off, anger-controlled brawlers.

Do you understand the balance there? I say that because I’m going to do everything I can, every time I can in this pulpit to fight the whiny, sissy, effeminate spirit that’s taken over our country. I am so sick of it. It’s so repulsive to manhood, this whiny, apologizing and all this movement going on where people rile and revile and rebel in the streets. When they don’t get their way, they’ve got to have a cry room with puppies and kittens to get over it. I’m not making this up. That’s an effeminate spirit and the Old Testament teaches that when God’s cursing a nation, he lets people with that kind of spirit get in control. What we need is principled, upright, righteous and godly principled men leading this country. I’m not so sure we got one of them, by the way, in this election. By the way, Donald Trump wouldn’t be qualified to be an elder in God’s church. And my hope is through the ages God has shown himself quite capable of drawing a straight line with a crooked stick and God can move the king’s heart like rivers of waters. I want to tell you, my hope is not in the Republican party or in Donald Trump at all. God give us a man of God. Maybe, well, I shouldn’t say that. I like the Vice-President elect better than the President, put it that way.

Connected to number 8, number 9. I don’t know how I got off on that. I had to get it in somewhere. Not quarrelsome. Paul uses the word he has to be a “peaceable” man. In other words, he doesn’t cause unnecessary quarrels, disputes and divisions. Now, brothers and sisters, if you’ve been around Grace Life as long as I have, you know we had a lot of that years ago and these guys, ladies, were after power, control, having their own way, constantly stirring up stuff. Catching people in the hallway, “What do you think about this? Well, do you think… Brother Steve said… Do you think….? Well, Brother Matt… Brother Jeff…. Do you agree with that?” I’m telling you, listen, the first time somebody comes up to you and says, “What do you think about So-and-so?” the first thing you need to say is, “You need to go straight to them and not talk to me anymore about it.”

Brother Tom just said amen. He was on the golf course with one of these jaybirds that came through here years ago who called himself a man of God and Tom played golf with him and on the golf course he pulled Tom aside and said, “What do you think about Brother Jeff….?” and Tom quickly said, “That’s not for me to discuss and if you’ve got a problem, you need to make an appointment with him.” I’m still waiting. He hasn’t made an appointment yet.

Here’s my point: that kind of man, and here’s what happens in the typical Baptist church, they put those guys and those ladies on committees and on boards to shut them up. That’s wrong! That’s wrong! This is the bride of Christ. You are not to give Christ’s precious bride over to a person who’s about their personal agenda of control and power and if they’re godly, hallelujah! But if they’ve proven to be a quarrelsome, pugnacious one, always stirring something up, they cannot probably even remain on the church roll if they don’t become a repenter. Did I make that clear enough? I’m saying that because there were so many years when we tolerated that. Look, any of us can pop off and repent, amen? I’m talking about a guy that that’s his modus operandi, that’s just the way he does business, getting him a little party together behind the scenes. I’m going to tell you, if that’s happening here, I know nothing about it. It hasn’t been that way in years and it better not start, and if it starts, I’m holding every one of you men accountable because you’re raising your kids here and your grandkids here and you need to protect this church for their souls, amen?

And I’ve got men like that. I never have to deal with stuff like that. We had a man leave, I don’t know, 2-3 years ago and he had already contacted Brother Matt a couple of times about didn’t quite agree with the way I was doing some things and Brother Matt told him, “Well, go and talk to him.” Well, he hasn’t made an appointment yet. But when they find out they can’t get other men to go with them, they find out and here’s what they say, “God’s leading me somewhere else.” Am I being too plain spoken? Look, Christ’s church is the most valuable organization in the universe. It’s worth our best effort. And we’ve come too far at Grace Life Church to turn back in any way and I’m not saying we have. You’re probably like, “Well, something’s up out there.” Nothing’s up, we’re just not going to get up. Have you ever seen Whack-A-Mole? Do you know what Whack-A-Mole is? You start this, you’re going to be like that Whack-A-Mole, we’re going to whack. And if it’s Jeff Noblit, then deal with me, amen? I mean, I’m not bigger than needing reproof. Not quarrelsome.

Number 10: not covetous which is the idea of being free from the love of money. It doesn’t mean he can’t have money. He may have lots of money. It means that he’s not a man who is controlled by the love of money. He doesn’t place a price on the ministry.

You know, one of the things that I’ve learned through the years, you’ve heard me say this before, I have known a lot more lower income or poor people who have the sin of the love of money than I have known rich men who had the sin of the love of money. Do you know why? Because there are a lot more poor and lower income people. The sin of the love of money is a heart issue. It’s your heart.

Just last night in my prayer time, I had to cast my heart on God again in prayer and say, “God, my hope and my treasure is not in some nice things you’ve given Jeff Noblit, but in you.” I started out here at Grace Life Church driving a 1972 Cutlass Oldsmobile that was crashed in the back end and totaled out and I may end my ministry that way. I don’t know. But we cannot have men in the office of elder who are jockeying for financial gain and we’ve had some of that come through here through the years. I’ve had young men in the ministry come through and we’ve worked with them and tried to mentor them and everything always had a financial twist; they’re always scheming, designing, talking to the right people in the church, always had a financial twist to it and they end up on the ash heap. Given enough time and that’s where they end up and trust me, if you’ll serve God for his glory and to honor him, God will raise up a faithful church to take good care of you financially. Free from the love of money or not covetous.

Family life. An elder must be blameless in his family life. He says here, 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?).” Now, the idea here in verse 4 of managing or ruling his household means to preside over but it has the idea of managing it well means, it doesn’t mean he comes in with a brutish, harsh, strong-armed, dictatorial spirit. He’s in charge but he leads his family in a way that has a moral spiritual attractiveness to it. His wife doesn’t look beaten down. His children don’t look like fearful slaves, yet they do honor and respect him and obey him.

Now, another area for Grace, brothers and sisters, have you ever raised kids? There can be some difficult seasons even in a good man’s household and what we’ve held as elders is that if there is some of those seasons, especially in those teen years, does the elder humble himself and take responsibility to get that one back in line because that’s what good parents do. It’s not the total absence of ever any issues. If that’s true, then all of us, I guess, will resign tomorrow. And that’s something that has to be, I guess, dealt with case- by-case but that’s been our general pattern here at Grace Life.

Now, that’s talking about teenage, college age kids sometimes but now, it would be a disqualification if a man’s got 4-5 kids and they’re all kind of grade school and they’re absolutely, it’s a circus all the time. Then I think that would be closer because they’re in the household. Sometimes a man has an adult child who’s not honoring the Lord. I have never felt that that was a violation of this principle because adult children make their own decisions outside of the household. So there is a balance here. Maybe you disagree to some degree. I disagree with John MacArthur, for example. John MacArthur would teach that at the age of 18, that if every child is not converted to Christ, then you’re no longer qualified to be an elder. I highly esteem John MacArthur but there’s nothing in the Scripture about that and I think he’s taken too firm of a line there. But generally speaking, there should be the evidence this man is doing a good job in his household or how else does the Bible say, will he be able to take care of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ?

E. He must be blameless in his spiritual life or in his spiritual maturity. He says here in verse 6, and he must “not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.” The new convert means newly planted. There are wonderful and godly men who are on track and maybe one day be in the office but they’re not ready yet, and because of things like biblical counseling, biblical conflict resolution, sound doctrine in the areas of church discipline and all the processes of church discipline. Sound doctrine in the areas of what conviction and what repentance and what conversion really is. Sound doctrine as to what the church is and what is the theology that makes up the church and the methodologies by why the church functions for. All of that takes a lot of time. We don’t want men who just read it in a book. That’s what he means by a new convert. A new convert can in a couple of years read a lot of stuff but in a church like Grace Life, we would expect there are men who have had many many years of incarnationally buying into these principles. It is not something their wondering about, they believe in it and can carry the ministry on strong from there. Not a new convert. You have to be careful you don’t have a Diotrephes come into power. Diotrephes in 3 John was the man who in his immaturity was throwing people out of the church on his own authority, not on biblical authority and that can happen when a young convert gets a position before he’s ready.

Then, F: he must be blameless in his reputation outside the church. Outside the church. He says there in verse 7, “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 means his testimony outside the church is respectable. If there has been a pattern of shady business deals, dishonesty, whatever it might be, and that’s know in the community, then he’s easily blackmailed almost and obviously doesn’t represent Christ in the community well. I have tried to follow the pattern of when I deal with people I’ve had a lot of people work for me off and on in different ways through the years, I’ve tried to always give them the benefit of the doubt and pay them a little bit more to the extent that at times I had an older retired contractor working with me on my house years ago and he said, “Pastor, don’t let these guys take advantage of you.” Well, I was worried about if I hold them accountable, then they’re going to go and say, “That pastor is so mean and selfish and he don’t care about anybody,” because that’s the kind of stuff that goes on. And I’ve gotten meaner in my old age so don’t mess with me now. Not necessarily but the concern for making sure that you’ve paid your bills, you’re responsible, you’re honest to your neighbors, have a good reputation outside the church.

Now, in a couple of weeks we’re going to ask you to begin nominating people and next Sunday morning’s sermon, Lord willing, I’m going to go through a lot of the specifics of our policy about that. It’s not putting a name on a piece of paper or checking a block by a man’s name, we want a written reason why you feel that they are qualified for the office of elder. And just pray and seek the Lord. Now, brothers and sisters, we haven’t had any issues like this in years but let’s don’t have any jealousy issues, let’s not have any envy issues, let’s just say, “Lord, we give this to you. If I’m considered, not considered, praise your name.” And God knows what he’s doing.

In my own experience of becoming the Senior Pastor here, when the committee began looking for a Senior Pastor, they didn’t look at me first, they looked at some other men. To kind of show you how if you just give it to God, God takes care of it. I don’t remember exactly, I might have been kind of proud and offended when they first didn’t talk to me. I don’t remember honestly but I could have been. I’m capable of such. But one of the men they looked at and talked to said, “You don’t need to talk to me, you’ve got your pastor, it’s Jeff Noblit.” Now, that doesn’t usually happen. So my point is don’t seek the office, seek the Lord and be faithful and if he wants you there, you can’t miss it. He’ll make sure it works out the way it’s supposed to work out. Amen?

Well, I’m sorry that I just didn’t think at this point in our church history we needed an 8- 12 week discourse on the office of elder and I know I’ve been rushed. And, again, one final caution: be careful making this a raw-edged legal document. That’s not what we’re talking about but general character principles that are in a man’s life.

Let’s pray together.