TPW 71 What an Elder Must Be

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I don't care if a guy has the whole Bible memorized. If he can't teach it to someone else, it doesn't help anything.
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As far as him being an elder, it might help him, but if he can't convey that to someone else, if he can't understand how people learn, if he doesn't have that ability, then he can't be an elder.
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Under the promise of witness, this is
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Pastor Patrick Hines here at Bordeaux Heights Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. It is a beautiful, sunny day today, and I'm going to be posting part two of four on the issue of elders and elder requirements and what elders are supposed to do.
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And in this sermon, we cover what an elder must be in terms of his personal qualifications from 1
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Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 -7. And very important stuff. The elder needs to not be a novice.
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He needs to be someone who is apt to teach, the husband of one wife, blameless and not addicted to wine, and not a fighter, not pugnacious and mean.
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So there's all those great attributes that are listed there. And these are extremely important things, and I hope that the listeners to the network here are in churches that practice at least some form of biblical church government.
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I know that there's an independency, at least, that does have the idea of rule by a plurality of elders.
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But if you're in an independency sort of church or a Presbyterian sort of church, you have to be the ones that choose your elders if you're not a ruling elder or a pastor yourself.
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So this is real practical, real important stuff for people to know and understand, and it's very convicting if you are an elder or a pastor to measure yourself by these passages because this is what
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God expects us to be in order to carry out these very sacred and very important tasks.
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And this message begins with a walkthrough of Acts chapter 20 and Paul's exhortation to the
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Ephesian elders, and that has got some really important stuff in it.
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So I hope that you'll get your Bible. If you don't have your Bible, just listen to the passages as they are read, and I hope that you find this to be edifying and helpful.
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Let's turn our Bibles, please, to 1 Timothy chapter 3, the same passage we read for our scripture reading this morning.
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And we'll read through this passage, and we'll be walking through what it says in detail.
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And there's another passage that we'll be not reading as a scripture reading, but we'll be walking through briefly before we start walking through 1
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Timothy 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 7.
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This is God's Word. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
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An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.
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Not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.
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He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity.
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But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? And not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.
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And he must have a good reputation with those who are outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
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May God bless the reading of his infallible Word. Let's pray, please. Father in heaven, we thank you for giving us these clear directions.
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They're convicting, they're challenging. And we know that our Lord Jesus Christ always provides what his church needs in this world.
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And we pray, Lord, humbly before you, that you would continue protecting this church and that you would continue shepherding this church through godly men who will be nominated and elected and Lord willing, installed as elders here one day.
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We pray that you would bless the minds and hearts of the congregation, that the right men would come forward, that they would be nominated, that they would be adequately trained, and that they would take that mantle and take that responsibility and that privilege and execute its duties with diligence, with faithfulness, with courage, and with self -giving love.
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And we pray all this in Jesus's wonderful name. Amen. This evening, there's four things
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I'd like to go through with you. The first is, how important are elders to the Christian church? Secondly, that elders have to be godly teachers.
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We looked at that a little bit this morning. Thirdly, the head of a well -run house. And fourthly, a seasoned veteran.
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So by way of introduction, how important are elders to the local church? Before we begin our walkthrough of the qualifications for the office of elder there at First Timothy chapter three,
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I'd like to look together at a passage of scripture. Please turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. This is a text of scripture that really needs to be right alongside of the passages in First Timothy three and Titus chapter one and two.
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When it comes to explaining the duties of elders and their tasks, Acts chapter 20 verses 17 and following is a glorious and wonderful text of God's word.
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So I'd just like to read it and make a couple comments along the way here. This is Paul's farewell address to the elders of the church at Ephesus, and he says some very convicting, challenging, and stirring things to these elders that elders of every church need to hear and need to understand.
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So listen to what Paul says here. Let's begin to get some context here at verse 17. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.
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And when they had come to him, he said to them, you yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how
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I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the
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Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both
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Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, bound by the spirit,
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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 await me.
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But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course in the ministry which
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I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
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Stop right there for a moment. That's courage right there. He says,
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I don't care what happens. In fact, a prophecy was made to him. If you go there, you go to Jerusalem, there is nothing but trouble awaiting you there.
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You're going to have every kind of suffering and opposition if you go there. And Paul's point is, I don't care. I don't count my life dear to me.
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And I'm going to finish the race that Christ set out for me. When you take on the office of an elder, you promise to maintain the truth of the gospel, to preach, teach and defend it in public and in private, in your conversations, in writings, in emails and texts.
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You preach, teach and defend that truth up to and including the cost of your own life.
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It's a serious thing. You promise that you will do this regardless of the cost.
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And you just have to love Paul's bold announcement. I don't care what the cost,
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I'm going to do this. Look at verse 25. And now, behold, I know that all of you among whom
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I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
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For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the
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Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
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And verse 29, listen carefully to this. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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And from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.
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Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years,
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I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
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I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands minister to my own needs and to the men who were with me and everything.
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I showed you that by working hard in this manner, you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all and they began to weep aloud and embrace
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Paul and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he has spoken, that they would not see his face again and they were accompanying him to the ship.
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Now, real quick, look back at verse 28 again, he said, be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock.
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You hear what he's saying to the elders? You guys are the gatekeepers for the flock. These are the sheep that were purchased by the blood of Christ.
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You have to defend them and you need to watch out for those who will come in and try to secretly bring in destructive heresy, false teaching.
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Look at the rest of the verse, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
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I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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Every elder needs to be aware of that. Savage wolves will come in. And you know what?
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They're usually dressed up like sheep. They're usually dressed up like sheep. You need to be wise and discerning if you hold the office of elder.
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And look at verse 30. And from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.
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Yes, people will be motivated by pride and arrogance, wanting followers and will say perverse things, perverse doctrines, perverse ideas to try to draw people away after them.
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And Paul is saying to the elders there, you guys got to watch out for this. This is coming. I know it's coming.
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Savage wolves are coming. And you guys are the shepherds. You got to drive those wolves away. Make sure they don't come in and bring their errors and their heresies with them.
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Look at verse 31. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day and for a period of three years,
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I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. Paul warned them night and day with tears.
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You got to watch out for this, he told those elders when he trained them. And here he is telling them, guys,
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I'm leaving and I promise you, you're going to have to fight for the truth. You're going to have an ongoing battle with false doctrine.
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And you guys are the gatekeepers. Protect those sheep that Jesus purchased with his own blood.
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So watch out. How important are elders to the church? They're pretty important.
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They're pretty important that they understand their charge, that they understand their duties, that they understand they have to make hard decisions.
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They have to they have to say hard things to people. Sometimes they have to stand up for the truth, knowing that it's going to make them unpopular at times.
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It's going to make people come after them and attack them for being mean or rude or insensitive or whatever. So be it.
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So be it. What's at stake? The sheep of Christ, that they are led properly, that they're taught correctly.
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It's more important than anything in the entire universe. There's nothing else more important. How did denominations become liberal?
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How do they become liberal? When I started looking around for a pastoral call, I've mentioned this website to you before that had all the
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Reformed and Presbyterian denominations in North America, a whole bunch of them. And there were the vast majority of them had right around 100 churches in them.
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And many, many of these denominations have less than 15 churches. Now, the second largest is the
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PCA. PCA has around 2000 churches, around 350 ,000 members.
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Now, the largest Presbyterian and Reformed denomination, number one, is the PCUSA. It is six times bigger than the
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PCA. The PCUSA, that liberal denomination, has 10 ,466 churches right now.
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10 ,466 churches with just shy of two million members. In the description of the
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PCUSA on the website, the website's not there anymore. It's gone. But I got this a while back. Here is the description of the
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PCUSA, quote, The largest Reformed denomination in the U .S. has a strongly liberal leadership and has approved of homosexual marriage and ordination.
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A few of its churches are solidly biblical and are fighting this, but most are jumping ship to the
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EPC, the PCA, the ECO and other bodies. Original PCUSA formed in 1789.
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This one in 1983 with the union of the North, the Northern and Southern churches. Listen to this last sentence.
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This shocked me when I read it. You can find everything from traditional to contemporary to postmodern to pagan worship of the goddess
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Sophia, if you know where to look, end quote. Isn't that shocking?
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Isn't that sad? Isn't that heartbreaking? What happened? What happened?
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Shepherds did not stop wolves from coming in. That's what happened. I have a tape series on the inspiration and authority of scripture about many years ago from a really solid
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Reformed scholar named Dr. Kim Riddlebarger, where he pointed out that the PCUSA to this day, its endowment is worth so much money that even if not a single person in that denomination ever gave another dime to any of those churches, they would have plenty of money to keep running until the end of history.
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What a tragedy for us to have lost that denomination. I've been rereading Christianity and liberalism again.
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I'll tell you what, it's just prophetic to read Machen back in the 1920s. Same, the same drift of thought, the same arguments, the same types of ideas.
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They're starting to creep in here. We're starting to hear the same things again. How did that happen?
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Electing ruling and teaching elders who did not really hold to the Westminster confession of faith, teaching on key doctrinal points, the sovereignty of God, six day creationism, and other essentials like the virgin birth of Christ, the inspiration and inerrancy of scripture, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, substitutionary atonement, et cetera, et cetera.
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Remember, fundamental to the biblical church government is that the local church, the membership of the local church, elects its own elders and its own deacons and calls its own pastor.
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And this is why sermons on the qualifications and duties of elders and deacons are very important for the health and the future of Christ's church.
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I've worked hard on these sermons and, you know, on Sermon Audio, we have our Sermon Audio site.
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You can sort it in order of popularity. So I know what my most popular sermons are. You know what the two least listened to sermons
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I have ever preached? The sermons on deacons. Less than 10 times each.
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I thought, man, that's, I spent a lot of time on that. What an important topic. Why are people not interested in things like that?
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The sermons on elders, they don't get any downloads. People don't listen to them. And I think we've got to understand this stuff.
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What happens so very often in the local church is that these qualifications, they're not well understood by the general membership and men get nominated and ordained as elders simply because they're really nice people.
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Now, do you want nice guys to be elders? Well, of course. But they've also got to be able to teach and they have to manage their families well.
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And they have to know the scriptures backwards and forwards. And they need to know our confession and our catechisms. They need to know how to defend sound doctrine, how to teach it.
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They need to have their nose to the wind. They need to be like the men of Issachar, the men who understood the times in which they live so that they could tell
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Israel what to do. Remember also in verse one in 1st Timothy, look at that passage.
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Now, let's try to dig into that a little bit here. This is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.
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The key word in that phrase I want to key in on here for a moment is that being an elder is work. It's work.
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And as we especially will see when we look at Titus chapters one and two and the Sundays in the future, it's a good work.
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It's an important work. It's one of the most important works that any human being could do this side of eternity.
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John Calvin said this, quote, it is not any kind of work, but excellent and therefore toilsome and full of difficulty as it actually is.
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It is no light matter to be a representative of the son of God. I love that Calvin's so good at understatement.
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Think about that. It is no light thing to be a representative of the son of God in discharging an office of such magnitude, the object of which is to erect and extend the kingdom of God, to procure the salvation of souls, which the
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Lord himself has purchased with his own blood and to govern the church, which is God's inheritance.
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There are many, I fear, willing to embrace the position and title of bishop or elder, but few want the responsibility.
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Few want the responsibility. Few want the heartache that goes with it. Few want the sleepless nights that go with it at times.
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It's no small thing or no light thing to become a ruling or a teaching elder in Jesus's church.
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So let's look at the qualifications in more detail here. Look at verse two there in first Timothy three. These are momentously important things, beloved.
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I can't emphasize enough to you how important it is for you to understand these things. A bishop then must be blameless.
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What does that mean? He must be a man against whom it would be very difficult to bring an accusation.
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Every man who is qualified for the office of elder has vices and sin in his life, but they must not be notorious or remarkable sins.
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Look at the next thing in the text, the husband of one wife, the husband of one wife.
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Now the phrase there literally means a one woman man. He must be a one woman man.
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There are some who misinterpret this passage to mean that a man cannot have a divorce in his past for him to be an elder.
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But the passage does not address the man's past at all with regard to marriage. The grammar of the passage makes such an interpretation,
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I would say to you, impossible. The present tense is used. A bishop must be the husband of one wife.
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John Calvin himself said, quote, another other exposition has been more generally received that the person set apart to that office must be one who has not been more than once married, that the one wife being since dead so that now he is not a married man.
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But both in this passage and in Titus one, six, the words of the apostle are who is, who is the husband of one wife, not who has been the husband of one wife.
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Calvin points that out, by the way, those who have held that view, that if a man ever has a divorce at any point in his past can't be a bishop.
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You just disqualified half of the greatest churchmen in the history of the church from being bishops and elders.
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What's being condemned here, folks, is polygamy. That's the main thing in view. The husband of one wife, one wife.
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I still remember sitting in a Sunday school class many years ago and we were listening to a missionary from Cameroon in Africa who did missions work among French speaking people that lived in Cameroon.
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And he had led a man to Christ and he was showing us pictures of these people that he had baptized and preached the gospel to them and led them to Christ.
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And it just was such a jarring thing because we live in a very Christianized country. Still, I don't care how how secular it's becoming.
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It's still very Christian in its undertones. But he led this guy to Christ and this missionary said, just kind of matter of factly, and this guy right here, he showed us a picture.
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He is such a zealous man of God. He just has such a huge heart to to reach the rest of this country with the gospel.
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And we we so badly want to make him an elder, but we can't because he has three wives. I thought, wow, what a difficult pastoral situation.
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We didn't address that in seminary. What happens if you lead someone to Christ and they've got four or five wives? How do you deal with that?
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Pastorally. And that missionary said, but we can't. We can't train him to be an elder because he's got more than one wife.
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He doesn't meet the qualifications, sadly. So polygamy is really the primary thing in view there.
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It's also not saying that a man has to be married to be an elder. The apostles themselves viewed themselves not just as apostles, but as elders.
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Peter, the apostle, described himself in First Peter 5 .1. I exhort,
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I who am a fellow elder, he said when he was exhorting the elders, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.
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And yet Peter was a married man. And Paul, another apostle who was also a fellow elder, though he was single, he knew that he had the right to be married if he wanted to be.
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In First Corinthians 9 .5. Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the
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Lord and Cephas? It's kind of a strange thing to think the first alleged pope was married. That's interesting.
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In a very helpful article on this particular elder qualification, I found the following, which will close out my exposition of that phrase, the husband of one wife.
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Just listen to these two paragraphs. I thought it was just outstanding. The only remaining question regards the general question of whether a divorced man should ever serve as an elder, even if he has proven to be a present and faithful husband to his wife.
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This matter is covered in Paul's first qualification of First Timothy 3 .2. An overseer then must be above reproach.
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Being above reproach means that there is nothing for which one can be accused or blamed.
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Those things which could render a man as being validly accused of simple behavior. He must not have a chargeable character.
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That is, he has an impeccable reputation. He lives his life in such a way that no one can accuse him of scandalizing the body of Christ in any way.
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This is the kind of man that, even with his critics, can find no fault in his character. And in the last paragraph, another very important reminder is this.
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We must remember that the qualifications listed in First Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are present tense qualifications.
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That's the key to understanding them. The main evaluation of a man's life must take place in the present, not in the past.
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Does this automatically mean that a man's past actions have utterly no bearing on his present life?
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No. A man's past could, in fact, render him as reproachable in some way.
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What ways could this be true? A man could be disqualified if his past divorce has continuing implications.
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For instance, a man who has had a divorce in his past, whether it is his pre -Christian past or his Christian past, might be rendered reproachable in the eyes of the congregation if the man's former spouse is in the same community as his local church or in the same local church itself.
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In some cases, this may mean he's not qualified to serve as an elder there. Another example is if his children from a previous marriage are not believers or are a reproach to him in some way.
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This also may become a disqualifier. So you see, it's not addressing, has the guy ever been divorced before?
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It's simply pointing out, is he still above reproach and is he the husband of one wife now? He must be the husband of one wife.
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It's a present tense thing, and the best commentators and exegetes point out the tense makes that interpretation of saying that if someone has a divorce in their past, they're ipso facto excluded from being considered quite simply exegetically wrong.
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It's impossible as an interpretation. So the husband of one wife can't have three or four wives or two wives.
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He needs to have one wife. Okay, look at the next few words in the passage. Temperate, sober -minded, of good behavior.
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Okay, now what does that all mean? Temperate, sober -minded, of good behavior. They need to be level -headed, not impetuous, self -controlled.
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They guard their tongue. They don't just blurt out whatever's in their mind. Having characteristics or qualities that evoke admiration or delight, an expression of high regard, respectable, honorable.
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The man qualified to be an elder is a man who is self -controlled and is easy to admire for the overall way he conducts himself, his family, his work, and his life.
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Okay, look at the next phrase, the next term. Hospitable, hospitable. He happily entertains strangers, fellow ministers, fellow believers.
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He is warm and welcoming toward people and is generally approachable and does not avoid contact with people.
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He is easy to talk to. He's easily accessible. Now, in the historical context of the New Testament itself, this would have referred also to a willingness to give housing to exiled
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Christians from other lands. Because of the persecutions from Jews and then later on, persecutions from Roman emperors, bishops very often had to be able to open their homes to people that were running for their lives to escape the localized persecutions throughout the
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Roman Empire. Especially in the first three centuries after Christ, there were many regional persecutions of Christians in Rome.
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And as a result of this, there were often great displacements of Christians en masse from those areas that needed places to live for a short time.
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Leaders in the local church needed to be counted on to take them in and to help them.
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You may remember the opening scene in the movie or the musical Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean, the only person that will take him in is who?
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The local bishop. Okay, the bishops had to be hospitable. And so he allows them to come in and you know that story if you're familiar with the novel.
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The next phrase, one of the key ones, able to teach or apt to teach. It is very important here that the qualified elder is able to teach the
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Bible, to teach the faith. While this does entail a good storehouse of knowledge, it does not only entail this.
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It is not enough for someone to be very knowledgeable about the Bible and the doctrines it teaches, although it's necessary that they have that knowledge.
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A long ago, I had a VHS tape. My parents used to get me these sport highlight tapes.
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And there was this tape called Big Blocks and King Size Hits of the NFL. And I used to watch it with my high school buddies.
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And we would watch guys crushing each other and everything else. And they interviewed this coach, a football coach, a pro football coach, who made a statement that has stuck to me because it illustrates something here.
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He said, you can take a guy who is the meanest, toughest guy in the country. I mean, this guy is meaner than a rattlesnake.
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And he is aggressive. And he really wants to play. And he's really tough. But if he can't get over there and hit anybody, he can't play.
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I remember thinking it's the same thing. I don't care if a guy has the whole Bible memorized. If he can't teach it to someone else, it doesn't help anything.
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As far as him being an elder, it might help him. But if he can't convey that to someone else, if he can't understand how people learn, if he doesn't have that ability, then he can't be an elder.
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I worked with a guy, that guy that was the senior guy in my group. I mentioned him this morning. One of the reasons he was the senior guy in our group is he understood people.
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He could read people and figure out how to explain things to them. And he knew immediately I was a visual learner.
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And I noticed that the way he taught other young guys was real different from the way he taught me. Every time he wanted to explain something to me, he would bring me into his office and he would draw me pictures all over his whiteboard.
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And I said, why do you do that? And he said, because that's how you learn. I can tell that's how you learn things. And I remember thinking, if that guy ever came to Christ, he'd be a great elder.
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If he was a godly man, he'd be great because he understands how to teach people where they are and understand how they learn things.
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So that's a special gift. That's something that God gives people. Some people are just great teachers. R .C. Sproul was a great teacher.
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R .C. Sproul took really complicated and difficult to understand theological concepts, and he made them accessible to people of much lesser capacity like us.
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And was a teacher to a whole generation of reformed people, because he had that special ability to understand how to get it across into people's minds.
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So people need to have that ability to teach. You can take a guy who's the nicest guy you've ever met.
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He's the most knowledgeable guy you've ever met. I mean, this guy's got an undergraduate degree in New Testament Greek, a
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Master of Divinity, a PhD in theology. But if he can't open the Bible and walk you through a passage, and you walk away understanding it better, he can't be an elder.
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Just like the football player, the guy can be meaner than a rattlesnake. If he can't get over there and hit somebody, he can't play. No matter how tough or mean or aggressive he is, same thing with this.
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You can know everything about the doctrines of Scripture and the Bible, but if you can't communicate that to others and teach them, you can't be an elder.
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So able to teach, vitally important attribute. Okay, look at verse 3.
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Not given to wine. Not given to wine. They cannot be someone who is continually drinking or who has a problem with drunkenness or any kind of drug addiction.
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The consumption of alcoholic beverages is not sinful, but drunkenness is.
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And he cannot be someone who needs a drink to get through the day or needs a drink to relax at the end of the day to calm his nerves so he can go to sleep or anything like that.
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I've shared this story with you before, but the very last question that I was asked on the floor of Presbytery was, do you know what
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PCA stands for? I said, I think so. And I said,
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Presbyterian Church in America? He said, no, pipe cigars and alcohol. I was like, yeah, there's reformed
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Christian liberty. And everybody chuckled, they got it. I think they said that because they knew I came from the
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Bible Presbyterian Church, which is a teetotaling denomination. When it first started, they required their ministers to take a voluntary vow of abstinence from all alcoholic beverages, and those guys knew that.
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And so they're like, we're not going to ask you to do that. I'm like, it doesn't matter because I can't stand the taste or the smell of stuff anyway.
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So you can say pipe cigars and alcohol you want. Okay, look at the next thing.
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Not violent, key point, not violent, not a pugnacious person.
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What's a pugnacious person? The new American standard has pugnacious. Someone who's always ready to bite, a bully, a bruiser, someone who's always ready with a punch, someone who's always on edge, contentious, quarrelsome, illustration.
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If you have to replace your cell phone every other month because you get angry and throw it against the wall, and I've actually met with guys that have to do that.
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And I could see you got a new cell phone, what happened? Did it fall out of your car? No, I threw it at the mirror and it broke the mirror too, that's bad.
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Or if you have holes in the drywall because you get angry and you punch stuff or you kick things or you are quick to try to physically intimidate someone.
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If angered, you wouldn't be qualified to be an elder. You need to be someone who has the fruit of the spirit of patience and meekness, gentleness, that needs to be evident in the way that you conduct yourself.
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So not violent, not someone who's ready to throw down a fight all the time. The next attribute, not greedy for money.
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Someone who is covetous and therefore will take money dishonestly without shame. The King James Version, I love the way they translate this, not greedy of filthy lucre.
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Not greedy of filthy lucre, okay, so not someone who's greedy. The next, look at the next three ones.
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But gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. So here are three contrasts to everything we just saw.
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We just saw a bunch of nots, not this, not this, not this, not this. But as opposed to that, he needs to be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not covetous.
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The elder should rather be gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. They're not fighters or violent.
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They don't start quarrels unnecessarily. And they're characterized by a general contentment of life that is noticeable by others.
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They are not covetous. They are, generally speaking, happy and content because they trust in God and they're mature believers.
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We often think of coveting as a more respectable sin. But it is a very serious thing if someone is constantly grumbling, constantly a malcontent, constantly upset at God because of the way things are in their life.
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Coveting is discontentment. And a discontent individual is someone who struggles to trust
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God. Discontentment is ultimately us saying to God, your sovereign providence that has planned the movement of every atom from the beginning of time,
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I don't like it. I don't trust it. So the elder needs to be someone who exhibits a general contentment with their estate in life, and with who they are, with their gifts, and with what they have.
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Proverbs 15, 18, a wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger allays contention.
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The elder's gotta be someone who allays the contention, who is slow to anger. It's not to say that he can't get angry, but he's slow to become angry.
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It's a long -suffering thing. It takes a lot to actually bring out any form of righteous anger at all.
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Another great proverb, Proverbs 26, 21, as charcoal is to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
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You wanna be someone who's characterized, generally speaking, as a person who promotes and brings about peace by your conversations, and by the things that you say, and by your interactions with people in your local church.
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It's an important point to remember. Having a willingness to stand up for the truth and fight for what is right is not the same thing as having a violent or quarrelsome disposition.
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And in fact, if you know the history of the PCUSA, Jay Gresham Machen, who was, I think, one of the godliest men in the last 500 years, he was eventually thrown out for being a disturber of the peace, okay?
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Cuz he had the audacity to defend the birth of Christ and the deity of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, the inspiration of scripture, and that Christianity is actually true, had the audacity to stand up and do that.
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And they said, he's mean, mean -spirited, and is disturbing the peace. In fact, as we'll see in next
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Sunday, or actually not next Sunday, but the Sunday after that, the elder is commanded in God's word. Titus 1 .9,
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I'd like you to turn to this passage, please. Look at Titus 1 .9, we're gonna go through this in more detail in a couple
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Sundays. But Titus 1 .9 is a text of scripture that in the day in which we live, this is a verse that needs to be in the mind and heart of elders all over the world, especially in the
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PCA right now. The bishop or the elder is always to be, look at verse 9, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught.
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That he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
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You hear that? When you hear sound doctrine contradicted, the elder needs to be able to stand up with the word of God in a meek and humble way, point out that is wrong.
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Here's what the scripture says, this is what the truth is. Can this man defend sound doctrine?
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Is he a good apologist for the faith? Would the Jehovah's Witnesses, were they to show up at his front door, would they be able to tie him up in knots about the
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Trinity and the deity of Christ? That's a good question. Could this man take a brand new Christian and teach them how to pray?
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Walk them through the confession and the catechisms. Explain the basics of Presbyterian church government to them.
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Give a robust defense of six day creationism. Explain how the sovereignty of God works and how it interfaces with human will.
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Justification, adoption, sanctification, the proper distinction between justification and sanctification.
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Could they defend the great reformation solas? Those are the heart and soul of pure Christianity.
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Could this guy defend those things if called upon to do so? Those are really important questions. Could they refute the gainsayers?
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Could they refute those who contradict sound doctrine by going to the word of God to defend it? So those are all important parts of being an elder.
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Now, let's go into the third point this evening. The head of a well run house. Look at verses four and five of First Timothy three,
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I apologize. You gotta go back to First Timothy three now. First Timothy three verses four and five. One who rules his own house well.
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Having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?
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And here we have an argument from the lesser to the greater. The qualified man must rule his own house well and have his children in submission with all reverence.
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The argument is that if he's unable to rule his own house, how can he take care of a much bigger house, the church of God?
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Now, what is a well run house? What does this passage mean? He must run his house well.
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It is a house where the father is the spiritual leader and shepherd of his wife and children if he has a wife and has children.
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It is a house where the wife knows she is treasured, she is valued deeply, and that her husband would willingly lay his life down for her at any moment if need be.
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It is a place where the children obey and submit to their father's authority and are respectful and reverent to him and his wife, their mother.
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An illustration of the opposite of this is found in First Samuel 2 .22 with the story of Eli, listen carefully to scripture here,
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First Samuel 2 .22. Now Eli was very old and he heard everything his sons did to all
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Israel and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So he said to them, why do you do such things?
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For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. No, my sons, for it is not a good report that I hear.
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You make the Lord's people transgress. And then later on, First Samuel 3 .13, for I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows.
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Because his sons made themselves vile, listen, and he did not restrain them, he did not restrain them.
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The qualified man not only restrains his children, but he also instructs them. He teaches them the truth.
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He takes to heart and seeks to live by the commands of scripture. In Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 7.
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This needs to be chiseled over our doorways and our homes. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
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You shall treasure them above everything. Heads of households, you need to treasure these things. They need to be in your heart.
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They need to be something that you meditate on and love and are so thankful for. Verse 7, you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
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You see, it's a life integrated thing. The head of the household, the ruling elder who has a home.
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His house is his little church. Remember that great Matthew Henry sermon in God's providence that had been lost and someone discovered it and edited it?
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A church in the house, one of the greatest sermons ever preached on what they called domestic piety, family worship and devotion.
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Speaking about the things of God and encouraging your children. You shall teach them diligently, it says to parents.
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You shall talk of them, fathers. You shall speak about the things of God when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up.
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It is something that permeates the walls of your home. You talk about the things of God. Qualified elder takes very seriously the call of God upon him.
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Ephesians, that's Old Testament teaching, it's New Testament teaching. Ephesians 6 .4, I love how the reference is the same. Deuteronomy 6 .4,
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Ephesians 6 .4, easy to remember. And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the
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Lord. The elder, if he has a home, if he's a married man, he does not abdicate this responsibility, but embraces it with joy and enthusiasm.
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He sees the ruling well of his family, loving his wife and discipling his children as his primary and calling in life while they're still there.
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And while he's still married, that's one of his primary callings, this side of eternity. And he executes those duties with joy in his heart because it's what
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God has asked of him. So he runs his house well. He runs his house well.
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And his children are obedient and reverent. Okay, finally, look at verse 6 of 1
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Timothy 3. We talked about this a little this morning, just want to emphasize it again. Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
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Isn't that a stirring warning? There are individuals who have fallen to pride, have become prideful and fallen into the same condemnation as the devil.
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You can't have brand new converts as elders. And there's no specific time limit given here in scripture.
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But one of the primary reasons this is included is because, as we saw this morning, the parable of the soils.
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We know that there are those who will respond and respond with joy quickly. It might even be really zealous and excited.
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But then when trial or temptation comes, they fall away. I saw that happen a number of times when
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I was an undergrad, when I was in college at that big college church. People would come in, you'd see them worshiping God and praising, carrying a
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Bible around. And next thing you know, it was discarded and they were back in the world and getting drunk and partying and acting like fools again.
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It's a really sad thing to see. It happens, but you want to be very careful. Make sure someone has withstood a few trials first.
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Make sure that they've walked with Christ, that they're well grounded, that they're not brand new converts. Now, we accept into membership anyone who makes a credible profession of faith.
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But the bar is much higher for the elder, because there's so much more at stake. This will be a man who does not just say he's a
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Christian to the world. This is a man who is going to teach God's people the scriptures.
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This is a man who is an example for the flock. This is a person who's going to counsel people when they have problems in their marriage or with their children or other issues like that.
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They're going to be counseling people and leading the sheep to do certain things and helping them make decisions. And they will be with them as their lives come to an end too.
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That's why James 3 ,1 says, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers. There should be a certain degree of hesitation about becoming an elder.
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It says, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. A stricter judgment, it's a stirring thing.
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I remember R .C. Sproul. It was a healing thing to hear him say this. He said, I fear and I wonder, how many times have
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I caused people to blaspheme God by what I've taught them? I thought, well, if he's willing to say that, that's encouraging to me.
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How many times have we done that? But God knows we have feet of clay, even ministers and elders are works in progress, they're learning, they're growing.
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And even we require patience and counsel and help from the congregation. But pride is a terrible vice, and it's one that elders are not immune from.
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And in fact, the scripture here is telling us, it's something that those who are looked up to as leaders, as an example, they are especially susceptible to it.
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If a new convert suddenly finds himself in a place where people look up to them and they see them as a leader and a shepherd, human weakness is such that we can so very easily become puffed up with pride and fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
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I saw this happen with a young man there when I was at Ohio University at the church we went to, this young guy came to Christ and he was super zealous, memorizing huge portions of scripture.
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And they immediately put him into leadership in one of the student Christian groups. And about a year later, he had to stand up in front of the church and said that he wasn't sure if he believed that Jesus was
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God or not. I remember thinking, wow, that's not good. So someone had to, the pastor had to take him aside and meet with him and disciple him and take him along the way.
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Perfect example of the very thing going on here. Need to make sure someone understands things like that, that they're not gonna make those kinds of errors.
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They need to be well grounded in the word of God first. So we've seen how important our elders to the church.
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Anytime you're wondering about that, look at the things Paul said in Acts 20, 17 and following. That is such an important passage of scripture.
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The things he says there, every elder and every church needs to take them all to heart. We saw how denominations become liberal by people not doing what
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Paul said in Acts 20, 17 to 38. The elder must be a godly teacher. He needs to be the head of a well -run house and he needs to be a seasoned veteran, well grounded in the things of God, able to teach.
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So make sure you understand these things. Every individual member of every church of the
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Lord Jesus Christ must understand what their God has said about who is and who is not qualified to shepherd them.
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And I hope that all of us will take this to heart and reviewing these passages and in looking at them in the coming weeks, especially as we're getting to the point we're gonna open up nominations.
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Know what these passages say about who we need to nominate for this all important office. Let's close in prayer.
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Father in heaven, thank you for the government that you've put over your church.
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I thank you for the great men and elders and pastors that I've had in my life and people that took an interest in me and local churches that gave me good counsel and pointed me in the right direction and who loved my soul.
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We pray, Father, that you would raise up men to be godly elders in this place. And I know that there's other churches in our presbytery that are in need of elders, that are in need of pastors.
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Lord, would you give those gifts to those churches? We thank you for the gospel. We thank you that it's still here in this church, that you have given good shepherds to this church for many, many years to have protected and safeguarded that sacred truth.
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And we pray that there would always be men here who will love and defend and teach those truths so that there's always a godly and a biblical witness to the truth in this place.
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We ask in Jesus' name, amen. This is
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Pastor Patrick Hines of Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church, located at 108 Bridwell Heights Road in Kingsport, Tennessee.
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And you've been listening to the Protestant Witness Podcast. Please feel free to join us for worship any
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Sunday morning at 11 AM sharp, where we open the word of God together, sing his praises, and rejoice in the gospel of our risen
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Lord. You can find us on the web at www .bridwellheightspca .org.
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And may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.