Book of Titus - Ch. 1, v. 7

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Pastor Ben Mitchell

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All right, if you want to turn to Titus chapter 1, we'll continue trucking our way through here. We Took a peek at verse 7 last week the kind of opening phrases of verse 7 and we'll press on with that today probably finish up this verse and then
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And then keep going of course as I said I continue to throw out this qualifier that we are taking our sweet time through these qualifications of the eldership of God's churches and that is intentional it is not only because we will be able to set the groundwork for our continued study as we go right into first Timothy later, but This is very meaningful stuff for me given the position.
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I'm in this is this is exactly To some degree the job description, but also the character traits the necessary character traits of the job as well.
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And so I Picked going through the pastorals for this very reason.
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I felt that it would be very meaningful For me at this point in my life given the the recent
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Ordination and things like that the recent call to the ministry, but as I've said numerous times as well
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It's wonderful for every member of a local church because this isn't just exclusive to pastors in fact the pastoral qualifications take up a very brief section of Titus and first Timothy the large majority of these letters are just your standout stuff for Christian living
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God's standards and imperatives for Christians in general Members not just the church leaders as well as some very very deep doctrinal truths as well very deep doctrinal themes, so Take a look at verse 7 one more time with me
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It says for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God Not self -willed not soon angry not given to wine no striker not given to filthy lucre
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Now, of course this flows directly from verse 6 where we learned that they also are to be blameless
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The husband of one wife having faithful children Not accused of riot and unruly So all of these are part of the same package verse 8 starts to turn a little bit in shifts into some of the positive
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Kind of the positive side of the coin, of course where it starts talking about being a lover of hospitality and things like that But first Paul is tackling the negatives the don'ts
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An elder cannot be these things a bishop cannot do these things their character can't be marred by these specific things
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Just briefly. We looked at the word bishop episcopos It's also translated as overseer in many places.
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In fact, even the KJV has some places where they chose overseer over bishop But it's the same
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Greek word. And of course, we looked at that in detail last week. It has
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The meaning of the word carries a lot more of the job description in within it with regard to again overseeing
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Superintending viewing the congregation. Yes, sir Absolutely Why So I Yes, let me
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I'll give you the nutshell Study that we did there. No, that's 100 % 100 % so basically
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The the first place to start would be just observing Paul's use of Particular Greek words the phrasing that he uses here.
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And while the KJV Makes it a somewhat tough because of the way it's phrased the more, you know literal meaning which
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I believe can be Substantiated with what I'll say here. Just a second is the husband of one wife meaning a one -woman man
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With the main focus being on his faithfulness to his wife Faithfulness to his woman only having eyes for her
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And of course that points directly back to what every other qualification in this context refers to which it comes back to his character so one of the ways a couple of the ways we substantiated that that could be
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The there that should be the proper view a one -woman man over against He can only have one wife ever is number one if you take if you take that Interpretation that it means he can only have one wife one wife ever or else.
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He's disqualified number one that would Assume that they have to be married in the first place
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Of course, we talked quite a bit about the fact that Paul the one that's giving these qualifications, of course was a celibate
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Single man, of course, it requires the gift of celibacy in order to approach ministry in that fashion but we actually had the blessing of Experiencing that even in our own church with brother
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Bill Nichols who served as our elder one of our elders from 2016 until he passed away in 2022, he was a
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Celibate minister who lived with his family to hold him accountable and He was able to serve faithfully in that position regardless of the fact that he didn't have a wife or kids obviously however
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We were still able you can still Look at these qualifications and see that someone in that position like the
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Apostle Paul in our case like brother Bill or many others Is that we still knew he was able to keep a well -ordered home because of the fact that he was living with family
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He practically raised his niece Georgette and And all of the character traits that go into being good dad he had
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But he was still a single man his whole life the second thing so There's that if you take the interpretation that it must mean he is married and can only be married once then that would exclude those who were never married by Implication, but secondly, we also talked about some of the interesting aspects of Pre -conversion life.
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So in other words, let's say you have a man who? Or a young man who got married in his teens it could be 18 19 20 21
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He was an unbeliever at the time. He married an unbeliever They were together and he at some point was converted the the
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Holy Spirit regenerated him he called upon the name of the Lord and started moving into His spiritual growth the sanctification process, but his wife at the time was a
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Ardent atheist and she hated the fact that he is now becoming more spiritual and she leaves him
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Which is a scriptural? ground for divorce if the unbeliever leaves
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Then the saved person at that point in the do a letter of divorcement things like that The saved person is now free from that particular covenant vow.
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And so then let's say he progresses in his sanctification Maybe he gets called to the ministry. He goes to seminary.
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He's going to college. He meets a godly girl And they end up marrying long story short.
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They have a faithful marriage of 25 years Hypothetically, they have kids that are faithful to the Lord all these things I don't believe
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Paul is excluding a man like that from the eldership in His qualification in verse 6 because he is still faithful.
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He is a one -woman man. He doesn't have eyes for other women He is faithful to his wife, even though he had a divorce in his youth.
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So that's the position that I take I know that we had some men that you probably remember in a position what well brother
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Bill he was reluctant to Take the call of eldership because of what
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I just described and dad, of course walked him through A very detailed study and all of that to show that he was qualified and why but there was another man who we the church called to be deacon and he refused because He had a previous marriage in his younger years and remarried later.
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And of course had a very faithful Marriage after that, but he felt convicted that he wasn't qualified.
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I would disagree with that For some of the reasons I just said but to your point it can be a sticking point for For some and so that's the defense the nutshell version of it
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We spent at least three two or three Sundays on that verse on Verse six and I fleshed it out quite a bit more.
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Of course. We have all the recordings for it But that that's the quick version so And okay, so back to verse seven now, okay, so Another thing is you know elder was the term being used in verses five and in six and then in verse seven
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He shifts to this term bishop Overseer he's the superintendent. He's the overseer of the flock kind of plays into the job description of all of that and then at the very end of last week, we
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Very we started the very early stages of discussing this aspect of not being not self -willed.
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So if you look at verse seven Of course, we covered the importance of being as a steward of God as well.
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We covered all that last week and Then there's this phrase not self -willed not self -willed means essentially
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Not to have that a person should not have this self -loving arrogance about him
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In other words being an arrogant person being totally consumed with themselves
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Seeking their own gratification This man a man that's like that that has that personality type that has those types of character flaws
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Would not be qualified to be an elder because how can you be a self -sacrificial?
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Shepherd for the flock of God that has been given to you as a steward as it says right before this phrase in verse 7 how can you be a
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Self -sacrificing shepherd if you're self -willed if you search for your own
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Gratification if you are seeking your own gratification your pursuits are driven by your own gratification
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That type of man can't be an elder because he would not be fit to be the self -sacrificial shepherd that is needed
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In a pastor in an elder in a bishop. He is stubborn He is headstrong, but not necessarily about the right things
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So you you can have in fact as we progress through Titus we're gonna see That the elder has to be willing to stand up to false teaching.
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He has to be willing to be have you know the Fortitude to be able to do that And so if you want to define a person that stands up to the fundamentals of the faith
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That defends the the foundation for biblical truth if you want to call a person like that headstrong because they're not willing to budge
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That's fine But there's also a negative side to being headstrong and that is when it's driven by selfishness
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It's driven again by your own selfish pursuits If a person is so headstrong that they are deaf to any of what maybe their fellow elders are telling them or Okay, so let's assume for a second.
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This person was ordained erroneously and he is now serving as a pastor But he only cares about himself
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He only cares about his own gratification and all of a sudden this pattern starts to be shown and maybe the other elders see it
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They're concerned by it. Maybe the Deacons see it and are concerned by it and so In in keeping with Matthew 18 they go to him
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Privately and they say pastor, you know, we see that we see a pattern here a negative character flaw in your life, and we see that you you seem to be more focused on your
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Standing a good reputation as a great pastor and the pastor of a big church and numbers and all these types of things
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Over against shepherding the flock, you know, we have we have families over here that are in need of this kind of counseling
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We have families over here that need leadership and discipleship here But it seems like you're more concerned with making sure the city knows about our church growth than any of that And we want to bring that to you
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So that we so that you can explain, you know, are we are we making this up? Do you feel that this is legit and then he responds by saying you don't know what you're talking about You know,
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I I'm in authority here I'm the reason this church is growing You know you fill in the blank
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You can just keep going and going and going that type of headstrong is what Paul is talking about here
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You the elder cannot be headstrong in that negative sense
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He has to be headstrong about the right things Like I alluded to earlier, but not about the wrong things
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Turn with me really quick to 2nd Peter chapter 2 And I want to show you a parallel passage with regard to this self -willed character type this self -willed character flaw
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What does it look like when a person is headstrong like this? Headstrong to the point where they are not qualified to be an elder look at 2nd
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Peter chapter 2 and Let's start in verse Nine it says the
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Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust into the day of judgment to be punished but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government
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Presumptuous are they? Self -willed there's the same word same Greek term. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities
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Whereas angels which are greater in power and might bring not railing accusation against them before the
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Lord Now that last verse there verse 11 is a very interesting one But just just a quick broad view for a second
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You can see the same self -willed type of character flaw is right in the mix of all of these terrible
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Terrible things walking after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness Despising government being presumptuous
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Self -willed is thrown right in the middle of that not being afraid to speak evil of dignities. What does that mean? well
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You can start to see why Paul would be quick to bar such a man as this
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From the office of bishop when he says not self -willed in verse 7 of Titus chapter 1.
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This is the type of man He's talking about do not let this type of man serve as a bishop if he's serving already
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Because of an erroneous ordination or maybe it was one of those situations where he played his cards just right and He was ordained and then his true character started unfold
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Later on and now the elders have a really particular problem on their hands They need to do something about it.
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Paul is saying do something about it or best -case scenario Don't let him be a bishop in the first place
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They're so arrogant They are so bold and they're arrogance and so self -willed that they will even step into areas where angels fear to step
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Verse 11. That's what he's saying here when he says whereas angels which are greater in power and might than these self -willed guys
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They don't even bring a railing accusation against them before the Lord talking about these dignities that he was talking about in verse 10
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And so these guys are so arrogant They will step into areas where the angels dare not even step because they are so hot -headed
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So self -willed so arrogant so headstrong that they just you know, they feel like they can get away with anything
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Well, I didn't get struck by lightning the last time I was this self -willed. So I'm just gonna keep it going
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Obviously I can get away with anything. That is the type of Attitude and character that these type of men have they do not get to serve as elders now
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Contrast all of that with the modern secular view of good leadership for a second think about What we just talked about in being self -willed being arrogant headstrong all these types of things and then think about the way the secular
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World views good leadership quote -unquote they want men to be aggressive and Assertive they want them to be dogmatic about everything including his own opinions now
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Let me emphasize that for a second because I am NOT saying dogmatics is bad Dogmatics is a very necessary thing to purify the church
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Pastors have to be dogmatic about what though the foundational scriptural truths found in the
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Bible And of course the way the Holy Spirit leads their teaching as well But when you take that a step further beyond the bounds intended by scripture
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And you have a guy that is dogmatic about his opinions about everything
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Whether or not he even has an argument for them that is a problem You can't have a man like that serving in the eldership, but again the secular world
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Gravitates toward those type of quote -unquote leaders again being assertive dogmatic about their opinions putting certainty over truth what do
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I mean by that it means they come up with a particular view of something and they say it has to be this and maybe they'll give some reasons why and Anything that goes even slightly left or right of this opinion of this view is wrong
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Because they would rather be certain about this one narrow view of whatever it is They're they're talking about rather than the pursuit of truth
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Which sometimes as we know is a little bit tougher to find than we might want
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Not about everything again by grace The Lord is crystal clear in his word about the most foundational things about the gospel about salvation about self rule about Elders here the the ordination of elders qualifications therein so on and so forth
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But there are some areas where wouldn't y 'all agree the hope without the Holy Spirit without the
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Holy Spirit's enlightenment in his teaching It would be very hard to Interpret certain things from Scripture you have to have the spirit to do it.
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You can't just do it in and of yourself across the board Matt did you have a thought a second ago?
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To his opinion where he can kind of draw the lines to his logic With Sticking to that and being strong to that be different Well sure, but we also need to define opinion as well, so you use the example of marriage well marriage is a pretty cut -and -dry
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Biblical doctrine and so that is one that I would say go all -in with the dogmatics
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You know the creation order one man one woman Especially in this day and age now.
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I realize you're just you were trying to think of an example That particular example that would be a time to call for for dogmatics
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You could I wish I had thought of a good example before this lesson. It would have been helpful, but You know there there are some some passages
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Okay, I'll give you a good one just off the top of my head There are some interesting views on Christ's dissension
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While he was in the grave In other words where what does it mean in Peter when it talks about Christ descending and preaching to those in prison
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I? Have what I believe to be a biblical. I guess you could say opinion
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I But it is in contrast with a lot of others views on that particular thing that is what you might call a secondary issue
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We are not there's not going to be a church split over How exactly that played out number one because we're given very little information about it, but number two because it's not a foundational doctrine per se
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He obviously descended the question is in what how did that look did he descend into the flame to to experience
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Torment for three days on our behalf or perhaps did he descend into Abraham's bosom or paradise was in his preaching to those in Bondage was across the great gulf
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That Jesus talks about in Luke chapter 19 when Abraham and the rich man were talking back and forth
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That would be the view I take but others take the view that he descended into Hades the bad part of Hades which
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I? Take issue with but again is that a church splitting difference I would say no
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And so if I got up and I was so dogmatic about my view on that particular issue that I said you cannot be a member
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Of this church unless you agree with me on this that's kind of what I'm talking about That that's kind of what
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I'm talking about and maybe you could think of even better Secondary issues than that one where it's just like whoa guy.
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You know where is this coming from why are you being so headstrong? About that particular thing when you obviously have well here's another one how about how often you partake in the
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Lord's Supper Do you not agree that the Lord left that somewhat? ambiguous
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So that local churches could make the decision of what's best for them many of our brothers and sisters take the Lord's Supper every fifth
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Sunday show me that in the Bible It's not there But are we gonna condemn them for doing that of course not would we split a church?
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Because they believe you should have the Lord's Supper every fifth Sunday versus maybe once a week or maybe once a year like we do
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It during Passover, so that's our conviction because we believe you can make an exegetical conclusion there
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The Lord said as often as you do this, and what is this? It's the Last Supper. It's the Lord It's the
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Passover and so that's our conviction But does that mean that it's wrong for other local churches to partake every fifth
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Sunday or? Wrong for local churches to partake every week which many of them do That's what
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I'm talking about those types of areas being super dogmatic about those does that clear it up a little bit
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Okay now now if you go back to topics like marriage and Salvation and The gospel at large
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I mean yes be dogmatic We need pastors that are more dogmatic in those areas and less dogmatic about their pet
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Doctrines or pet opinions and things like that. It's a really odd thing the way the devil works Because the ones that you see out there that have boldness bold enough to be dogmatic about anything are the guys that are being bold and dogmatic about the weirdest stuff and Then guys that may have a pretty decent theological foundation
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A Pretty solid doctrinal convictions, they're going to be
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Sidestepping issues as they preach as they deal because they know that if they're going to grow quickly they know that if they are going to be viewed in the positive light perhaps of academia in the theological side of things or Their online presence or whatever may be then they're going to be sidestepping
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Controversial issues and not being dogmatic enough, so yeah It's a hundred percent valid Brian there is a ditch on either side of that road and the
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You can call this the Sunday school answer I guess the the way that you stay on that Straight and narrow path as a pastor is a
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Bible teacher in general by the way This isn't I would say this isn't exclusive to pastors It could be deacons that are also teaching
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Bible studies. It could be someone like brother Otis who outside of any local church's Jurisdiction he was just doing his own
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Bible teaching in his home if you're a Bible teacher. I would say you have to rely prayerfully and I'm talking
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Immerse yourself in prayer and humble yourself to the Holy Spirit's leading in order to avoid either side of that narrow path either either ditch because yes, it is easy in the pride of humans hearts to To waver even a little bit and to your point
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Brian what that will look like is one of two things either legalism Which is the the example that you gave or the other side of that is that big word?
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We've talked about a couple of times antinomianism the more the more left -leaning side of That path where all of a sudden you start being dogmatic about Other people's dogmatics you start you start being dogmatic about Basically Doing whatever you want to do because everything's under grace would be just a quick way to put it
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Which is very dangerous in and of itself. Yes, everything's by grace We've covered that many times before but that doesn't excuse you from either
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Mishandling God's Word or living a life like the world like the goats because you're under grace
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Yes grace covers everything But we don't grace isn't there that sin may abound as Paul said clearly and so that would be that'd be one side
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That'd be one ditch. The other ditch would be legalism. And so Brian I Agree number one number two
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I believe that the answer is to it for the Bible teacher is to bathe every lesson every sermon every
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Series every topic every lecture in prayer humbling himself Asking and pleading with the
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Holy Spirit to guide his words guide his study to ensure That that doesn't happen and it may happen
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There may be anomalies That that would be somewhat different than a man having this negative headstrong character trait if there are anomalies here and there where maybe you know a guy gets fiery and Gets super super dogmatic in a moment about a particular thing and then maybe even he realizes later
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Well that that may come off a little bit strong. I'm talking about more of a habitual Character flaw of being headstrong about the wrong things
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So very valid point Brian, hopefully I mean that was more of just I agree than a flat -out answer
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I suppose but there you go Really good stuff though. Really interesting stuff.
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So What what started that that kind of I Veered a little bit there went on a little bit of a rabbit trail what started that was again asking the question or at least
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Not even asking the question just taking into consideration The contrast between what Paul has in mind and a good elder here in the way the secular world views good leadership
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That that being maybe overly assertive about the weird stuff Being dogmatic about their opinions less about God's order more about their opinions or their interpretations, which by the way
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That's an you know, another heated topic is like well whose interpretation is right? Well the Bible's the the
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Bible interprets the Bible that is one of the key Ten rules of Bible interpretation is
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Everything has to be consistent within the whole scope of the Bible. I heard it
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Ashton I were listening to a debate this weekend and Man the proof text quote -unquote the guy that on the side that I disagreed with that he kept harping on It wasn't that God's words in that passage
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Weren't true or that there wasn't an application for them His issue was is he was applying them in a way that did not take the entire
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Bible into account. And so Who cares about your interpretation? If it is inconsistent in any part with any other aspect of Scripture is our
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Esteemed teacher. Dr. James White says Inconsistency is the sign of a failed argument and so yes
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They're gonna be dogmatic about their interpretation and there may even be a real scripture verse in there But their interpretation if it is in any way inconsistent with any other part of the
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Bible It's out of there. It needs to be out of there. And so being overly assertive about those types of things being dogmatic about those types of things a
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Lot of times that type of personality trait will be called quote -unquote natural leaders Because people are drawn to that assertiveness, that's why you have guys have
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I wish I could think of some good examples of pastors that would be Ruckman would be a great example
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That's why you have people that become Ruckmanites as one example because they are drawn to really assertive
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Really dogmatic really strong -headed guys. It's kind of weird, but it's true
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And so and that's why that's why any cult leader would be How any cult leader comes into a position of leadership because humans are drawn to that type of thing that quote -unquote natural leader vibe but It is in contrast with Paul Oftentimes the character traits of those so -called natural leaders are quite the opposite of what
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Paul would consider to be a strong leader Which of course begins with a
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The fear of God it starts with the fear of God when you fear God you will fear ever mishandling his word
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If you have a healthy fear of God, you will be petrified to ever Mishandle his word and it will happen
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Maybe in some some small areas kind of like the examples I gave earlier where it's like well What exactly did
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Christ's ascension look like? Well, maybe maybe I'm a little bit wrong there Maybe others are a little bit wrong there. So there will be times where We we may mishandle it
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Unintentionally in unconscious subconsciously not unconsciously but You still are afraid to ever do it in that fear of God in fear of mishandling
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His word is the driving force behind every Bible study every sermon you prepare for That is the kind of leader that Paul has in view here.
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He doesn't want a headstrong guy. He doesn't want a self -willed guy He wants a guy that will submit to God his lordship and has a fear of God and of handling his word properly
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Now this doesn't mean the men that Paul does have in mind aren't strong and Confident that they lead with conviction and all of that good stuff that they're not dogmatic about the right things
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So I want to make that crystal clear I'm not up here trying to say all of those strong personality types are bad and you need these humble just soft -spoken
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You know, you I don't know you picture these guys over here that are just so careful about everything
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That's not what I'm talking about I'm trying to draw a dividing line here that I believe the
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Apostle Paul is drawing in an arrogant person that is strong -willed and headstrong and Arrogant about all the wrong things because he is being driven by his own selfish pursuits versus a man that is strong Confident convicted dogmatic
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Because he has a fear of God and a fear of his word and he's dogmatic and confident about that side of it
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God's Word Being a faithful minister in this particular context
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So I want to make that extra clear crystal clear I do not mean that these men aren't those things aren't strong aren't confident, etc what it means is that the flesh of men can quickly grab hold of any position of power certainly a
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Pastor especially the bigger churches the bigger denominations of the bigger Associations all these types of things there's power there and to some degree well, okay
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So there is certainly a God -given power and a God -given authority But remember earlier in our study we talked about men in that position have to be worthy of obedience if they're breaking all of God's Qualifications and commandments and all these types of things they're not worthy of it
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Therefore they shouldn't be there But if they do it right if they're obedient to God and worthy of obedience from their flock from their congregation
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Yes, there is God -given power and authority there, but the power and authority is God's not the man's he's just the instrument
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But because men know that there is power there They are driven to those positions even in spiritual leadership
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But they're driven because they want the power in and of themselves They don't want to be it. They don't want it to be bestowed upon them and to be used as a mere instrument they want the whole thing and so The flesh of men can look at that and they can grab that power
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They can have the desire to grab that power quickly and exploit it for their own ego trip over against living godly and living up to his
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Standards and his qualifications here. It makes them self -willed. That's what Paul is talking about in verse 7
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That's not an option for an elder in God's house. You guys have any thoughts or questions or anything like that at this point?
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Almost out of time. Yes, sir Selfish yeah
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You think If it's a pretty clear line if you're it's clear that saying you have a man in power particularly an elder or a bishop and They have a lack of care for God's word over there
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Once they have a lack of care other people around it and their needs
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Over their own Say the pastor is wanting the church to grow
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I guess Sure well
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Okay, so the church the leadership of a church can certainly desire growth that that in and of itself is not a problem
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The problem is how are they approaching it if what they care about growth is for growth's sake so that they can go out there
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And in be a somebody in their community and say, you know, look at our numbers Look how many baptisms we have look how many souls we've won this week
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If they if they care about that Because what they truly care about is the perception of their fellow man out there
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They care about their reputation among men and not the reputation to God that's a severe problem bad tons of sin all of that is just bathing in the sins of arrogance and presumption and Being self -willed selfishness and so on and so forth, but that does not mean
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That godly elders cannot strive for growth And in fact any any godly church would want growth insofar as they want to be
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Lights to the people they want to be Sharing them biblical truth and giving them biblical discipleship so that they can grow themselves and be
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Leaders in God's kingdom themselves so that they can be expanding God's kingdom themselves and so on and so that desire
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For for church growth is not bad in and of itself Where is the where's the desire coming from if it's in the desire of having a soft heart
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For God's people that are out there in need of discipleship in need of being fed That's what it means to be a pastor to be a shepherd to feed the sheep if you see that there is a lack of that you're gonna want to bring those sheep in and Take care of them and care for them because you know, they are gods and you know that you is the under shepherd
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Can can do that for them and so yeah, I mean Every elder
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I suppose should examine their heart and ensure well Do I want the growth just because I want to be able to say that we have
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X number of members or do I want? The growth because I know The Lord can help these people through me and through my other elders and through our deacons and through even our other church members
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To help them and disciple them. That is an admirable Pursuit there and So there you go.
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Hopefully that answers that question It may be they have this as much Just as much of that excitement with Two people sure.
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Well, this goes back to the sermon last week talking about contentment And brother Rocky was awesome with this as well when he was mentoring dad is
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David You know his brother Rocky would say the Lord has your phone number if he wants you somewhere else in Picture dad is a young man
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Very young early in his ministry like Rocky am I am I even where the Lord? Wants him wants me to be in Rocky's answers, of course
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You're right where he wants you to be. He's had he has your phone number if he wants you somewhere else He'll give you a call now take that idea and combine it with one of the things we talked about last week in the sermon
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Regarding contentment in that passage in Hebrews chapter 13 The Lord has you right where he wants you therefore be content.
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And so yes, Matt the elder whose heart What's church growth for the right reasons will be just excited to preach a sermon to two people as he would to 200 people
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And we've always had that here. I mean we have been immensely blessed With the leadership we've had my literally my entire life brother
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Otis Was faithful to his class regardless of the number dad is faithful to this congregation
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Regardless of whether everyone's out for summer vacation or something and you know traveling to see family and we have five people in the pews
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Brother Bill taught many a Sunday school lesson with one person in in the pew and So yes,
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I mean that that's great. That's where the heart should be. And so that's really great stuff
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I'm a little bit over Let me let me just briefly breeze through some of these other things Because we weren't gonna spend a whole lot of time on these anyway, and that way we can start verse 8 next week
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After self -willed not soon to be angry. Okay, so you can't have a man that is quick to be angry quick to be
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Showing anger not not toward the right thing. It is a righteous and just thing to be angry toward sin
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But to be angry to be quick to anger it every little thing at the drop of a hat that doesn't live up to Whatever it is you
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Whatever your standards are whatever it whatever it is that you're pursuing do not Ordain a man like that that is quick to be angry and look no further than his household to see whether or not he's an angry
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Man because he will snap at those kids. He may even snap at his wife At the drop of a hat because he is quick to anger and that eventually will display itself even to the congregation
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He's not given to wine. So this is referring to drunkenness being an alcoholic essentially Do not ordain a man that has an issue with alcohol
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That doesn't mean that he can't have wine or something like that the Apostle Paul himself drunk wine What it means is given to wine in other words where the wine controls him
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Again, kind of the idea of being an alcoholic But maybe not even an alcoholic the way we think of it where they're just stumbling around can't even think straight
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Maybe it means that he has to have this particular thing in his life or else. He doesn't feel complete
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I think that is what Paul is talking about. That's it. You know Cigarettes could fall into that category as well
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Yeah, it's an idol in wine is a big is a big idol alcohol in general
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He's not a striker now. That's kind of a funny a funny one We're like what it what exactly is a striker and the reason for this translation is because it literally means
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One that is ready for a blow So like you picture a guy walking around is ready to get in a fistfight kind of carries that connotation
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What what it means more with regard to character though is just contentious.
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You don't want a contentious person You don't want a guy that is just looking for a debate just looking for someone to to Lord over Can he wants contention it again a good elder can take some contention
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When he's defending his flock when he's defending the Word of God But a guy that's looking for contention for all the wrong reasons you do not want that you don't want a striker
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You don't want a contentious guy and then of course not to filthy looker The love of money we looked at this in that passage in Hebrews last week as well
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The love of money is the root of all evil And if you have a guy that shows any inclination toward that particular sin
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Do not ordain him because you are asking for hurt think about how many financial
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Conspiracies have taken place in the church Because the guy was laundering money or something, you know, he was who knows what it was there's so many examples you can look at there having a guy that is
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Inclined toward the love of money is not someone you ever want the position of leading God's house.
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So There's verse 7 again next week as we go into verse 8 It's gonna turn to the positive and Paul's gonna show us the character traits.
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You do want to see in your elder He's been talking about what you don't want to see Next we're gonna talk about what you do want to see and before long we will have wrapped up this section
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Do you guys have any final thoughts? Okay, we'll go ahead and dismiss because we are over time
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Heavenly Father Thank you so much for this wonderful day for this lesson for bringing us together To survey your word to dive deep into it and to learn from it and to be encouraged and edified by it