Biblical Leadership (part 2)

Father in Heaven, we thank you for this beautiful day, for this opportunity we have here to gather together to worship you, to study more about you and what you've revealed to us about yourself, what you've revealed to us about ourselves, and what you've revealed to us about your church, really the instrument, the institution that you have told us that you are building and that you use to edify, to build up your people.

Father, I pray for this time that it would be a benefit to us, that we would grow closer to you and grow more knowledgeable in what the local church should look like, how it should function.

Father, we pray for this time in Christ's name. Amen. Well we've been going through looking at what a church should be made of, the nine elements, the nine marks, and I'm really using this as a launching point for a longer series, but let's see here and there.

Last week we began looking at biblical leadership, elders, what elders should be, according to the

Bible. And you know it's interesting, not many of you probably track the developments from Salt Lake City quite like I do.

Did you know, and the answer is no, but did you know that they just recently lowered the age to become an elder in the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints to 18? You can be an elder at 18, which means you can go on a mission that much sooner, which

I think will help BYU sports teams, but I digress. 18 years old, and it's kind of mind -boggling when we study this, when we look at what the

Bible says about elders and just think about what you were doing at 18, or if you're close to 18 now, how your life is, and then think, okay, this is how an elder should be.

No, wrong. Of course, it's also interesting, and I don't mean to boast, but for those of you who are deacons here at Bethlehem Bible Church, I was a deacon at age 12.

And when we read the spiritual qualifications, you'll go, well, that Steve was some holy guy. Or maybe wrong view of the office.

I don't know. It could go either way. But MacArthur said this about elders, or leadership,

I should say. He said, like people like priests, and his idea was that the church reflects the leadership.

And it's true to a certain extent. When you go to a church, I remember when Janet started coming to Grace Community Church with me, because she'd previously been at a four -square church.

It's a long story, but I'm just kind of shortening for the sake of time. Because we were both

Mormons, and then I got saved, and she was at a four -square church, and when she started coming to Grace Community Church, the response of the people at her church, at this four -square church, was, well, at least they're saved.

They don't have the Holy Spirit over there, John MacArthur's church, but at least they're saved. You know, it really is kind of like this, like people like priests, look, what were they used to?

Ecstatic utterances, prophecies, all these kind of things going on, because that's what the leadership taught them was right.

And so when they thought about John MacArthur, they're like, okay, very staid, very intellectual, lots of teaching going on.

Well, that's, the church reflects, you know, in Grace Community Church, it reflects

John MacArthur, and to a certain extent, the church here reflects the elder board.

What we do, what we emphasize, comes out in the people that come to the church.

So we've been talking about the importance of the character of the elders. Listen to what, now

I'm going to forget his first name, Strock, Alexander Strock. See, I just put his last name on my notes,

I didn't, you know, not that you care. Anyway, listen to what he said about elders, kind of converse to the elders, but listen, he says, such qualifications, talking about me, we should just read it.

Let's read 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 -7, just to kind of familiarize us again with where we are, and I guess

I'll just read that. The saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, elder, presbyter, it's all the same word, he desires a noble task, it's a good work.

Verse 2, an overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife.

Again, think about 18. Must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, uncontentious, free from the love of money.

He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity.

But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?

I'm going to stop right there and just kind of, again, reflect on that idea of an 18 -year -old. The marks of an elder, and as we walk through them, what do you see?

You see a life of proven character. You see results over many years.

You can kind of see what they do in their lives, and you compare it with scripture, and you say, does this add up?

How do you measure something like that at 18? The answer is you can't, unless you just want to slap a title onto a position and fill it, which is what they do.

Verse 6, and not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he may not fall into reproach in the snare of the devil.

Deacons, likewise, must be men of dignity. I was quite a 12 -year -old. Not double -tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, and let these also first be tested, then let them serve as deacons if they are above or if they are beyond reproach.

Just incredible to think, you know, deacon at 12, teacher, it's another office in there, priesthood at 14, and then a priest at 16, and now you can be an elder at 18.

Sure, crazy. Okay, now, having read that, let's see what

Strock says about these qualifications. He says, such qualifications are not required of all teachers or evangelists.

One may be gifted as an evangelist and be used of God in this capacity, yet be unqualified to be an elder.

An individual may be an evangelist. When do you suppose you can be an evangelist, by the way? Yeah, when?

In other words, how long do you have to be a believer before you can be an evangelist? As soon as you're converted.

Doesn't take, you know, an 18 -week course. That could be helpful. Presuppositional apologetics could be helpful.

Why is that true, that you can be an evangelist as soon as you get converted? Because you know the gospel.

Now, I haven't really studied this in depth yet, but when I think of the woman of the well,

John chapter 4, I love a lot of it, but she says, you know, sir,

I perceive you're a prophet. But after she becomes convinced of who he is, what does she do?

She runs and tells people. That's the natural response. It's the supernatural response, let's put it that way.

But you don't have to be, there's no qualifications, spiritual qualifications for being an evangelist.

You just go and start evangelizing. So why is the bar set so high for elders?

Okay, that's a great answer. You could have written this book. She says because of the people under your care and the people that you're responsible for.

Listen to what Strock says, the guy who made all the money writing the book. He says, an elder is entrusted with God's dearest and most costly possessions, his children.

And if we think about it this way, you're too busy to run your own finances, so you want to put somebody else in charge, somebody volunteers to do it for free.

Would you hire the guy or would you say, sure, you can do it? And he goes, his first question is something like, well, how do you balance a checkbook?

What's with all these paper things that say pay me? What are those things? Those are bills, sir.

You wouldn't put somebody like that in charge of your finances. Would you let somebody watch your kids who says, you know,

I really don't understand the whole concept of telling them what to do. Or, you know,

I don't know, make it up. How do I dial 9 -1 -1? Whatever it is. You wouldn't put somebody in charge of your own children, your own finances, who was obviously incapable of doing it.

And yet people install elders for a variety of reasons, but not because they're spiritually qualified, oftentimes.

So God sets the bar very high. Why? Because he wants people, wants men who are spiritually qualified because this is spiritually rigorous work.

Yeah, Charlie. Yeah, the chaperones, the escorts of Christ's bride until he returns, right?

They're the overseers, the guardians, as it were. You wouldn't just put anyone in charge.

I mean, again, if Christ has purchased the church with his blood, if he is going to be given the church as a bride, as his bride, then

God is going to make sure that as far as he is concerned, that the bar is going to be set very high for men who will occupy that office.

Okay, another kind of aspect comes into mind.

Hebrews 13, 17, where it says, submit to your leaders. People can argue all day about what leaders are.

I think in context it pretty clearly refers to elders, spiritual leaders. How can you submit to them unless they are spiritually qualified?

Again, what do most churches do? They're the most successful in business. They're the oldest, the longest serving members, the people the pastor likes, the good old boys club.

That just doesn't work. But if we look again at the qualifications, in fact I have a chart, which you guys can't see.

I'm just going to turn to that here real quickly, and I'm going to go over three sections of scripture, and just kind of rapid fire thing, and then we'll develop it a little bit more.

1 Timothy 3, we just read, and listen to these qualifications. Above reproach, husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, gentle, uncontentious, free from the love of money, manages his household well, not a new convert, a good reputation outside the church.

Titus 1, verses 6 to 9. Again, above reproach, husband of one wife, having children who believe, not self -willed, not quick -tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid game, hospitable, lover of what is good, sensible, just, devout, self -controlled, holds fast to the word, and able to exhort and rebuke those who contradict.

1 Peter 5, verses 1 to 3. Elders need to occupy their office not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, not lording over the flock, but instead providing an example.

That's what elders are to be. That's the qualifications. Now, you know, as I just quickly read through them, did you hear one where you just thought, okay, now that is one that no other

Christian has to obey. I mean, when Pradeep was praying earlier, this really,

I think he said something along the lines of, you know, this really should reflect everyone's life.

Everyone should think, okay, I want to be devoted to my spouse. I want to be known as above reproach.

All these things should be true of us. You know, I want to be hospitable. I want to be not pugnacious.

I want to be self -controlled. All these things should be true of each of us, but even if they are true, does that make you an elder?

Why not? There are two unique qualifications for elders, which are, one, you have to aspire, and two, you have to teach.

You have to be able to teach. If you don't want to be an elder, then guess what? All these other things, even the teaching part can be true of you, and you're still not going to be an elder.

And if all of them are true and you aspire to, but you can't teach a lick, then you're not going to be an elder.

Okay, back to this. I want to, this is kind of an interlude here, but I found this interesting.

Strock, when he was talking about being the husband of one wife, he said years ago that a

Christian evangelical journal, I didn't bother to look it up. I'm sure it was probably Christianity Today, but they talked with five pastors who had been divorced and listened to what they asked them to do.

He says they asked them to share their feelings, views, and let's see,

I guess I mistyped it, but anyway, they wanted their feelings and views on divorce and ministry.

The journal claimed pastors were exceeded in terms of divorce rate only by doctors and police officers.

And then they brought in seven evangelical scholars to comment on this whole situation.

And out of the seven evangelical scholars, how many of you suppose talked about 1 Timothy 3 or Titus 1?

Zero. And I think this is, and the reason

I bring it up is because I think it's kind of symptomatic of many churches. They don't consider these things. They don't really look at Scripture any more than the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints does. Now let's look at some of these aspects of being an elder.

They must be temperate. The opposite of someone who is temperate is someone who is extreme.

And I think maybe some of these sort of fold in together, so let me go to the next one.

Self -controlled. You know, what's the first thing you think of when you hear self -controlled?

You're about to get a true confession out of me. I'll tell you exactly what I think about. I think about Ephesians 5.

Let's turn there for a moment. It's true confession time here at Bethlehem Bible Church.

Actually, I can make a few confessions here. Ephesians 5 .18. And who would read that please?

Ephesians 5 .18. Yeah, go ahead

Russ. Do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the

Spirit. Well, if you are self -controlled,

I would guess that's going to go so far as to say it's two sides of the same coin. Self -controlled, spirit -controlled.

Being filled with wine, well, I have two confessions. I'll give you the easy one. First, when I was in seminary, our first assignment in hermeneutics was to write a paper on Ephesians 5 .18.

And you go, that's pretty easy. All we had to do was ask, I forget how many questions it was. But the rules were such that you couldn't use any commentaries, you couldn't use anyone's notes, or anything like that.

And you had to ask questions that only came out of the text, and had to be connected to the text, and had to explain the text.

And I don't remember how many rules there were. But I thought it was one of the hardest papers I ever wrote in my life.

I was just like, and it was terrible. It was absolutely terrible. What's that? Oh, it's brutal.

It's absolutely brutal. Pastor Mike had them do it in their hermeneutics class.

It's brutal. It's a brutal assignment. And, you know, we could use

Greek if we knew Greek, but I hadn't taken Greek yet, so there was a disadvantage there too. But, you know, the other thing

I would say is, if you've ever been under the influence of wine, or strong drink, or alcohol, you understand this.

He's saying don't be controlled by wine, but be controlled by the spirit.

Why? Why does he make that contrast? Brian? It's impossible to be both.

If you've ever been under the influence of alcohol, or any kind of drugs, or anything else, there's something strange that happens.

You don't act like you normally would, or in some cases maybe you do, but there are certain physiological impacts of things that happen to you as a result of being under the influence.

And there are mental things that can happen with certain drugs and stuff like that. You give up.

You are basically surrendering control to alcohol, to drugs, to whatever.

And I'll just tell you, I was a young man. I got drunk one time. It was the worst feeling of my life, because my body was not responding the way

I wanted it to. It would not do what I wanted it to. And, you know, by the grace of God, that was the last time that ever happened, because I just thought, now

I wasn't saved, but I just remember thinking, I don't ever want to do this again. This is not fun to me.

And you really do surrender. You are, you're turning your life over to a higher power, and it's in that bottle, or it's in that pill, or whatever it is.

You're giving up control of yourself. But he says to be spirit controlled.

And I think in order to be spirit controlled, you have to be self -controlled to this point.

You have to be willing to refuse to do certain things. I mean, do you ever deny yourself something?

I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. I mean, there are a lot of ways

I could illustrate that. One of them is, and I talked about it when I was talking about finances, you know, something

I like to do a lot is, I mean, I used to be, another confession,

I used to be a little bit of a compulsive shopper. In fact, when I was in the army, unlike most of the guys in the army,

I had money all the time, until I would go to the record store.

I would come home, Fukuhara's record store, I would come home with a couple bags full of records.

Or if I went stereo shopping, that was probably dangerous too. Camera shopping.

But, you know, now what I do is, I think, well, yeah,

I probably want that. Maybe I'll just wait. And I probably saved myself thousands of dollars by just waiting.

Because, you know, there are a lot of purchases still waiting that I've forgotten about.

See, that's the great thing. I've got to have, I've got to have, I'll just wait. Never get it.

But Strock says, you know, it means not to be a hothead or to give into excess in anything, to be self -controlled, anything, including alcohol and money.

Of course, there are exceptions. You're allowed to, you don't have to be necessarily self -controlled.

You can be kind of obsessive about studying the Word, loving the

Lord your God, loving his people. Those things are fine. Let's talk about being hospitable.

It means to be kind to strangers. Kind to strangers.

Your house should be open for other people, but especially whom? Christians.

I mean, you know, if we say hospitable, our first thought is, well, I need to go down to, you know,

Worcester and find people who have no place else to live and bring them into my house. That's not really what it means. Back then, you know, when

Christians traveled, they couldn't book ahead, look at hotels .com and figure out where they were going to stay. And so, you know, you would put up Christians who were traveling, and elders had to be those who were willing to do that.

It's important. What does that really say, though? Just think about it for a minute. What does it say that you are willing to have people into your home, that you're willing to have them stay in your home?

What does that say, not about you, but about the way you view your house? You're a steward.

It's the Lord's home. It's just your name on the deed, not on, you know, maybe not on the deed, maybe on the mortgage.

You know, what are we, title holders or whatever we are, you know, it doesn't matter.

But yeah, I mean, this is true of everything, right? If we look at spiritual qualifications of elders, the way that Christians ought to view their lives in totality, because again, as we look at this, nobody should check out because everybody should be thinking, does my life measure up to that?

And if not, is there an exception clause for me, or are there areas in my life that I need to work on?

And I think for everybody here, there are areas of our lives that we need to work on.

But if we view everything that we have as a stewardship, then we're viewing things rightly, and we're going in the right direction.

Now, let's see, another qualification of elders must be able to teach. And really, it's better if we look at it this way, a better definition of it is skillful in teaching.

It's one thing to be, you know, if I ask somebody if they can teach, and they say, well,

I guess I can, you know, fake it for 45 minutes. It's not the idea.

The idea is, can you handle the word accurately? Can you rightly divide it? And can you then communicate what it is that needs to be communicated from that?

I remember, this would be probably about five or six months after we started attending

Pastor Mike's Bible study in Los Angeles, we did a couples retreat.

And it really was kind of crazy because we went up to Lake Arrowhead in California.

And I don't remember how many couples there were, but there were, it seemed like, and families, because there were kids there too.

And we were all in this one house. It was a massive house, but it was still kind of crazy.

But I remember Pastor Mike asked each one of the men if we would teach five minutes on a given topic.

That was painful. It was just painful. But in part because,

A, we weren't skilled to teach, but also in part because, you know, here's the instruction. It was

Valentine's Day. I remember that much. And so Mike said, you know, I just want you to teach five minutes on love.

And I go, well, what do I do? I mean, I never really taught anything before. And he goes, oh, just go to the exhaustive concordance and pull up a bunch of verses on love.

It was a disaster. What a fiasco. And that's where you learn kind of, you know, failure is a pretty good teacher because you go,

I don't want to do that again. That was horrid. Okay, let's move on to running the household well.

Why do you suppose that it's so important that an elder run his household well? Run the house or run the church well, right,

Russ? That's a great point.

I mean, it really should serve as an example. And we're going to see that over and over and over again, that elders need to be examples of the flock.

I mean, that's right out of 1 Peter chapter five. It's important that they run the household well because he tells us that, you know, if they don't know how to run their own household, how are they going to run the church of God?

And when we think about, or the house of God, when we think about this, what is the church? I mean, it's a physical plant, yes, but it really isn't a very real sense of family.

And so elders, I mean, I guess to kind of stretch the metaphor, kind of the parents,

I mean, we call it shepherds, but like, let's say, at home, this is something we can all relate to.

You see two of your kids not getting along or doing whatever they do, stalking each other in the backseat.

I remember those little rearview mirror things, you know, all the stuff that the kids used to do.

What do you do as a parent? You intervene, right? So as an elder, if we see things that aren't going right between two people, the church, what do we do?

Just go, boy, I sure hope they work that out. Well, sometimes that's okay, right?

I mean, like with kids, there reaches a certain point where you just have to go, well, let's see what the kids do.

Let's see how they work it out. Let's see if they do work it out, or if this is going to be something where I have to get involved.

I mean, when they're three and four, you don't do that, but as they get older, hopefully, you know, they learn to sort things out.

But in the church, it takes a certain amount of, I want to say moxie, that nasty cough syrup drink, you know, with the carbonation.

You know, some people might say chutzpah, but it takes a little, it takes a little bit of courage to step in between two people in the church and just say, you know what, maybe we need to talk because you guys can't seem to get along.

And, you know, in the body of Christ, in the family of Christ, in the family of God, we can't have disturbances like that.

So let's sit down and let's talk it out. Kind of like, now, again, this is not because we're better than anybody else, but it's this view of things, there's maturity, there's all these other things, and sometimes it just takes someone else to come in and set things right.

But running the household well. If a man is someone who verbally mistreats his wife, why would we think that that man would be an elder, or a good one to be in charge or be an example of a flock?

If a man doesn't love his own flesh, that is his wife, the way that he's supposed to, why would we suppose then that this man would love the church?

If he doesn't love the one that he really is commanded to love, then why would we expect that he would love someone that maybe isn't as lovable as his wife?

If his personal finances are a mess, why would we put him in charge of the church's finances? Same thing as I said earlier, it wouldn't really make sense.

There are stewardship issues, there are leadership issues, there are example issues, there are a lot of reasons why if a man can't run his own household, he should not run the church.

I think it would be fair to summarize it this way, they must be men of humility, character, and leadership.

Sometimes I don't feel so humble, but overall that must be the whole picture.

Let's look at 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 1 to 3. And when somebody would read that, please when somebody gets there, 1

Peter chapter 5 verses 1 to 3, I need a volunteer.

Thanks Fred. This is being an elder, being an overseer is not a spectator sport.

It's not something for the faint of heart. It is difficult.

And look what he says there. Well, first of all, I mean, he basically has three points which

I sort of outlined earlier. If you look at it this way, not under compulsion, but voluntary, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, not lording over, but providing an example.

It needs to be, first of all, voluntary. Again, another way of saying they have to have that desire, but not lording over or not domineering over those in charge.

I mean, it would be much easier to just think what we say goes, and that's the end of the story, period.

But there have been times when I remember maybe the most famous example here at Bethlehem Bible Church was when we were looking to, we sold what

I call the swampland. No matter how many times Scott Goddard tried to tell me it wasn't swampland, it was wetlands.

I just like swampland better. We have some swampland in Massachusetts. Want to buy it? And the state did buy it.

And I remember when we brought it to the congregation and someone, you know, someone was brave enough to say, have you asked for more money?

No. So we contacted the state and said we'd like more money. They said, okay, we'll give you another $10 ,000.

Okay. You can have our swampland, but it's going to cost you another $10 ,000. Man, I felt like one of those late, you know, really late night guys.

But wait, there's more. So yeah, I mean, we don't want to, we have to exercise oversight.

It's not passive, but it's also not something where what we say goes.

And you know what I say all the time, and I believe this with all my heart, where does our authority end? Where the

Bible stopped and where it's silent. Now I can say things to people that I go, you know,

I don't think that's wise, but I don't have the right to say, don't do this.

If the Bible doesn't say, don't do this. Or if the Bible says do this and you're not doing that, then

I can say, you know what, you ought to be doing that instead of what you're doing. But there are many times where I just come alongside somebody and I say, look,

I can't tell you what to do, but if it were me, this is what

I do, and this is why. And a lot of, you know, not necessarily a biblical thing, but what does the term elder mean?

Besides overseer, besides shepherd, besides presbyter, what does it mean? White headed, gray headed, it means old.

Now Pradeep isn't really that old, not as old as he looks. No, no.

Why do you suppose that it's even that term is used? Wisdom.

So when one of the elders comes alongside and says, you know what, I can't tell you what to do, but it's good to listen to that.

It's good to listen to that. It's kind of like a father to son, mother to daughter, father to daughter, whatever.

I'll tell you what, if I were you, I wouldn't do that. And here's why. And it's, it's worthwhile listening because there's, there's usually wisdom involved in that.

And sometimes that's what it means by not domineering over those in your charge. Listen, I'm not going to tell you that you can't do this, that, or the other thing.

I'm not going to tell you those things. I remember once this guy

I knew in seminary told me that he was going to be watching a movie.

And this particular movie, I mean, I knew enough about it to know that it was graphic in terms of its violence.

I mean, just the kind of movies that come out now that I just go for the life of me, I cannot figure out why anybody wants to watch.

And I mean, where it seems like even when you watch the ads, the whole purpose is what?

To make you sick, even in the ads, you know, they're so nauseating. And so I, I, I said to him,

I said, so let me just ask you a crazy question because this won't happen.

And I probably went overboard. I could have said something else. I said, you know, let's say the Lord showed up and knocked on your door tonight.

Would you say, come on in, get some popcorn. I'm about to watch a movie. Now, if I would have, if what

I would have been thinking smartly, I would have said, let's say John MacArthur shows up at your place tonight and says, Hey, what are you doing? Well, I was about to fire this

R -rated horror movie. Want to watch it with me? Again, we're not, we can't live your life for you.

What we can do is come alongside. And sometimes it's even reminding you of what the Bible says. You know, your kids are out of control.

And we see, so we come along and we say, you know what, this is how the Bible says to handle your children.

And you say, well, I understand that, but you don't know my kids. No, I don't know your kids. I don't live with them all the time.

I do know what the Bible says. You know,

I'm having problems with my spouse. Okay. Well, I can tell you what the Bible says about how to love your spouse.

Yeah. But you're supposed to change her. You're supposed to change him. No, I can't.

And I would not want to. And I don't think any of the elders would want to live in somebody else's home and kind of straighten everything out.

It wouldn't be right. First of all, but I mean, who would want that? Who would want Steve over? Be terrible.

You'd have to really stock up in your cereal. I'll tell you that right now. Yeah. Which is a great point.

I mean, it gets back to the gray headed idea, experience. I mean, there are certain things in life that you just learn by failing or you learn by succeeding, but you learn by doing things.

I think Mike has said this privately, and I think this is wise counsel.

A lot of guys go straight out of college and directly into seminary and he's like, you know what? Better to go out there and work for a few years.

Why? Because if all you've ever done is academics, and then you're going to tell people how to live their lives, how to do this and do that.

Well, sometimes what looks good on paper doesn't really flesh itself out so well in real life.

And so experiencing that as good experience is a good teacher, even if it's failing sometimes.

And then again, at the end of first Peter five, verse three says there being examples of flock.

Now, what does that mean? Does that mean that the pastor is never wrong? Does that mean the elders never fail?

No, but I'll tell you what,

I'll just use pastor Mike because he's an easier example than me because I know my own faults.

I don't know his. If we could individually, if we could just hang around with Mike, first of all, let me tell you, it would be exhausting.

I've done that. In fact, I'll just tell you this, you know, when we still lived in California and a group would come from Bethlehem Bible Church to California for Shepherd's Conference, and Mike would stay at our house, and I usually would take vacations so I could go with, well, because I had to go to Shepherd's Conference too because it was part of the school thing.

But I would, people would say, what was it like to have

Mike in your house? Was it, you know, like the Apostle Paul was visiting or something? And I, and I just say, you know what?

I love having Mike here, but I'm glad that he's gone. Why? Because I can't,

I can't do what he does. I can't stay up till 1 .30 in the morning reading every night, you know, do power walks in the afternoon, take a 10 minute nap and be good to 1 .30

in the morning again, you know, the next night and, you know, just reading and talking theology 24 -7.

I don't function like that. Not very many people do. So you get me instead of two

Pastor Mike's, but there you go. We like to clone

Pastor Mike. But he, it would be a good example because you would see, you would see the concern he has for the church.

You would see that the, the work that he puts into his sermons, the way he studies, the way he reads up on things, the way he keeps up on trends.

I think, you know, one of the important things is, I think is sort of overlooked is to protect the flock of God, which is part of our charge.

What do we have to do? And we'll get to this the next time we'll be next week.

Titus 1 .9 says that we need to exhort in sound doctrine. We need to teach sound doctrine.

We need to encourage people in sound doctrine, but we also need to do what? We need to know what's happening so that we can refute those who contradict sound doctrine.

If we don't know what's going on in, you know, the trends in evangelicalism, then how are we going to protect you from them?

We're all the time finding out that people are, don't, don't, please don't be offended.

But I have absolutely no idea. I mean, you're free to read what, you know, this is, again, this just falls into, I'm not going to ruin your life.

You're free to read whatever you want. But if you're reading a book that we would not sell,

I don't know why. Because if it was a good book, we'd probably have it. It would probably either be in our library or in our book table.

People read books all the time. And I'm just like, I go, I don't understand why you'd spend your, there are thousands of great books.

You can do better than that. And again, we don't tell you what to do.

Our job is just to kind of tell you what to really warn you about what's out there. And it's wave after wave after wave of bad theology.

You know, what are we to do? We're going to teach you so that you will grow up to be spiritually mature, not like children, what?

Tossed by every, what was that? Wind of doctrine.

Every new breeze that blows in doesn't knock you over because you're firmly planted in the word of God.

Okay, so we will continue this next week. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we just thank you for your word.

We thank you for the clarity. We thank you that you have laid out these definite qualifications for those that would be in spiritual leadership.

But father, apply each one of these to us. Let us think this ought to be me.

Even if I don't aspire to be an elder, even if I think, you know what, I can't teach. I could never be that person.

There is no qualification here in first Timothy chapter three or Titus one or first Peter chapter five, even that we should not look at and think, you know, there, this ought to apply to me.

I ought to be an example to those around me. I ought to be self -controlled.

I shouldn't be doing a lot of things and I should be doing other things. Father, turn us all back to your word, conform us into the image of your son, that we might grow together in unity, that we might love one another more, that we might consider each other more important, that Lord, we would even be willing to consider whether for the men here, whether they ought to be in leadership for the ladies here, if they ought to be serving in some greater or other way.

But father, sanctify each one here and use your word to do it. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.