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| Godly leaders: The Scottish Covenanters |
I. Introduction: It happened to me every fall—October or November. A sinus infection, stuffy nose, occasional fever, congestion, and sleepiness.
I had gone to the doctor to the get the usual regimen of drugs and finally reached that point where I had to take off from school and rest and sleep my way to recovery.
Between naps, I read.
And on that day—around 1989 or 1990—I was reading the second volume of the biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Lloyd-Jones was one of the greatest of pastors and preachers of the 20th century.
This biography was written by one of his students, Ian Murray.
I don’t remember too many details of reading that book on that day, but I remember the overall effect. It was, perhaps, the most influential, mind and heart moving book I had ever read in regard to being in ministry.
I had thoughts about the eldership before that book, but it was the life of Lloyd-Jones that brought me to the point that Paul mentions right here in the text:
If anyone desires the office, if anyone aspires to the office, if anyone wants to be a leader in the church (The Message).
II. There is a reason why we ask children…”What do you want to do when you grow up?”
God gives us desires for certain kinds of labors or pursuits. He gives these through the cultivation of gifts and experiences.
This passage is devoted to the office of overseer, or bishop, or elder or pastor. The study of these terms is worthy, but not in mind for today.
The first thing that should grow out of a cultivation of this passage is the concept of recognizing the honor or the goodness of pastoral leadership.
Ministry is a good task, a noble task.
1. One of the fruits of Christianity is developing a system of honoring various people and offices. Honor parents, civil leaders, authorities, teachers, etc.
1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
Christianity is to create a society of manners, deference, and honor.
2. Honor and nobility is given to the office of pastoral ministry.
A thousand failed examples does not allow us to dishonor the office.
Familiarity does not allow us to dishonor the office.
3. This honor is not to be given at the expense of dishonoring other professions or labors.
4. This honor given to elders and leaders does not imply or lead to ‘the royal treatment.’
Pastoral ministry grows in a environment where pastoral ministry is desired, cultivated, loved.
5. Let us promote an environment where the desire for pastoral service is honored.
III. The Qualifications for the Office
A. Providentially, while studying through this passage, I came across the book The Measure of a Man by Gene Getz. This book is a study of the qualifications for elders as given in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.
“These qualities enumerated by Paul form a composite profile that is complete and comprehensive….Here truly are the marks of a man of God! Paul brings together in these passages many characteristics of spiritual maturity that are scattered throughtout the New Testament. In fact, as will be shown in this study, the majority of these twenty traits are prescribed elsewhere in the Bible for every Christian, including women.”Getz also emphasizes that these passages give very little emphasis to either abilities or skills. Out of 20 qualifications, 19 have to do with reputation, ethics, morality, temperament, habits, and spiritual and psychological maturity. And the other one has to do with his ability to lead his own family.
When the men of the church gather, we are all running the same line drills. This passage describes what a Christian man is or is becoming.
We are all in this together, guys. We are a band of brothers.
This passage is telling us what we are to be and what we are to be becoming.
If a man is converted and is now with wife number 5, he is not exempt from the ethical demands of this passage. (I am not dealing with his qualifications for being ordained to the office of elder.) “From this moment on,” he is to be the husband of one wife.
And men, we have to be growing one another, mentoring one another, discipling one another toward these Marks of a Christian Man.
B. While applying to all men in general, these traits are to be present in those who lead the church.
These are the prerequisites for pastoral leadership.
These traits are not discernible on a written test or mastery of academic skills.
These traits are recognized in the church, or in a church.
Time and experiences are the best proving grounds for these traits.
C. These traits have to be handled with a degree of judgment, wisdom, and perspective.
1. Paul had some background problems. Peter lopped off someone’s ear once…and he cursed and denied Christ. Almost all of our Old Testament heroes are multiply disqualified. King David and King Solomon.
2. Many of my own theological heroes had some really severe bumps in the road. Francis Schaeffer was known—inside the family—for throwing things in anger and his son, Franky, has been a real disgrace.
3. Titus 1:12 "One of the Cretans, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies." This cultural and racial profiling was stated after Paul gave out qualifications for choosing elders in Crete.
5. While we don’t want to water these requirements down so that anyone can be an elder, we don’t want to raise the standard to such a degree that you have to be crazy even to mention desiring the office.
IV. The Qualifications
When it comes to a formal, detailed study of 1 Timothy 3, the parallel passage is Titus 1.
If, as Gene Getz says, there are 20 attributes here, we have, potentially, 20 sermons.
The bishop is to be obedient in observable behaviorBlameless, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy, gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, etc.
Politically, we have the process called ‘being vetted.’
When Reagan was running for office, the goal of many an opponent was to make him publicly lose his temper.
Elders have to be vetted. They have to be public and transparent.
We can all fake it during the church hour.
Sometimes you see family photos: The perfect family.
But we don’t need photographs; we need reality TV.
People have to work, talk, play, and spend time around the elder candidate.
The overseer is to lead his family wellThe husband of one wife and a "one woman man.
“The literal phrasing seems less concerned with one’s marital history and more focused on whether the man being considered for office is perceived as living in honesty, faithfulness, and devotion to his spouse.” Bryan Chapell
1 Timothy 3:4-5: One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)The Puritans referred to the home as being a small church.
Home and family are the training grounds for church leadership.
(Can single men or married men with no children serve in leadership? Yes. Their leadership qualities are manifested elsewhere.)
The overseer needs experience in his Christian walk.Like all the qualifications, this one is a judgment.
Philip G. Ryken tells the stories of 2 candidates for pastoring. One was a young man in his 20s. But he had been a believer since childhood and had grown up in church.
In contrast, former Dallas Cowboys star Deion Sanders became a professing Christian, he wanted to start preaching right away. As he put it, he wanted to take a month to study the Bible “or however long it takes” and then start preaching.
Lots of guys who are newly converted (or convinced) hit the ground running. I long for and desire to have to see this kind of problem.
A guarantee that a young guy armed with a stack of books could run circles around me.
I cannot even remember how much I have forgotten.
We have been looking at cars. The higher the mileage, the lower the price.
But in church leadership, you want to see the odometer well worn.
The overseer must have a good reputation with outsiders.Employers are often reluctant to hire preachers.
The reputation of preachers is often on a par with that of a used car salesman.
Preacher scandals are recurring news stories.
While the world quite often does hate the faithful, this passage is dealing with another angle on that.
If the pastor’s car is getting repossessed or his neighbors hate him or his co-workers despise him, something is likely wrong.
V. Conclusion: For reasons beyond me, Jesus Christ has entrusted the care of His sheep in the hands of weak, struggling, sinful men.
Christianity rightly lived out does not lead to perfection, but should result in men achieving, however weakly, the characteristics described here.
These traits are to describe all of us, but those set apart to lead must have these qualities.
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