1 Timothy 3:1-7
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer[a] must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,[b] sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
Titus 1:5-9
5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife,[d] and his children are believers[e] and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer,[f] as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound[g] doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
This is the reading of God’s word
About a week ago a post came across my feed. It was just some random person who, from the comment made, seemed to be a believer. (Maximus Decimus Meridius)
He made a funny comment – it was in relation to a meme. The meme is comparing two things that are extreme opposites. On one end were people who present at conferences (the R.C. Sproul’s, The John Pipers, The Paul Washers). On the other end was this guy, who was simply saying he feels small.
I did chuckle – the post was funny but it was also sad. I have been there. I have admired leaders of congregations as if they were a step or three higher than me.
One such man, it is a part of my testimony, is Mark Driscol. Mark founded a congregation and named it Mars Hill in Seattle Washington. Within 5 years it grew to a multi-site campus of about 10K members. Little after that it grew to multi-state campus close to 25K members.
Mark targeted his message to men 17 to 35. I was in that age range and his messages really hit home. He saw that most males were not men. He took the message of Christ and made boys into men.
I greatly admired Mark. He had an awesome speaking skill and in a powerful way drilled the message right to the heart.
Mark’s downfall was very public. In fact, if I mention a person by their name, most likely they have been very visible in the public. You may not know the name Mark Driscol – but he ended up being accused of very harsh leadership, abusive leadership and he was put into church discipline. He ended up leaving there and after a couple of years began a new church in Arizona.
Leaving behind a HUGE mess. Mark was Mars Hill and Mars Hill was Mark. From over 2K miles away I watched an enormous 25k member church break into crumbs.
About 3 years ago Mark Cosper did an almost 20 episode series called the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. It marked about the 6th year anniversary of the end of Mars Hill.
There were some issues I had with maybe 15% of the content of the series but the rest, was very eye opening.
Mark had made such a memorable impression upon me. God had used Mark, there is no doubt or question. But that is my point of this story. Mark was just a man.
I had come to a place where I wanted to teach or preach and pastor a congregation. I would pray, God, I would love to be just as effective as Mark. And then the fall happened. The news spread and the fall out that went on for years.
I really struggled for a short while with questions. There was a distinct turn around in my life all those years ago in 2004 and 2005. I was uncertain if Mark was even a Christian, that is how abusive things were. My question was, is my new life legit?
Of course, I know the answer to that now. I really struggled with this. It was not until it dawned on me that God can use anyone. He even used a donkey to get his message across. And it is not the messenger; it is the message.`
That is why that guy’s meme was funny at first and then took a serious turn. Those who lead large congregations and write books and attend conferences, they are just men. Talented and gifted – and some (even most) remain faithful to the end. But they are just vessels used by God through His Spirit.
I have lived long enough now to see many examples like Mark. I am not referring to the Jimmy Swaggarts. I am talking about men who preaching solid sermons for years and then it is found that they are involved in something. Most often it is a sexual thing.
A few months ago, back in the summer, a picture came across my twitter feed. It was a photograph of a conference from just a few years ago. On that stage were 6 men who were pastors of congregations. It was the Q and A session from that conference.
These were pastors who were a pretty big deal. Of the six that were on the stage, four were no longer active pastors. Each rocked by a scandal.
We have been in this topical series, Shepherding the Church for two weeks. This is an examination of Elders, Bishops, Overseers and pastors; in short, church leadership.
The rock-solid foundation for the leaders of God’s church must be humble. When a leader falls it totally rocks the boat for many.
It is one of the reasons why the qualifications are elders, pastors, bishops are mentioned given in the New Testament. These qualifications are the character traits that a congregation is to look for in the leader.
We are going to touch on this briefly today. We could literally spend several weeks on this. It will wait until a future time. I want to conclude this series today so we can begin Matthew next week and get into some advent lessons.
Before we begin, let us pray and ask a blessing upon the message.
Lord, we thank you for this time in Your word. We are so grateful that you have left it for us to study, read, consider and from it pattern our lives.
We pray for Your church, the Bride of Christ. The church you have said Jesus, would stand and the gates of hell would not prevail against her.
Open our hearts as we briefly look into this text this morning. There is much here and we are just spending a little time, but help us by Your Spirit to understand what is being taught by Paul.
It is in Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.
As we close this short series this week my desire is to reveal the implications for the congregation here at Donnels Creek.
Quick review so we begin with all of us on the same page:
Because these several terms refer to the same office I will use them interchangeably. In reality I will mostly just call these leaders of the church pastor or elder.
I would like to turn our attention to the qualifications of the elder/pastor and shepherd. We find those in our texts that was read earlier in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus.
I am going to make 3 propositions today regarding Church Leadership (elder, pastor, bishop etc.).
Paul had selected Timothy and Titus to go from congregation to congregation and establish elder ships. Evidence in Scripture supports strongly the plurality of elders. (repeat that)
Those congregations with a plurality of elders best represent what Scripture teaches. This statement is based directly upon the words used and also the implications made.
Consider the following passages where a plurality of elders is stated directly:
Therefore, based upon those passages, it is clear from Scripture that a congregation should have multiple elders.
One additional observation I would like to make before we move this does not mean a congregation is in grave error if they do not have multiple elders.
Titus and Timothy had a job given to them by Paul. He labored them with the task of setting up elders in existing congregations of churches. This means there was a time when these churches did not have elders and they were still Christian church gatherings.
How do we know who the elders are? We have here in 1 Peter 5, Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3 some qualifications. Before we go over these, and we will not be looking at them in detail because of time constraints, I want to point to some things to consider.
I say using wisdom and balance because I have an extensive list here of all the qualifications. There are 15 in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and there are 6 in 1 Peter 5. The list in 1 Timothy and Titus is mostly the same and 1 Peter 5 is completely different.
Titus and Timothy did not have our New Testaments – they were in two different areas. They would have looked at their list, and their lists would have differed. If we are to combine the lists and use them as a check marks (no one would be qualified) you would be doing something that Titus and Timothy could not do. Wisdom and balance.
But remember, I said, the qualifications should be applied with wisdom and balance. (This is a very serious matter on one end – understanding tO WHOM it was written on the other end)
You would be able to find someone in Paul’s life that would say he is not above reproach. That was old Paul, right? He used to kill and imprison believers.
There are people who come to the Lord and grow in the Lord, and their lives look completely different than 5 or 10 or 15 years ago. This would be just like Paul.
Note that in this list is not a recent convert. That is true. There is no specified time given but this is a mature Christian.
This is what is meant to use wisdom and balance.
Being that it says husband of one wife does that mean he has to be married? Remember wisdom and balance.
There are congregations that look at this list as a check list. I personally know of men who were appointed as elders and served as elders for many years. These men lost their wife, and they resigned. Why? Because it says that an elder must be the husband of one wife. This appears on two of the three lists.
Is that proper? Is this a good interpretation of what is meant here? I say no.
Here is why, Peter and Paul were elders. They were apostles but they were also elders (Acts 15; 2 John; 3 John; 2 Corinthians 2:11-12; 1 Peter 5:1). One of these men was not married. Paul was not married.
The proper English (2) interpretation here is a one-woman man. These qualifications were written to a culture where it was not unusual for a man to have more than one wife.
Seeing that Paul was not married and was not just considered an Apostle but also a elder and pastor, it can be easily detected here there is nothing magical about a married man.
This is an instance where we get into the nuance of the Greek language. If a man does not have believing children does that disqualify him? We speak of children who are adult and seemingly have left the faith.
Some look at this passage and say yes. Others say absolutely not.
Titus 1:6
Greek word (pistos) + Sentence structure = word referring to BELIEVING children or Faithful children.
Relation to faith vs. relation to how the house was ruled
Translations – place emphasis on faith (ESV, NIV, NASB) believers
Place emphasis on the house (KJV, LSB, CSB)
I lean house:
Among those who took this stance: John Calvin, Matthew Henry, John Gill, Charles Hodge, John Stott (single man), William Mounce (Greek scholar and teacher).
Johnathan Edwards, George Whitfield, Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley and Martyn Lloyd-Jones all had at least one child who died unbelieving or lived for years as a prodigal. No one in their day suggested this disqualify them.
This is more in reference to did this man have control of his house? Did the children respect his leadership? This is about leading a house. Wisdom and balance.
These are the most controversial of the qualifications. But if you look through the list, everything that falls below “above reproach” clarifies what above reproach looks like. This even bleeds over into the 1 Peter passage.
Currently the organization structure has:
Here is the issue: that is not what Paul sent Titus and Timothy to do. This is not what Peter was doing in the churches that he helped plant.
This is not ME making a power grab. Absolutely NOT!
I am suggesting here that a PLURALITY of ELDERS pastor the flock at Donnels Creek, current and future. THERE WILL BE NO LONELY ACRE!
Elders are men of God, mature in The Faith who are servant leaders within a congregation for the purpose of leading through teaching, protecting, and guarding the health of the church.
The rest of the organizational structure remains. The leadership team, the moderator, the finances, the secretary, all remain the same. The deacons remain the same.
The elder’s responsibility:
This is a serious business.
As we began this short series I had shared with you that this is a result of some ongoing conversations that Fred Circle and I have had dating back to the summer. After some time had passed Fred was convinced and convicted that we should address this sooner than later. I was already involved in the Colossians series and it was decided that we could address it after that was complete and here we are.
The various ministries continue. The various committees continue. But it is my firm conviction that this is the proper step.
We can develop a path forward in the coming weeks and months. Search and find men who are qualified to work with me. They would be pastors just as much as me.
Their role is different, but their authority is the same. There is room for this in the teaching of Paul. I labor in this.
