You are listening to the Sunday Morning Sermon from Faith Bible Church in Sharpsburg, Georgia. You can find podcasts and other resources at www.faithbiblechurch.us May well be true that the church is a little slice of heaven on earth, but we're still in a fallen world. And therefore, with remaining sin and people in various stages of process, the Lord has established functions of the church to help us get where we need to be. Some of those means that the Lord uses are the establishment of leaders or elders in the church. So, last time we looked at Titus 1.5, Paul telling Titus that he needs to set up elders in these churches where people have been converted, probably through the ministry of Paul and Titus on Crete. Paul leaves, Titus has to come back through and pick up the pieces. One of the best illustrations of the relationship between elders and the church and elders and deacons comes from a section of scripture that is not really about elders or deacons per se, but it's a tremendous illustration. It's what we had for the scripture reading today at chapter six. And I just want to remind you of that for just a moment as we begin our thoughts this morning. In Acts chapter six, the Hellenistic widows of the early church were being neglected or overlooked by the former Jews, the Jewish background believers there in the early church. And so they came and brought that to the apostles, said, what do we do? People from a Gentile background, they're being overlooked. The Jewish widows, they're being taken care of. And Peter, speaking for them all, says, wait a minute, this isn't good. It's not right that we should neglect the preaching of God's Word just to serve tables. We can't get caught up in some of the details here of ministry because of what the Lord has our job to do in this. And so they picked seven guys. And you notice in verse 3, that they had to be guys of good repute or a good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom, who they would appoint over the task. And so that's exactly what they did. But the apostles themselves said, we wanted to devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. And that happened, and of course, the Lord blessed, and the word of God, it says in verse 7, continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. A great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. We notice that this is apostles, the twelve, not elders of a local church, and these seven are not really called deacons either. They're not named anything, it's just the seven. But apparently that was the framework that later became elders and deacons, the way elders and deacons relate. Elders have oversight over the church. Deacons come alongside to take off some of the tasks of the church from the elders plates so they can focus on prayer and the ministry of the word primarily. And deacons do all kinds of wonderful acts of service. It is a tremendous blessing. One other thing to note about this, I highlighted in verse 3 that they had specific qualifications for these men who were going to be doing the work. They had to be full of the Spirit, they had to have a good reputation, they had to have wisdom, and the congregation needed to see it and get it. I would just make the observation that that is a consistent pattern throughout Scripture. for designated servants, designated leaders in the church. You had to be a man of character, even for these guys whose job in Acts chapter six is just coordinating the waiting of tables. They had to be men of character that the whole congregation knew about. And again, that is so different It's so consistent in the Bible, but so different in the way that the world tends to think about leaders and leadership. I would say I've said all the years that I've been here serving as pastor, I would much rather have a few godly Bible loving I don't know, whatever, trash men, you know, that love people and love Jesus and know the Bible to serve next to me as elders of our church. Then if we had a whole room full of CEOs that were half-worldly and didn't really know their Bibles and that sort of thing. I would say that every single time. That's absolutely true in my heart's passion and desire. So thankful in our church that we don't have to choose between that because we have Jerry Gunter, who qualifies both as a godly Bible loving man and a CEO. Now, last time in Titus one, we saw Titus's tough task of appointing elders among these Christians. He was called to set the churches in order. In other words, like restore broken bones into place. In Titus chapter 1 verse 5, this was his duty to do so. Then in verses 6 through 9, it gives the detailed description of the character required of leaders in the church. Let me read our passage. Titus 1 beginning with verse 5. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, appointing elders in every town as I directed you. If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and are not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination, for an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant, or quick-tempered, or drunkard, or violent, or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict it. Now, within this passage, there are three levels of qualification to be an elder. And we saw last time that the word elder is parallel in the Bible with overseer and pastor talking about the same office, elder, overseer, pastor, elder highlights their respectable maturity and reputation in that way. Overseer is what they do. They oversee the flock, have responsibility for the flock. and pastor or shepherd is the way that they exercise this oversight or leadership but the same office so here's the qualifications first one the first category if you will first level of qualification is the social and home relationships the social and home relationships these are the qualifications listed in verse six and these are the ones that are going to take the most explanation for our time today. So don't panic when we've spent more time than you would have expected on this verse. But each one of these qualifications could really be a sermon on their own. But we want to just kind of give you the sweep and the big picture of what it means to be elder qualified and really what all of us as believers, especially you guys, need to be aspiring toward in terms of our own godliness. So the social and home relationships, verse six. First of all, an elder must be above reproach. Now, this is the main point of the qualifications. It is repeated in verse seven for an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. All of the rest of the qualifications in this entire section flow from this one umbrella qualification. In first Timothy three verse two, it also tops the list there. That's the other passes that talks about elder qualifications above reproach. And it's also in the Deacon qualifications in first Timothy three verse 10 as well. What that means is there can be no big fingers of legitimate accusation floating over a man's head. You can't have a guy as a leader in the church or deacon in the church that people have giant character question marks about, a finger of accusation about him. Now, this does not mean that a man has to be perfect to serve as an elder or a deacon, but he can't be known by a sinful pattern. OK, so you can't be an angry guy. You know, known as that, like a characteristic sin that is so true of you repeatedly as a pattern that that's how people think about you. Oh, that's that guy's a liar. That guy is a greed guy or he's lazy or he's immoral. Now, a Christian is a sin confessor. That's one of the marks of being a Christian. 1 John 1 9. We confess our sins. We get it. We sin. We're redeemed by Jesus. But we live in a fallen world. We've got remaining sin that we're battling against. But one of the marks of a Christian is that he confesses when he sins. So when it comes to elders, you have to see that. What do they do? What do they do when they sin? Do they keep sinning? Do they try to cover their tracks? Do they play the blame game? Oh, yeah, I got mad, but it was really that guy's fault for doing such and such to me. And or do they take responsibility and repent and confess their sins? Leading by example is huge in the Bible. 1 Peter 5 says that we are not to lead by coercion, but by example. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 7 says you're to follow the example of your leaders. It's huge in the Bible. So that means you've got to have a life worth following if you're going to be set up and set apart as a leader in the church. Now, this is really important. And this is a little bit controversial. But here's the thing. Above reproach is somewhat subjective. It's somewhat subjective. In other words, you've got to have a good reputation in the eyes of your congregation. And you've got to have a good reputation in the eyes of your community. And that's going to come up again. So just kind of keep that in the back of your mind. OK, you can't just jump through a hoop and say, OK, I'm above reproach. Everybody should recognize that I'm above reproach in any given situation, any given background. It's not quite that simple and clear. I'll talk to you about that more as we keep going. OK, look at what comes next. He's got to be the husband of one wife. Now, what does that mean? the husband of one wife. Literally, it is a one woman man. Oh, that helps. What does that mean? That doesn't you know, what is what does that mean? Let me give you some samples of what Bible teachers, I mean, the people who take the Bible seriously, what has been taught about the meaning of this qualification over the years. Here's one polygamy. This means a man has to have one wife at a time. Now that's true, and I recommend that. But polygamy was not really an issue in the Roman Empire, and it would seem really oddball for Paul to make that a qualification for something that wasn't even a real issue in that day and age, in that part of the world. I don't think it's polygamy. What about divorce and remarriage? Lots of people use that for this. Husband of one wife, that means No divorce, no remarriage, some people say. What about remarriage after the spouse dies? There's a lot of men that have had wives that have been taken to heaven before them. And over the years, they have thought if they were an elder, if they were a deacon, if they were a pastor, they could not remarry because of disqualification. One woman, man. What about forbidding singles from serving as an elder? Is this a disqualifier if you're not married at all? Again, faithful Bible teachers have answered each one of those as being the answer to this question of what this means. But here's a good clue that I think helps us understand the point. In all of these qualifications, character is the issue. Character is the issue. The issue is the character of the man, not his legal marital status. Is the man honest, faithful, and devoted to his wife? Is he a one-woman man? You know, you can be married. to one woman and not be a one woman man if you're not faithfully devoted to your wife in an honest way. And for a single man, is he known for his integrity in his dealings with people of the opposite sex? Or is he known as a church flirt? Or is he known as a love-em-and-leave-em guy? with baggage all around from his relationships and his dealings. Those are the right kinds of questions to be asking because, again, the issue is the character of the man. Now, I do think that this qualification implies that most leaders in the church will be married. I think it does imply that. One woman, man, I think it's a given. That's true in all of life. The singleness is a special gift from God reserved for a few. For service to the Lord and just devotion to Him. But most people, it's God's plan for them to be married. Which I think, by the way, this is just on the side, makes for an interesting contrast with the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, that priests have to be single. I just think that's really interesting, because this is a major qualification for leadership, that you be a one woman man. And I think that that many people who served as priests in the Catholic Church have been very sorry about that interpretation somewhere being missed over the years but having said that I don't think marriage is required or that remarriage according to biblical standards is forbidden by this qualification Paul was a single man as he wrote these words. Titus also may have been a single man. First Corinthians 7, 29 through 38 actually advocates for singleness of a greater advantage for ministry. The Bible advises young widows to remarry. It gives total freedom for widowers as well to remarry. And it seems also to give such freedom in the cases of adultery or abandonment for remarriage to happen. But I will admit some cases of divorce and remarriage are very tangled and very tangly. For example, if a man wasn't the adulterer and divorce happened, the congregation may still have question marks about the character of that guy. They just might. And it may take time for his character to be clearly established in the eyes of a local church. That's just a fact. That's what I'm talking about when I talk about subjective and above reproach. does the congregation view this person with suspicion or is their character clearly established in the eyes of a local church because you can't have a guy as an elder if there's big question marks about his character and integrity in every way So different churches may say a guy is differently qualified or not qualified to serve in that role at different times, even if it's the same guy. And part of that is just subjective. And I think that we just have to say God's sovereign in all of those things. If God has you in a place where people still wonder or, you know, that kind of thing, you just keep serving faithfully. And God will take care of that. He'll take care of your reputation and integrity in the eyes of the congregation. If God has you in a place where they say, you know what, that was so long ago and we've seen you in action, we totally have confidence in you. Praise the Lord for that as well. It seems to be a little bit in the Lord's hands. The key here, though, is being a one woman man in whatever situation you find yourself. Let's go to the next one. In verse six, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. The word that's translated believers can be translated in one of two ways. Believers, like it is in the English Standard Version in many of our translations, or faithful. His children are faithful. Now people I greatly respect take it just like the ESV has it, that their children have to be believers. They say things like the character of an elder has to be that his life is worth following and that he brings his children to faith in Christ as they grow up because they follow his example. And they also use logic like the word usually means a believer. Even if it's talking about the character, it's talking about character of a believer, someone who believes in Christ, a Christian. Well, I've actually found that the word doesn't always highlight Christian faith, even if it says faithful. Remember Jesus' parable where he talks to the slaves and at the end, when they come back, says, well done, good and faithful slave, good and faithful servant. Well, that's not a reference to that person's theology. It's a reference to their integrity. They've done what they were assigned to do and they came back and did a faithful job, irrespective of what they believe in their heart. And I think that this term is talking about that as well in this context. I think it is talking about elders are required to have faithful children, not necessarily Christian children. Now that's really significant. We obviously all want our children to repent of their sins and believe in Christ. And that's our earnest burden and heart's desire. But let me give you four reasons why I think that is talking about faithful children. Number one, this whole passage is about the elders character. The whole passage is about the elders character. OK, it comes up again, it's not. I mean, anyway, number two, You can't control the salvation of others. I think that's huge. I can't force my kids to believe. I can bring them to church. We can read the Bible at home. I can pray for them. I can try to model my own walk with Jesus to them, but I can't make them believe no matter what I do. Number three, The two qualifications that follow this about the children. That's what this is about. His children are believers and are not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. Both of those debauchery and insubordination are about behavior, not belief of the kids. OK, so I think that this is talking about faithful kids who aren't Unfaithful aren't acting in a insubordinate debauchery kind of way. And number four, I think that this qualification is parallel to first Timothy three. And in the idea of first Timothy three, it's very clear versus four and five. That is about house management, household management. Home leadership is a good proving ground for church leadership. So 1 Timothy 3, 4 and 5 says it very plainly. He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? So I think that the parallel ideas, because you can look in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and see lots of parallels in terms of character qualities, I think this is another parallel as well. 1 Timothy 3 seems to be highlighting younger children. You've got to manage them, keep them submissive, where Titus 1 seems more about older children. Debauchery and insubordination is a far different issue than the terrible twos. No matter how the terrible twos affect your home, nobody's using words like debauchery or insubordination. Where it says children who are faithful in verse six, the term is used for children living at home, which are still under their father's authority. So we ask the question, are they faithful? Are they genuinely obedient and submissive to their father's leadership? Obviously, when they get out on their own, away from the home, away from their father, you know, we still We still are kids' parents. We still love them and we care for them and pray for them and advise them as we can, but we have even less control and less opportunity to influence them as their way. And I think that that's acknowledged here in the Bible. So, Ephesians 6, Colossians 3 tell fathers that you have the primary responsibility for raising your kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You are responsible, not just for elders, all of us as guys. If you have kids, you are responsible to teach them the truth. You are responsible to model it for them. You are responsible to pray it into their hearts. You are responsible to shepherd their hearts to Jesus. You are responsible to discipline them in a loving way when they disobey. Doesn't mean that our wives don't help and work with us in this. Absolutely, yes. But you bear the primary responsibility and we're to be known for these things. I suppose that once we're around a church family for a while, we all develop something of a parental reputation. Now again, I'm not saying that we need to be looking at each other and judging each other, but let's just, let's just be honest. You kind of know, is this a guy who's kind of engaged and on top of things? Not perfectly. Again, we're all so thankful for God's grace. Listen, I've been thinking about God's grace a lot. I've been doing this work, you know, all these last couple of weeks. Every one of these qualifications is pointing right at me, you know, so I'm not trying to be I'm not doing anything to you that I haven't been doing to myself, OK, for a lot of hours here. But we're all a work in progress, by God's grace. But are we trying? Are we engaged? Are we getting help? Are we trying to stay on top of things or or, you know, first Samuel, second Samuel? We looked at a couple of those not so great parents, Eli, David, Eli wringing his hands. Oh, my sons, my sons, stop committing adultery with all the people coming to the temple. My son, stop ripping off their offerings and lining your pockets. I mean, he was just wringing his hands, but they just kept on until God had to take Eli's life and send a prophet of God to say, you're honoring your sons above me because you're just wringing your hands and not doing anything. King David, same thing. Oh, Absalom, Absalom. Oh, Adonijah, Adonijah. I won't say anything bad about you, but I'll kind of wring my hands and maybe throw up a prayer. But other than that, what can I do? Do you have a reputation of just letting your wife do it all? Do you have a reputation of being an angry disciplinarian? You know, right there where it talks about children obeying their parents, it also talks about fathers not provoking your children to wrath. And one of the ways, one of the main ways you do that is by your own temper. Never, ever, ever disciplined in anger. That is a sin against God and your children. Maybe some of us have a reputation of being totally checked out in our parenting. Again, all of us should be striving to stay on top of things. We should strive to be godly shepherds at home. Again, not perfect. It's just not going to be. But the direction of our life, confessing, repenting when we blow it. But for a pastor or an elder, it is a requirement. It is non-negotiable. If your kids are completely gone off the rails, still in your home and you're not dealing with it, if they are so characterized by their rebellion that people look at them and use words like debauchery and insubordination, that is a disqualifier. Debauchery. What does that mean? NIV has being wild. The word is used a couple of other contexts. In Ephesians 5.18 it is associated with drunkenness, and 1 Peter 4.4 it is associated with drunkenness and immorality. Gross immorality. That's why I say, this is not talking about the terrible twos. No matter how bad it seems, it's not debauchery and insubordination in that way. Insubordination means unruly or disobedient. It's a word used in the Greek version of the Old Testament of Eli's sons. It's rebelling against the gospel itself. And the combination of these terms, debauchery and insubordination, put together suggests a pattern of deep-seated rebellion. Let me make this qualification. I don't think that this is just, you know, you've got an older teen that's having a bad day or making a series of bad choices. That's not what this is about. This is about having teens that are so hardened in their rebellion that they're known for this. Everybody knows. This this scene is bad news. He's running with the wrong crowd. She's running with the wrong. She is the wrong crowd. She's not just running. They're running with her total rebel. And if if that's your situation, then you can't be an elder. You can't be an elder. And again, every every kid is going to have some problems. Every kid is going to get into sin. But is there prudent discipline going on in the home? Is there faithfulness in efforts to handle the problems? What is the household pattern? And let me say it again. This can be somewhat subjective. What does the congregation think? I mean, I've seen families where where they've, you know, Kids have gotten into some significant sin, but you watch them. You watch the way they respond in a measured, godly, gracious way, really taking action to step up their discipline. That's far different than just throwing up their hands and going, what can I do? What can I do? Can't help that. A faithful congregation knows the difference between godly efforts to be a faithful shepherd and a dad that's just checking out. So, back to the whole verse. I told you, I don't think husband of one wife means that a single man can't serve as an elder. I think it's character, reputation. In the same way, some people here say, not only do you have to be married, but you have to have a child. Not only do you have to have a child, you actually have to have children, right? multiple children. Not only do you have to be married and have multiple children, they have to be old enough to whether we know that they're debaucherous or submissive and faithful. So what that means is, to be an elder, if you were taking the logic like this to the full degree, you've got to be a much older man who's married with older kids who can be tested or not, whether or not Again, I just don't think that's the point. The point is faithful character. Godly, faithful character. You can see trajectories. You can see direction in the man as his kids or family come, and if the Lord gives them kids or not, and how they're doing and how they're handling it. What's the trajectory? And of course, if issues come up, then you take care of it. But I just don't think that this precludes a guy from serving until he would get his family in that kind of situation. Alright, so that's the social and home relationships. The second level of qualifications are the personal qualifications, and these are the ones in verses 7 and 8. Now, we see in verse 7 where he says, an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. So he's repeating it as well, and notice that he calls him an overseer here, where he called him an elder in verse 5. So it's the same office that we're talking about. Here he refers to him as God's steward, or God's household manager. It's kind of like when a rich guy hires somebody to run his estate. The guy who's the household manager doesn't own it, but he's running it for the rich guy. Well, in the same way, the church is God's. It's God's house. It's God's stuff. And elders are just stewards. We're just household managers of God's household. This is an interesting connection. You've got to have your children be faithful to qualify as one of God's household managers as well. He has to be above reproach. This overarching qualification is restated. And now Paul breaks down what it means to be personally above reproach. He does so in verse 7 with 5 negative qualifications and in verse 8 with 6 positive qualifications. Look at the negatives. Verse 7. He must not be arrogant. In other words, he's not a self-loving spirit. He can't have a my way or the highway attitude. That does not work well when you have a team of elders coming to decisions. If you've got one guy over in the corner who's my way or the highway. Number two, he can't be quick-tempered. In other words, can't have easy flare-ups in anger. The question is, how long is your fuse before the fireworks go off? You have a little short fuse that as soon as it's lit, you know, you've got two seconds and then boom, the firework goes off. That is going to be trouble. So if you take these first two qualifications and flip them around, an elder has to be a patient servant leader like Jesus. Who didn't come to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. The next negative qualification in verse seven is he can't be a drunkard He can't be addicted to wine. And I would say, by way of application, any mind-altering substance or drink applies, not just wine, per se. Now, this does not mean that it is a sin, or wrong, or anything like that, for an elder to drink wine. But it is critical for God's shepherds to have their minds fully engaged in God's work at all times. And you can't do that if you're drunk. If the alcohol or the substance is affecting your mind, you cannot be fully engaged. So. It is always a sin for anyone to be drunk or to be high on drugs. It is always a sin. Too much of anything, even good things, turn good things into bad things. Cookies, good thing. Gift from God. Too many cookies, gluttony, bad thing. Wine, in some context, we don't want to go there. We don't want to go beyond the scriptures. The scripture does not say Jesus turned water into high sea. It doesn't say that. And so it's not good for us to go beyond that. But let me be absolutely clear. It is always a sin to be drunk. It is always a sin to be drunk for any guy. And if you are an elder or deacon, you cannot be known as a drunkard. You cannot have that as your reputation. And again, it's the eyes of the congregation. What does the congregation think of you? Oh, drunk. He's drunk. You know, again, I just want to say that it's above reproach. What do people think about you? Do they think you're a drunkard? A guy who drinks too much? You can't be an elder. You can't be a pastor if that's your reputation. Number four, you can't be violent. You can't be quick to your fists. We can't have street fighting pastors. Number five, you can't be greedy for gain. Now this doesn't rule out every preacher on a TV, but most of them are not qualified because of this qualification. It is not a sin to be financially freed up by a church to be able to minister, but it is a disqualifier if you are a mercenary minister. Ministry ought never to be motivated by the desire to get rich. That's what happened to the false teachers. Even here, verse 11. They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain, what they ought not to teach. They were like not only teaching bad things, their motive was money. We're trying to get rich teaching our fault stuff. That's never the motivation of a pastor. It must never be the motivation of a pastor or elder. Verse eight, six positive qualifiers. Those are the negatives. Here's the positives. It's got to be hospitable. That means a person who loves strangers, who opens their home to fellow believers in need. Now, the context of the first century is huge here. In the first century, you didn't have any motels to stay in. The inns were all that was available and the inns were seedy, bad, scary places. They were dangerous and they were immoral. And so Christians needed places to stay as they traveled and ministered and things like that. And so if a Christian came into town, remember the towns are really small, like villages, think village. The Christian comes to the village, there's the inn over there, don't want to stay there. I need to crash with a Christian. I need to go for the Christian couch over there. Who's got one available for me? Well, I don't know you. You're a stranger. I've never met you before. Again, you've got to put yourself back in the first century. We don't have cell phones, text message. Here, let me check my Facebook account. See all my pictures. I'm nice. I mean, it's not none of that. Maybe you've got a little letter from your church that says, hey, John's a good guy. He's a real believer. Seal of approval, you know, by these elders that I maybe do know or have heard of. But that's it. And so the question is, are you willing to open your home to somebody you don't know? Do you have the kind of heart that says, my stuff is for you. I want to help you. I want to serve you. I want to be available for you. Well, if you're an elder, that's what needs to happen. Some Christians in the first century didn't even have homes. Persecution, they were wiped out. So you can see the significance of a verse like Hebrews 13, 2. that says, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. So this doesn't mean you're foolish in your hospitality or you just invite any old stranger in off the street. That's not a requirement. The context is your fellow traveling Christians that you've never met before. Are you willing to give up your stuff or are you selfish in the way that you deal with these things? Second positive, a lover of good. Devoted to what is good or beneficial in men or deeds or in things. I think this would be a really nice thing to put on your tombstone. So-and-so is a lover of good. Number three, self-controlled. Balanced in your opinions and actions. You're serious minded. You have your wits about you. An elder needs to have his wits about him. Number four, upright. Does the right thing in dealing with others. Not a shady dealer. Number five, he's holy. This term emphasizes purity, unpolluted, not covered in stains of sin. And if we combine upright and holy, you might say upright is our duty to others. Holy is our duty toward God. And then finally, is disciplined. A person who's got a hold of themselves, athletes in training, applying self-denial and self-control discipline, applying biblical habits towards spiritual growth. Now it's interesting as we look at these qualifications, in contrast to 1 Timothy 3, there's one big one that doesn't show up in Titus that does show up in 1 Timothy 3. And it's the qualification not to have a novice or a new believer be an elder because of pride, because of temptation. In Titus it doesn't require that and probably that's the case because they were all new believers on Crete. And so you couldn't restrict a new believer from being an elder in this situation because of the context of the situation. So we've seen the social and home, we've seen the personal qualifications, and the final level of qualification is the doctrinal qualifications in verse 9. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. This is a person who has to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught. That is the summary teachings of the apostles, the body of truth that was already fixed In Acts 2, verse 42, it says that the people devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. The apostles' teaching. There was a body of truth we have now summarized in the New Testament, but even before the New Testament was written, the body of truth was already in existence. It had been passed on orally, and so an elder had to know it and buy into it completely. He had to cling to it, not just to check a box on a doctrinal statement, but as his own personal conviction. He couldn't be tossed about by every wind of doctrine, Ephesians 4.14. And I would just make the observation, some guys love theology. and they want to know it and they want to wrestle with it and they want to get into the details. How does this verse fit with what I was reading the other day? Hey, there's no verse in the Bible that says Trinity. How do we know that God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Where does that come from? They ask good questions like that and work hard to try to figure it out. Others, other guys seem kind of content to just kind of know the basics and and just roll on. We should certainly all want to grow and learn. But again, for an elder, it is essential. That's what I'm looking for. As we have our antenna up for guys who want to serve who's hungry for God's word, who's asking questions about theology and the details. That's one of the things that we're that we have our antenna up about. Why? Why is it so essential for an elder to know the Bible, learn the Bible and try to figure out theology? So that it says in verse nine and introduces us to two reasons. So that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. He has to be able to feed the sheep and protect the sheep from wolves. He has to feed the sheep in public and in private to give exhortation, admonition, encouragement, comfort and strength from the sound body of apostolic truth. The teaching of the Bible about God, about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit, about salvation, about end times, about the church itself. All of these things. These things are sound. They're healthy. They're health giving. And the body needs that. The church needs that. And elders need to be able to deliver it. But there's a second reason that elders have to know their stuff. It's so that they can rebuke those who contradict or refute or convict those who contradict. In other words, they need to be able to bring biblical evidence to expose the teachings that are wrong. So they feed the sheep, but then they also protect the sheep from wolves. Bible says, hey, wolves come up in church, even from among good churches. Some guys get off track. Paul warns the Ephesian elders about that in Acts chapter 20. I know from among yourselves, savage wolves are going to arise and do damage. Well, who's going to protect the sheep? The elders need to be able to do that. They need to say that's wrong. That's off. That's not right. You can't teach that here. That doesn't fly in this place. You think, well, that doesn't sound very loving to a person. And I would say this, I've thought things like that. I want to love that person. And I'm also an optimist. I'd like to make it spiritual and say, oh, I've got great faith. But really, I'm just wired that way. And if a guy's got kind of bad teaching and things like that, I want him to come around my early days. I want to try to win him over. If you come and listen to God's word, being taught week by week, you're going to get it right. You're going to get it fixed. And I think that's great. Been around the block now. A few times. And you know what? I don't want them to come around. I don't want them to come. I want them to leave. If you've got bad theology, there's the door. I want you to go. I mean, not all in a line right now, but you know, afterwards you can you can slip out. I'm not trying to embarrass you, but I want you to go. There's a little emergency exit here. Go. Why? Why do you say that? That doesn't sound like a very loving Christian thing to do. Listen, I love the sheep. And it's not a loving thing to do for the sheep to leave a wolf roaming around in the bathroom, teaching false teaching when you go in there or to go and get involved in a K-group. Or something like that. Listen, if somebody's got some wrong beliefs and things like that, I'll talk to them outside of church. I'll give them some books to read. I'll point them to some CDs where they can get straightened out on some things. I'm happy to do that. If they're asking good questions that are teachable, my soul, I've had so many things wrong over the years that people have patiently helped me with. I want to help. But if they're hardened in their position, I'm not going to debate them. I'm going to send them to the door and I'm going to entrust them to God. You're in God's hands. He'll deal with you and straighten you up. He can handle you better than me. But in the meantime, God has given me as part of the team of elders an assignment, and it is the shepherd, the flock at Faith Bible Church. And he is going to not say, hey, did you pat and cuddle wolves? He's going to say, did you protect my sheep and feed them? You knew that guy was wrong. Why did you let him stay? Well, it just seemed unloving to tell him to leave. So, yeah, you didn't love 300 people that you let him affect in the name of loving him. So listen, as a church, we've got to insist on these character qualifications in our leaders and elders. We must be OK to refuse men who don't have them or don't maintain them. It does not matter how nice they are. Does not matter how successful they are in the secular world. It doesn't matter if they're generous givers. It doesn't matter if they're great speakers and really seem like they know their Bible. No abilities atone for a lack of solid Christian virtue and a blameless life. No abilities. No abilities. It doesn't matter. Solid, blameless, godly life is what is critical. Now, having said that, I'll come back to this and we're done. Every one of these qualifications I mean, how many of us go, man, I've blown that. I've blown that. I mean, if you've got an earnest heart for the Lord and a sincere conscience, you are well aware that you have failed to keep these qualifications. I'm talking to all of us just because this is just godly Christian stuff. I mean, some of them are guy-specific, for sure. We believe elders are men. But ladies as well, I mean, these qualifications speak to you as well, just in terms of your own godliness, walk with God, and we know that we've blown it. And listen, even though I made this statement just a second ago, that no abilities atone for a lack of solid Christian virtue and a blameless life, there is atonement. for you who have failed to perfectly keep these standards. The standard of elder qualification or leader qualification in the Bible is to be above reproach. Not perfection, but this is the direction of your life, this is your character. But the standard of God is perfect holiness and righteousness. And you and I have failed to do that. But there is atonement for us in the person and work of Jesus. It is his blood and righteousness that is our hope. So when you see a list of sins like this and you recognize your own failures. In a sense, we can kind of go all inward and start feeling bad and things like that, but it's better thing to do is to go to Jesus, to look to him, to be reminded. I mean, yes, we have one eye on ourself, but we want to always have an eye on the cross because Jesus died for all of our sins. We thank God for that. And then we come now to a time of communion where he has appointed this to help us remember him. And so I'm going to ask our guys to come and ask you to bow your heads and just be thinking. If you've got some sin, some unfinished business that needs to be confessed, the Bible says, if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.