the the Good evening. Welcome to worship. Would you please stand as we hear a call to worship this evening? From the 87th Psalm, On the Holy Mount stands the city that God founded. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of our God. Let us pray. Father, we recognize that by faith, by the power of your Spirit, we are coming into the heavenly Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, your heavenly city of which glorious things have been spoken of old, that place which you will do glorious things through your power in our midst tonight. We ask that we would share a love for you and for your dwelling place, that we would worship you properly, reverently, joyfully, that in all that we say and do and think and sing and pray in this service, it would be to your honor and it would be fitting of the glory of your dwelling place, the heavenly Zion. We thank you for your invitation and your call to us this evening, which we answer in the name of your son and our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. People of God, your God greets you, saying, grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen. Number 403 for our opening hymn of praise. 403. Glorious things of thee are so. On the rock of ages founding a Thy shore reclose With salvation's all surrounding Thou mayst smile at all my foes See the streams of living water, Filling from eternal love, Well supplies thy sons and daughters, And all fears and wants remove. Who could faint while such a river Ever flows their thirst to strange? Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver, Never fades from age to age. Around each habitation hovering, See the clouded fire appear, For a glory and a covering, Showing that the Lord is near. Thus deriving from their manner, Light by night and shade by day, Safe they feed upon the manna Which He gives them when they pray. Savior if of Zion's city, I through grace a member am. Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in thy name. Fading is the worldling's pleasure All is boasted, pub and show Solid joys and lasting treasure None but Zion's children know If you turn in your Psalter hymnals to page 851, you'll find our Apostles' Creed, our confession of faith this evening. We confess this faith as the children of Zion, those who belong to our God and our King. Dear Christians, what do you believe? I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven. and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From there, he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. You may be seated. In turn, please, in a copy of the ESV to our psalm responsive reading, Psalm 50. Psalm 50, most psalms are prayers. By and large, most of them are prayers from the people. of God to their God. Psalm 50 is a little different in that it is something of a divine oracle. It is God pronouncing through this song, through Asaph, a judgment upon the nations in general, but even upon the covenant people in particular. And the psalm concludes with him calling people back to faithfulness to God and encouraging and praising those who remain steadfast in the Lord. Psalm 50, a psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Thou art the sign, the perfection of beauty, Our God comes, he does not keep silence. Before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. He calls to heavens above, to hear and to be judged. Gather to me my faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. Here, O my people, and I will speak. O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. I know all the birds of the hills and all that moves in the field is mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? And call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. For you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you. You give your mouth free reign for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. These things you have done, and I've been silent. You thought that I was one like yourself, but now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. and you forget God, lest I tear you apart from your people. The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me. To one who orders his way rightly, I will show the salvation of God." These are sober words, important words, though, for us to hear how seriously God takes, in particular, his worship. And so now as we turn to Psalm 50 to sing it, let us make our offering one of thanksgiving and glorify God through song. If you turn to Psalm 50 you'll note we're going to sing the first four verses and then if you look at the opposing page we will sing the eighth and final stanza. So verses 1 through 4 and 8. Mighty one, our God, the Lord, He sweets and summons all the earth. From rising till the setting sun, From Zion to D, God shines forth. Our God shall come and not be still, for fire and tempest round Him dwell. He calls unto the heaven and earth that He may judge His own are right. Now gather ye my saints who made a covenant by sacrifice. Because the Lord himself is judge, the heavens declare his righteousness. O hear, my people, I will speak against you, I will testify. ♪ I am God, your faithful God ♪ I do not spurn your sacrifice ♪ Your whole heart offering I receive ♪ They stand before me constantly ♪ No cattle will I take from you ♪ No goats from you will I A cattle on a thousand hills Is mine and every forest please I know the birds on every hill And all is mine in every field Mark this you who forget your God Blessed I His joy with none to free Who offers thankful sacrifice He glorifies and honors me To Him who orders right His way The Lord's salvation I'll display Will you bow your heads and your hearts with me as we go to God now in prayer? Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you are a God who is not ashamed to own us as your children, and you would proudly be called our Father, that you would so willingly redeem us from sin, when we were children of wrath, when we were following the course of this wicked world and following the prince of the power of the air. You took us from being children of wrath and you have made us children of your righteousness, children of your love. You are our Father and you are our God who is in heaven, who is above all, who sees all, who knows all. A father who not only loves us, but cares for us and is able to keep care over us. We come to you this evening, and as we have heard from Psalm 50, we are reminded of how seriously you take your honor and your glory. You are not pleased, Lord, when we who claim to be your people offer up vain sacrifices. when we offer up empty worship and in that way we profane your name. Rather, oh God, our prayer is that your name would be hallowed, that it would be made holy, that it would be sanctified Through us, you are the holy God, the thrice holy God, supreme and perfect and transcended in every way. Certainly there is nothing that we can do to add to your holiness, and yet you still call us to exalt and to exemplify your holiness. So may we be your people who offer worship that is pleasing and that reflects your holiness, would our entire lives be a living sacrifice of praise? And in that way, oh God, would people look upon us and would they see the holiness of your person, of your being, of your most precious name? Lord, we ask that your will would be accomplished in our midst, that we would not hinder Your plan or purpose that we would find ourselves, even when it is difficult, even when we go through trials, even when we think we know what is best, that we would submit to your will. And our prayer is that your will would be done, that it would be accomplished, that you would do a mighty work in and through us, Your kingdom to bear here on this earth through the efforts of the church, the church which is the earthly outposts of your heavenly kingdom. Use us, Lord, to that end. We pray for the ministries of our church. That our Sunday schools that began this morning would be a means to that end. We thank you for the good turnout we had for both the youth and the adult classes. And we pray that this would be a good start for a fruitful season and semester studying you, Lord. And for our teens and adults studying what it means to talk about you to friends and neighbors and family and loved ones. And that through our evangelistic efforts, Lord, your will would be done here on earth as it is done in heaven. We pray, Lord, not only for our church we think of this day, Spencer Mills. We thank you for the great history of this church, one of the older churches in our denomination, and for its faithfulness these many decades. We pray that you would continue to keep her faithful, bless her minister, Pastor Flowers. We praise you for the unity that this congregation is experiencing, for success in their family evenings on Tuesday and for the youth programs that they have. We do lift up the concerns that they've shared with the presbytery for families that are going through emotional trauma or psychological need for families who are dealing with physical burdens. We pray that you would watch over them and keep them safe. for all of our needs, Lord. We know that you are the God to whom we must repair, the God to whom we must cry out to. We pray that you would bless the efforts of our church's foreign missions. Pray for the Westervelds, and the Hopps, and the Johnsons, and the Hills. And we pray for those communities in Canada, and Haiti, and Thailand, and Uruguay. Lord that you would stir up those locals there to receive your word as it is brought to them by these missionaries and their families. Also pray for home missionaries. Pray for the Ivy family for Lowell and May serving in Virginia Beach as church planners and we're grateful to see they're moving towards particularization and they're looking towards church planning opportunities already themselves. Bless the ministries there. Lord, we also ask that you would not only bless and watch over your church and your redeemed host, but that you would watch over and protect and provide for each one of us individually as we have individual needs. And that you would indeed give us what we stand in need of, that you would give us This day, what we need this day, that you would give us our daily bread as we're taught to pray. We pray for our dear sister, Mato, as she is in Japan for the next two months, taking care of in-laws and family. Keep her safe, Lord, and embolden her to Share the gospel, not only in her words, but especially also in the acts of loving kindness that she shares and shows to her family. We also pray for K. Rue, now having begun school at the University of Michigan. Lord, we pray that this would be a wonderful time of growth for K. Rue, not only intellectually, but primarily intellectually. But we ask that you would spiritually mature her and provide opportunities for her to come to know you. That is Mato's prayer, and that is our prayer as her church as well. Lord, would you continue to watch over the Randall family? We're thankful that Katie is feeling a little better and could be with us this morning with the kids. Ask that you would keep Garth safe as he is teaching at the seminary level in South Africa. We continue to watch over the health concerns for Rod and Sue McQuarrie's families, for the health of member Steve Connolly, for our expectant mothers Melissa and Hannah. Lord, we continue to pray for Pastor Biro and for his recovery. We pray for our dear sister Fran who has shut in and unable to be with us, but we know that she is united to us. because she's united to Christ. We pray that you would comfort her and encourage her. Lord, we know our greatest need is not physical needs, not emotional ones. It is our spiritual need. We need to be forgiven. Apart from forgiveness from you, apart from a pardon from you, No matter what things we might receive in this life, we will stand condemned in the next. So forgive us our debts, we do pray. And would that spur us on to also forgive those who have sinned against us, who are indebted to us. Would we show the grace of the gospel in loving acts of charity and long suffering and kindness and forgiveness, as that is what you have shown to us. Forgive not only our past sins, but keep us from present and future sins by guiding us away from temptation and guarding us from the evil one. We do ask that you would hear these prayers as we lift them up to you, recognizing that you are the only one worthy of hearing our prayers. You are the only one able to do anything. with our prayers because to you belongs the kingdom and the power and all glory now and forevermore. And all of God's people said, amen. We now worship God with the giving of his tithes and our offerings. Yeah. Let me take out your hymnals, turn to number 171 for our hymn of preparation, A Word of God Incarnate. Number 171, let's stand if you're able to sing. O Word of God incarnate, O wisdom from on high, O truth unchanged, unchanging, O light of our dark sky, We praise thee for the radiance that from the hallowed page, thou and turn to our footsteps, joins one from age to age. The church from her dear master received a gift divine, and still that light she lifted for all the earth to shine. It is the golden casket where gems of truth are stored. It is the hand-drawn picture of Christ the living Word. It floated like a banner before God's host of pearl It shineth like a beacon above the darkly curled. It is the charted compass that o'er life's surging sea, mid mists and rocks and quicksands, still guides O Christ to thee. Make thy church, dear Savior, a lamp of glorious gold. To Mary, for the nations, thy true light as a bold. Let us pray that God would illumine our hearts to receive his word. Lord, We ask now that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened so that we would have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, even that knowledge which is surpassing, Lord, would you grant us that grace by your spirit that we would be filled with the fullness of God. We ask this for Jesus' sake, amen. Please be seated. And I would invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Paul's first letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 3. So that's after 2 Thessalonians, and indeed 1 Timothy is before 2 Timothy. So trusting that you'll find that there, we only have one verse that we will be giving attention to today. Chapter 3. This is the second in our series of looking at the faithful sayings of the Apostle Paul in the pastoral epistles. So tonight, this second saying. This is God's Word. The saying is trustworthy, or the saying is faithful. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Keep your Bibles open as we'll be exploring more of this section. as we unfold this faithful saying. I mentioned last week, maybe you weren't here, but it's a good refresher, that these faithful sayings are proverbial statements, almost creed-like statements, that were formulated at the very early stages of the church, of the Christian church, and were then passed around, were shared, from church to another church as a way of encouraging and exhorting one another to the most fundamental aspects of the Christian faith. We are given a glimpse through these five sayings into what the Apostolic Church considered to be five of the most, not necessarily the five most, but five of the most fundamental, crucial, essential aspects or facts of the Christian religion. And the saying that we looked at last week, there in chapter 1, verse 15, fits that bill, doesn't it? Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That is a faithful saying. That's a trustworthy saying. That's an important teaching. It doesn't get more basic than that. We're going to look in the weeks ahead at other really fundamental sayings about the nature and character of God, about the importance of the soul. It is easy to see how these things are fundamental. What about this verse? Chapter 3, verse 1. What about tonight's saying? Does it perhaps seem out of place? Do you wonder if it rises to the same level of importance as these other statements? The saying is trustworthy. If anyone desires or aspires to the office of overseer, that is, elder, he desires a noble task. This is talking about eldership, this is talking about church government. Maybe it's not the most exciting topic. In fact, some scholars have been so uninspired by this faithful saying that they insist that the trustworthy saying is actually meant to be amended to the end of the previous chapter rather than being the introduction to chapter 3. If you look at the end of chapter 2, And if it was that the faithful saying was the end of chapter 2, that would mean that it's teaching something about the incarnation and something about salvation through the incarnation, but not something about church government. Chapter 3, verse 1, doesn't, these scholars say, doesn't seem to have enough theological weight or value to warrant a memorable saying. Another argument, that's one argument, another argument is that all the other five sayings, the four other ones, all are about, in some manner or another, are about the doctrine of salvation. And so it doesn't seem to fit if we say that chapter 3 verse 1 is a faithful saying. However, if you look again at chapter 2 verse 15, yet she will be saved. There's language of salvation. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. So the end of 1 Timothy 2 has reference to the salvation of all, although there's a focus particularly on women because of the incarnation and the birth of Jesus Christ. So maybe it should really be that the saying is trustworthy. Those few words is meant to be the conclusion of chapter 2. Okay, so there are two objections to reading it as the introduction to Chapter 3. The idea of church government just isn't theologically important or weighty enough to warrant a faithful saying. And the second is that, unlike the other sayings, this doesn't have anything to do with the doctrine of salvation. Well, I would push back against both of those objections, and I would say that they are in error, because they sadly miss the fact that church government is theologically important and indeed the doctrine of the church has everything to do with the doctrine of salvation. Did you hear that? Does that sound? I don't know. Maybe that jives with what you understand already about the church. Maybe that's something new and it pushes up against your understanding. That the doctrine of the church has everything to do with the doctrine of salvation. And the fact that the early church, the apostolic church, would develop a saying about eldership, about overseers, proves that they understood this point. They got that church mattered. that talking about the church was not a waste of time, that church government was actually eminently practical and paramount in the life of the Christian. And that's something that a lot of so-called Christians today would disagree with. You know, you hear a lot of talk today about being spiritual but not religious, right? I have a relationship, a personal relationship with Jesus, but I don't need to get involved in organized religion, and that's kind of like, you know, a four-letter word, organized religion. It's something bad you want to steer away from. The church, it's seen by many people today that church and formal membership in a church is optional. It's optional. And even for those who do opt for it, it's a chore. And it's a bore, right? It's just kind of mundane and it's boring. This is how many people today view the church. The New Testament does not agree. And in fact, this is actually a recent, historically, this is a recent phenomenon, this mentality. Just a couple centuries ago, John Calvin devoted an entire book of his institutes of the Christian religion to the doctrine of the church. That's in the 1600s. In the 1600s, a little later on during the time of the English Reformation and forming things like the Westminster Confession, you have people churning out treatises on church government and church doctrine all the time. Samuel Rutherford, Famous familiar name to some of you or John Knox or George Gillespie who's part of the Westminster Assembly? They all wrote treatises on church government books on Presbyterian government were written with some frequency up through the 1800s So we're getting now to just about a century ago Sometime about the early stages of the 1900s mid 1900s this changes interest has waned in the Church, and as I mentioned just a moment ago, I believe that this is because we have forgotten the fact that the doctrine of the Church is inseparably bound up with the doctrine of salvation. In the 4th century, Saint Cyprian made this point famously with a little Latin phrase that caught on and was accepted by the church. And that Latin phrase was extra ecclesiam nullum sullus. Now, Dr. Noe is not with us tonight to correct me. So you're just gonna have to trust me that I pronounced that correctly. But in English, that means outside of the church, there is no salvation. St. Cyprian said that in the 300s. And perhaps, again, that pushes against your understanding of the Church. Maybe that seems a little too far. Maybe that sounds a little Roman Catholic. And indeed, Roman Catholics do adhere and would affirm St. Cyprian's saying. Outside of the Church, there is no salvation. But do you know the Reformed also believe that? It's in our Westminster Confession, in chapter In the chapter on the church in the Westminster Confession, we read this in the second article. The visible church, that is, you know, where you and I are tonight, when people gather as congregations, when you have ministers, elders, deacons, when there's the preaching of the word, ministration of the sacraments, in a church, in the visible church, It consists of all those throughout the world that profess true religion and of their children. And it is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the house and the family of God out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. That's our Westminster standards. Outside of the visible church, there is no ordinary, so it softens the language a little bit from Cyprian, no ordinary possibility of salvation. We're going to unpack a little bit more throughout this sermon what that means. But when you consider this approach and this understanding, when you consider how important the church was and therefore how important governing and maintaining and protecting the church was to the early Christians, it begins to make a little bit more sense why Paul would commend those who desire the work of an overseer or elder. They're essentially synonyms. That's who he's referring to here, elders. It makes a little bit more sense why this is so important. It begins to make sense why there would be a well-known creed-like statement about church government. The word here, chapter 3, verse 1, for overseer is the Greek word episkopos, and that is translated as office of overseer. It's not just overseer. The phrase is all an episkopos, office of overseer, but it comes from the similar noun episkopos, which means overseer. And you know where else we find that word in the New Testament? We find it in 1 Peter 2.25, and it's a word used to describe Jesus. This is what 1 Peter 2.25 says, that Jesus is the overseer, the episkopos of our souls. And so that means an aspiration to be an elder is an aspiration to be like Jesus. Of course that is something that is noble. there ought to be no greater desire for any Christian than to be like Christ. And Paul here is affirming a particular godly aspiration. being an elder, but in so doing, he's commending the act of any and all godly aspirations. And I want to encourage you, all of you, brothers and sisters, to that end, to have godly aspirations. The word here for aspire literally means to reach out, to take hold of, to reach out with the hand. And idiomatically, though, it's used to reach out with the heart, right? It's a desire of the heart. The heart is longing or yearning for something, and oftentimes this same word will be used in the Bible as a negative thing. It's the word used for lusts and passions, right? Disordered passions and desires that we might have. But by the Spirit's work in our lives, our hearts can have not disordered desires, but rightly ordered desires. And we can aspire to those things which are godly. And in fact, not only can we aspire, but I want to encourage you today, you should aspire to those things which are godly. In a word, that's sanctification, isn't it? Sanctification and the doctrine of sanctification teaches us that we have not arrived, right? We're not there yet. We're not glorified. We're not sinless. We're not everything that we're meant to be or one day will be. And we should desire to get there. We should have an aspiration to grow in godliness. We should have an aspiration to reach that glory. Because as 1 John says, what we will be has not yet appeared. But you're supposed to want it. You're supposed to aspire towards it. We should always be aspiring this side of heaven, to that which is better, that which is pure, truer, higher. That which is good and godly and noble, those things which bring us into closer conformity to Jesus Christ, who is the true, who is the good, who is the beautiful. That's what we should aspire to. What might some godly aspirations be? I want to throw out just some to get you thinking about it because God's not pleased if we're just kind of content with where we are in the Christian life. We should certainly be grateful for where God has brought us, but he doesn't want us just to sit on our hands and have no desire for growth. And there are so many things, so many areas in which we can't all grow, is there not? And they might be different for each of us. In fact, I'm sure they are different. What are some godly aspirations? that we might have. Maybe you want to be more diligent in prayer. Maybe you want to be a better steward of your finances. Maybe you want to be more kind in your speech and the way you speak to other people. Maybe you want to be more hospitable. That's something, you know, you recognize, I'm not quite there yet, but I want to be better at it. This is something I'm aspiring to. Maybe you want to take care of your body, which is a temple of the Lord. That's a godly aspiration to be physically fit and healthy. God is pleased when we desire noble tasks. That's the language there, right at the end of verse one, a noble task or literally good work. That's a phrase we find all throughout scripture, talking about good works. Anytime, almost anytime you encounter that in the New Testament, when Paul or Peter or one of the apostles writing about good works, they're using the same language. They're talking about noble tasks. And the only reason a man aspires to the good work of an elder is the same reason that any of us can aspire to any good work. And that's because Jesus Christ has put that aspiration within our hearts. We see that in Titus. Flip over to Titus. That's just a few pages. Titus chapter two. Look at verse... Well, I'll begin in verse 11, but we're going to see this in verse 14. For the grace of God has appeared, Titus 2, 11, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. What does he say about Jesus? Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works, noble tasks. Why does Jesus save us? To redeem us from sin, and to purify us, and to make us holy as He is holy, and to give us the desire, to give us the aspiration, to give us, in this text, zeal for good work. So the only reason that we aspire to good work is because Jesus has given us that desire in the first place. So a good question. To be asking ourselves, though, is what are we doing to attain those godly aspirations? The desire itself is good, but it's not enough. God isn't pleased when we merely want something that is noble and good. He's pleased when we want it and then work for it. in life. If you want something bad enough, badly enough, you're going to work towards it. You're going to do what you need to do to attain it. You want that promotion at work, then you're going to start clocking in early, and you're going to hang around a little later, and you're going to make sure the boss sees all the extra effort you're putting in. You're going to attain that goal. You're going to do what you need to do to attain it. You want to lose weight, then that means you're going to go on a diet, and you're not going to drop off it after the first day, and you're going to exercise. If you really want something, you'll work for it. And the same is true with spiritual desires. You all have them. I know God has placed them in your hearts. He's made you zealous for good works. And he, Philippians 2 tells us, has made us not only zealous for them, he's not only given us the will for them, but he's also enabled us to do good works. So you have to be thinking about that. What can I do to attain these godly aspirations? Maybe it's You want to read your Bible more. You want to understand God's word more. What are some things you could do, tangible things? How can we put hands and feet to this aspiration? Well, join a Bible study, right? Or take notes in church. during the sermons, or start a reading plan. There are any number of things. Or let's say you want to become more hospitable, but you're kind of scared and you don't know what to do. You just start. OK, maybe I'm going to invite one person over every two months. I'm just going to try there and see how it goes. We need the aspiration, but we need to put it into action. Now, since Paul, though, is specifically talking about eldership here, I want to say a few words about what that would look like and also what it doesn't look like. First of all, note that Paul is commending in any man the desire or the aspiration to be an elder. Look at the text. The saying is trustworthy, if anyone aspires. If any man yearns for this, he desires a noble task. So Paul is commending in anybody the desire to be an elder. But notice he is not saying that everyone will be an elder. Of course, ordained office is a calling. It's a calling that is first and foremost internal. It begins with that desire. It begins with that aspiration. But then it is confirmed externally through the leadership of the church, through the congregation of a church, through the presbytery, and so forth. But even if God, dear brother, even if God is not calling you, to ordained office. Having a desire for it, we're told, is good and right. Just desiring it is a noble thing. But let me add some qualifications. First, it is not a godly aspiration to want to be an elder for the sake of yourself. That is a common problem in the church, something that plagues many churches, where people get into office who, Peter talks about this, who are desirous for greedy gain. They want to get their own way. They want to enforce their own rules. I want to become an elder so that I can make the church look like the way I want the church to look like. That is not a godly aspiration, and Paul's not commending that. Second though, another qualification, if you do desire to be an elder but you don't pursue that desire because you think maybe that's arrogant, maybe that's braggadocious, I want you to think again because to deny godly ambition is not a sign of humility, it's actually a sign of folly. It's a sign of foolishness to deny godly ambition, that ambition that God himself has placed in your heart. It's resisting the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification to deny godly ambition, whatever that ambition may be. But I do want to thirdly here exhort the men in our congregation and the boys in our congregation. You might be eight years old, you might be married with kids, but I'd like you to listen to this exhortation. It is never too early to start pursuing godly ambition. For the men of our church, for the young men of our church, start now at becoming the man of God that you want to be when you grow up. Start now. It's never too early. Start practicing the behaviors today that will shape you into the man that you want to be tomorrow. Cultivate habits of kindness and patience. I mean look in particular if we're talking about eldership you read verses 2 and 3 and 4 We're given 5 6 7 we're given the qualification of an elder if you have an ambition a desire and aspiration to be an elder See the things that qualify you to be that and put them into practice now Be kind now be gentle now be self-controlled now Be a man of your word. Treat the women that you come into contact with as your sisters in Christ. Work hard. These are all things that will grow any young man into a man of God. And among those godly desires that you should cultivate, I would encourage you that you should aspire to the office of elder until God, through His Holy Spirit, makes it clear that you're not called to that office. You should aspire to it. You should make it an aim, make it an ambition. Now, as I've already said, what makes the nature of eldership noble or good, as Paul uses the language, it really has everything to do with the nature of the church. Paul here is really exalting the institution of the church more than he's exalting the office of eldership. that there is a faithful saying about the importance of elders because Christians understood back then how important church was. And elders were crucial in maintaining and governing and protecting and promoting and pursuing the peace of the church and the purity of the church. Church government was not boring to them. Church government was a necessity and a means of maintaining what had been entrusted to them. And so I want to close this evening by offering you three reasons why the New Testament, three reasons the New Testament gives us and three reasons why the early church understood the church to be so essential. Three reasons why the early church recognized that this is not a take it or leave it kind of matter. And I want to do that by using the metaphors that the New Testament uses for the church. So just briefly here in closing, consider three metaphors and what they teach us about the nature of the church. First, the Apostle Paul In Colossians, in Romans, in 1 Corinthians, in Ephesians, he says that the church is the body of Christ. That's the first one. The body of Christ. Christ is the head of the body. We are members of the body. And while the head is in heaven, we, his body, are here on earth. In other words, we are Jesus' ambassadors and representatives on earth. Guy Prentice-Waters, he's a theologian, RTS, says that the church is the visible representation of the reign and rule of Christ on earth. That's what it means to be the body of Christ. The church is, and this is what early Christians understood, that the church is meant to be ambassadors or representatives of Christ. The church is called out of a world of sin to bring the world of righteousness to bear on a cruel and twisted generation. We, as the church, do his bidding. We are his hands and feet, as it were. Hence the metaphor, right? We're his body. And the metaphor also draws out diversity, right? If you look over at 1 Corinthians 12, we're told of the importance, not just of elders, but really this is the importance of the whole church. This is the nature of the church. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12, for just as the body is one, that is, the physical body is one, there is one unit, yet it has many members, that is, there are many different parts that make up a body, And all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. Friends, we're not all given the same personalities, the same giftings, the same callings. That's why not everybody is called to be an elder. And just as every part of the human body is different and yet serves the same goal, which is the health of the body, so too in the church, every member is different, but every member is serving one ultimate goal, one ultimate function, the health of the church, the well-being of the church. And you don't need to be an elder to do that. We're all called to build up the body and function in various ways. so that the will of Christ would be done here on earth as it is done in heaven. And so Paul says it is a noble task or it is a good work for those who willingly, joyfully, cheerfully take up the call of an elder, which means they're going to shepherd that body, this body of representatives, this group of ambassadors. He says that is a good work for somebody to willingly take up that call to govern what he has entrusted here as he ascends into heaven. He has entrusted to elders that weighty task of representing Christ. He has entrusted elders, not just with governing a body that represents Christ, but he's entrusted elders with representing Christ. And that's why we get this list of qualifications of what it takes to be an elder. And it takes Christlikeness, because elders are to set the example. of representing Christ, that the church would follow in their footsteps. So the church is the body of Christ. There's another metaphor that the New Testament uses, and that is the church is the building of Christ. Church is the building of Christ. Yes, I'm using that word for alliterative purposes, because the word the New Testament uses is temple. But we could say it's the worship building of Christ. When the church is referred to as a temple, it reminds us that the primary role of the church is indeed worship. And in the old covenant, where did you worship? You worshiped at the temple. And that's still true in the new covenant. The only thing that has changed is where is that temple now? The location of the temple has changed. We have now become the temple. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? And this teaches us that we are all indispensable. to the work of worship. Now, when I say indispensable, I don't mean that God needs us in any way, but what I mean is that God is pleased to be worshipped, and He's also chosen for that worship to be in and through us. What an astounding thing! The absence of a physical temple in the New Covenant is indicative of the worship that is to come in the new heavens and the new earth. That world to come will be a place that is always and only and everywhere worship. That's why John writes in Revelation 21, I saw no temple in this city. There wasn't one specific place of worship. The whole new heavens and new earth is the place of worship. When we come to church wherever we are gathered. It does not need to be a physical building, but when we come called by God, where two or three more are gathered and God is present in our midst, He stamps upon us our identity as being the building blocks of that new heaven and new earth reality. He's reminding us that it is us, as a people, that He has called and redeemed and brought together by His Spirit. We, as a people, are the building, are the temple. We're the building blocks of the world to come. So Peter writes that you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ. That's 1 Peter 2.5. Peter's saying you are a spiritual temple to do what? To worship, to offer sacrifices. This is the purpose that we are united to one another and that we're called by God. It is to worship. And so the elder is one who is tasked with purifying and protecting and promoting the worship of God. And so Paul says, that is a noble task. That is a good work. One last metaphor used in scripture about the church. The church is the bride of Christ. The church is the bride of Christ. We're learning here how the early church had such a great respect for the doctrine of the body of believers, the doctrine of the church. They knew that the church was Christ's body, which meant that she was here to serve him, to do his bidding. They knew the church was also meant to be a worship building, a temple, a spiritual temple of the Lord. But when they are told, for instance, in Ephesians, that they are the bride of Christ, they're taught not just that they have a job to do as being the body of Christ. They're not only taught that they have worship to do, being the building of Christ. Here they're taught that they are loved with a love that defies all understanding, a love that is incorruptible, a love that is everlasting. That's what it means for the church to be the bride of Christ. It's a language, it's an image, it's a metaphor, it's a picture for us to understand the way that Jesus Christ views us. He loves us. We're his bride. We are loved beyond measure. The church is the apple of Christ's eye. And so to be an elder is to love what Christ loves. That means to be an elder is to love the church. Of course, this is good for every Christian. to do. We must always make our heart's desire line up with Christ's desire. That's why it makes, friends, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to call yourself a Christian and say you want nothing to do with the church. It's oxymoronic. In the New Testament, the scriptures know nothing of this idea of a lone ranger Christian. Somebody says, I can do it on my own. I have a Bible. I have a closet. I can go there and read the Bible on my own and encounter God on my own. And I don't need the church. You've perhaps heard Martin Luther's quip about people who say they don't need the church, but they just need their Bible in their private prayer closet, and that's all they need. He says, if everybody reads the Bible on their own, that just means they all go to hell in their own way. We need the church. We need the church. We should love the church. If you're a Christian, how can you claim to love Christ and then not love what Christ loves? His love is part of what makes him who he is. Can you imagine telling your spouse that you love them but you are not interested in what they're interested in. You're not interested in the slightest in that thing which is most important and most special and most precious to them. It would make no sense. It would mean in reality you did not love your spouse. All Christians must love the church simply because Christ loves the church, but especially for the elder, especially for the pastor, for the leadership of the church. They must not only love the church, but they also must love the church the way that Christ loves the church. And this is hard. This is what makes it a noble calling. Because how did Christ love the church? He loved the church sacrificially. So elders are called to love the church sacrificially. So as I'm encouraging young men to be thinking about what it would mean to be an elder and to have that godly aspiration, know that this is the cost that it comes with. There's sacrifice. It means sacrificing your time. It means being here in worship. It's part of leading worship. It means sacrificing your energies. your emotions, especially, to be a shepherd, an under-shepherd of Christ's flock. And if you're not ready to make that sacrifice, then you're not ready to be an elder. Now, of course, none of us do these things perfectly, and that's why, praise God, the hope of the church does not rest upon my love for the church, because it is so imperfect, or Bob or Perry's love for the church, because we're all flawed. The hope of the church rests upon Christ's love for the church, the true shepherd, the true overseer. Because he loved in a sacrificial way that did not just mean giving his time or giving his emotions or giving his energy, it meant giving his life. He shows his love for the church by dying for her. The bride of Christ is the blood-bought bride of Christ. That's how much Jesus loves the church. And that's why Paul, when he is leaving the church in Ephesus in Acts 20, and he's charging the elders there, he makes a point to draw this connection. This is Acts 20, verse 28. He says to the elders, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you elders. to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood." What a word of caution and warning. Paul's saying, look out for the church in case you need reminded this church is the people that Christ died for. Christ bled and died for the church, and he bled and died for no one else. It's not as though that Jesus died for each sinner individually, though he certainly did, but it's not as though he went to the cross just thinking about you or just thinking about me with no thought of you and me together. Jesus went to the cross with you in mind and with me in mind, but he went to the cross with you and me in mind together as part of the entire redeemed host for whom he came to save. Our salvation is deeply personal, but it is never private. When we are saved, we are part of a multitude that cannot be numbered. And whether that multitude is in heaven or on earth, we call that multitude the church. For when Jesus died, he did not just die for any one Christian. He died for every Christian, and every Christian is the church. That's why the ancient theologians in our reformed confessions are so adamant that ordinarily there is no salvation outside of the church. Paul says that the overseer desires a good work because the church is the ultimate good work of Jesus Christ. The church is established and defined by His sacrificial good work on the cross. It's the good work of salvation that makes the church the church. So if you don't want the church, you have to reject the salvation that is found within her doors. You have to reject her head, her Savior, her husband, Christ. And that is why this faithful saying, 1 Timothy 3.1, though not evident immediately, is of the utmost importance theologically, and has everything to do with salvation. Calvin has famously said that one cannot have God for his father who does not take the church for his mother. So friends, do you want to be saved? Do you want to know that immeasurable love of Jesus Christ? then you will love Christ and you will love what he loves. You will love the church. At any moment her doors are open, you will run to the church because you know this is where you get to meet your Savior, your Savior who loved you to the point of death. Paul in this passage is highlighting the work of elders in particular, but we are drawing out the implications of the church in general and for believers in general. Yes, the elder has a particular calling, a high calling to oversee the body of Christ and her worship, and a call to love the church. But remember that Christ has redeemed all of us to be zealous for good works. So may we all have a zeal for that ultimate good work that Christ accomplished at the cross. that good work of saving the church. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. And we know it is not ours alone, but it belongs to an innumerable hosts, the elect from the foundations of the world to the end of the world, from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have sent your Son to save your people. Lord, if there are any here tonight who do not belong to this people, do not belong to your body or your bride, would you, by your Spirit, bring them in? and give them a love for the church. And for those of us who do belong to the church, we confess that our love, our desire, our care for the church is often faint and frail and flawed. God, would you forgive us and would you stir within us that great desire for your great work And would we be able to say that I love thy kingdom, Lord? We ask this for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand to sing our final hymn this evening, 405. 405, we'll sing, I love thy kingdom, Lord. 405. I love thy kingdom, Lord, The house of thine abode, The Church, our blessed Redeemer, Saved with His own precious blood. I love thy Church, O God, Her walls before thee stand, Dear as the apple of thine eye, And graven on thy hand. For her my tears shall fall, For her my prayers ascend, To her my cares and toils begin, Till toils and cares shall end. Beyond my highest joy, I prize her heavenly grace, Her sweet communion, solemn vows, Her hymns of love and praise. Jesus, Thou Friend Divine, Our Savior and our King, Thy hand from every snare and foe shall brave deliverance bring. Sure as thy truth shall last, to Zion shall begin. The brightest glories earth can yield, and brighter bliss of heaven. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest and remain with you now and forevermore. Amen. Oh.