Well, good morning. I'd ask you to open in your Bibles with me this morning to 1 Timothy chapter 3, to 1 Timothy chapter 3. And I want to read in your hearing this morning, 1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 through 15. Let's give our attention. to the word of the Lord. Beginning in verse one, the saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, 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? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. Deacons, likewise, must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first, then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. And thus ends this reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant word. Let's pray together this morning. Our Father, our great God of mercy. You have promised in your word, in your son, never to break covenant with us. Amid all the changing words of our generation, we ask that you would speak your eternal word to us this morning that does not change. And then may we, in light of your spirit's work, may we respond to your gracious promises with faithful and obedient lives. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, this morning marks the beginning of a new teaching series for us on Sunday mornings, one where we will reflect upon some of the wonderful doctrines that surround Christ's blood-bought church. And I think that it is important to make this preliminary point when we begin to talk about and think about the church. This is not my church. This is not your church. This is not even the church. It is God's church. That's the language there in verse 15, is it not? It is the church of the living God. In verse 5, we see the same thing. How will He care for God's church? We need to keep this in mind. This is the triune God's church. It is his idea. It is his invention. It is his plan. So the father ordained it, the son paid for it with his blood, and the Holy Spirit is building it in and through the preaching of the gospel. This is the triune God's church. It is his church. Which means that when we begin to think about the church, we want to ask, what does God say? We want to ask, what does God say? Not what do I think, not what does man say, but what does God say? We want to yield to his word. We want to think his thoughts after him. We want to bring him glory and honor by humbly doing so. I want to begin this series this morning by asking and hopefully answering the question, what does faithful leadership in the local church look like? What does faithful leadership in the local church look like? That is the question that we will seek to answer this morning. And let's all affirm on the front end, at the very beginning, hopefully, that leadership is a good idea. Leadership's a good idea. In fact, it's not just a good idea, it's God's idea. It is God who ordained leadership in the family. It is God who ordained leadership in the state, and it is God who ordained leadership, yes, even in the church. And when the family, and when the state, and when the church deviates from God's Word, and when they seek to operate independent of God's Word, well, then you can be sure that we have a recipe for disaster. So what we want to do when we seek to answer our questions about God's church, we want to look to the pages of scripture. And when we look at the pages of scripture, we find that leadership in the local church is oversaw and carried out by two distinct groups of men or two distinct offices. Now those offices, as we just read from 1 Timothy chapter three, are called the office of elder and the office of deacon. It is those two offices that make up the leadership in the local church. And for elders and for deacons, for leadership in the church to be faithful that leadership must first and foremost meet God's expectations. That is the first point that I want us to see this morning. Faithful leadership must meet God's expectations. And that is true, beloved, whether we are talking about elders or whether we are talking about deacons. It makes no difference. Faithful leadership, for it to be faithful and for it to be leadership, must meet God's expectations. So what are then the expectations that God laid out in His Word for leadership in His church? I want to give you four this morning, and here they are. Leaders are to be qualified, leaders are to be reputable, leaders are to be accountable, and leaders are to be servants. So let's walk through each one of those this morning. First, as I just said, leaders are to be qualified. We have to understand that not just anyone can be a leader in Christ's church. He must first be qualified. Do you know what the very first qualification is? It's one that is often overlooked. He must be a Christian. He must be a disciple. He must be a blood-bought follower of Jesus Christ. He must understand the gospel and have come to embrace the gospel by faith alone. It all starts there. If the leadership doesn't have a firm grasp on the gospel, if the leadership of the church isn't captivated by Jesus Christ, then it isn't qualified. Then it's just not qualified. The second qualification is that he must, and I want you to look at verse one, because this is where the language comes from, he must aspire to it. Verse one, if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, well then he desires a noble task. He must aspire to it. Let me read in your hearing, 1 Peter chapter five, verses one and two. 1 Peter 5, verses one and two. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but what? Willingly, as God would have you. So 1 Timothy 3, verse 1, aspire, 1 Peter 5, not out of compulsion but willingly. There has to be a Holy Spirit implanted desire within the individual. Do you understand? I hope. Leaders in the church, whether it is this church or any other local church, leaders lead because they want to be here. I can do nothing else. I've tried it. I don't like it. I'm no good at it. I want to be here. I want to teach. I want to preach. This is what I live to do. God has put that desire in me. My arm isn't twisted. This is what you and the elders have not learned yet. I would do this for free. You guys just haven't figured that out yet. And that is true of Steve and Tom and Eddie. And that is true of Tom and Mike, the deacons. Nobody's here because they get paid to be here. We're here because we want to be here. We're here because we aspire to be here. We're here because we want to be here. And any kind of leadership that doesn't want to lead is not leadership that is healthy for the church. So number one, the man has to be a Christian. Number two, the man has to have that Holy Spirit-implanted desire. And after three, you have to meet the moral and spiritual qualifications. Those are listed in the text that we just read. In verses one through seven, you see the moral and spiritual qualifications for the elder, and then in verses eight through 13 for the deacon. When you look at these qualifications, you will note that there's actually quite a bit of similarity. There's a lot of overlap. So just for example, this is just a cursory reading. In the text, both elders and deacons have to have their families in order. Both elders and deacons are to be sober-minded. Both elders and deacons are to be temperate. Both elders and deacons are to be gentle. Do you understand that? There's mass overlap. The fact of the matter is, what the passage is teaching us is that leadership is to be mature. Leadership is to be godly. Leadership is to be bearing fruit. That's the flavor of 1 Timothy 3. They are not perfect men, but they are men who love Jesus. They are not perfect men, but they are men who walk with Jesus. They are not perfect men, but they are men who have no moral glaring weaknesses in their lives. The reason for this is simple. It's because leaders lead. It's because leaders lead, and because leaders lead, they are leading people towards something, right? So the point is that leaders in Christ's church must be themselves. progressing in grace, increasing in maturity and bearing fruit. Why? So that they can lead others to that same end. So faithful leaders are qualified. And secondly, faithful leaders are reputable. Look at verse seven. Look at verse seven. This is where that idea of reputable comes from. First Timothy chapter three, verse seven. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders. He must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into the snare of the devil. Now the outsiders in this passage are the unbelievers. The outsiders in this passage is the world. The outsiders in this passage are those who are sleeping in right now. And what is being expressed here is that leaders in Christ's church can't be one type of guy on Sunday morning at 10.15 and another type of guy on Monday afternoon at the office. Right? They need to have a good reputation. Leaders need to be legit. They can't have a bad reputation in their communities. They can't have a bad reputation in their workplaces. They can't have a bad reputation in their families. They can't be, I like to say, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That doesn't work. Why? Because when people, and this is especially true of leaders, when people live out of step with the gospel, then they will invariably bring a reproach upon Jesus and his church. You know this is the case. Why? Because one of the biggest complaints that is leveled against the church by the outsiders is what? You guys are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. And the expectation for leaders is that such an accusation would be completely and utterly false. Leaders are to be above reproach. That is what the scriptures say. Again, not sinless, perfect men. But those when an allegation or an accusation is brought against them, it holds no weight. Leaders should be reputable. Leaders should be qualified. And also, leaders are to be accountable. Now, we'll talk about the congregation next week and how they are to be accountable. But for now, let's simply note that elders and deacons are not to be rogue agents. They don't sail under their own flag. They are not lone rangers. They're not flying under the radar or off the grid. Quite the contrary, according to the Bible, elders and deacons are to be accountable. And to be more specific, elders and deacons are to be accountable to other leaders. They are to be accountable to the congregation, and they are to be accountable ultimately to who? The Lord, the Lord Jesus, who is the head of His church. When leadership forgets that, leadership goes from healthy to diseased. When leadership forgets that, they go from thriving to dying. And finally, leaders are to be servants. Leaders are to be servants. True leaders don't want their names put up on the walls. True leaders don't want recognition. True leaders don't want pedestals, they don't want thrones, they don't want crowns. This is because true leaders, according to the Bible, are humble servants. True leaders are those, like that leader in John 13 who washed the disciples' feet, You see, true leaders are like Jesus. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20. Let me read to you Acts chapter 20 verses 18 and 19. You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility. First Peter 5 chapter 3 says this to the elders, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. Leaders in Christ's church are those who live to give themselves away in humble service for the well-being of the sheep and for the glory of Jesus. That is the blueprint that is found in the Bible. So those are the expectations of leadership. Qualified men, reputable men, accountable men, and servant men. Those are the expectations. But we would have to know that faithful leadership does more than just that, don't they? Faithful leaders also do what they are called to do. Faithful leaders do what they are called to do. Let's start with elders and then we will look at the deacons in a couple of moments. When we begin to look at elders and what God has called them to do, we do have to take just a very quick, slight detour and shore up exactly what we mean by an elder. And the reason for this is because in the Bible you've got all kinds of words that are used in different ways. So you've got elders, and you've got shepherds, and you've got bishops, and you've got pastors, and you've got overseers. You understand, those are all biblical words. So what's the deal with all of these different words? What's the deal with all of these different titles? What are we to make of it? Let me put it this way. We can't know what an elder is supposed to do until we know who an elder is. So that's what we're gonna look at very quickly. Now a quick anecdote might help shed some light on this for you guys. It was a couple of months ago, I went into the store to buy my wife some chocolates. Now stop right there. Not because I was in trouble, but because good husbands buy their wives chocolates for no reason. And my wife is here, she can verify that. So I go into the store, and I'm looking to buy some chocolate for Wendy, and I run into an old family friend. And I will be honest, it is such an old family friend that I right now cannot remember her name. That's how old of a family friend she is. That's how long it had been since I had seen her. But she recognized me. She immediately walked up to me. She gave me a hug. Oh, how are you? And I'm doing the, hi, how are you? Good to see you, one of those. I still don't know her name. It never did come to me. So we're talking, and as conversations go, she asks that question. She asked, so, what are you doing these days for work? And I said, well, actually, I'm a pastor. Now whenever I tell someone that, they usually respond immediately with two questions that I haven't figured out how to take yet. The first is usually something like this, oh, I didn't realize you were, and then it's something weird that they say, right? Oh, I didn't realize you were religious. I didn't realize you were spiritual. Oh, I didn't know that. Last time I saw you, you were burning the house down. One of those types of things. But her second comment was even more troubling to me. Because after we figured out why I was a pastor and what that whole thing meant, she then said something like this, which I hear all the time. So does that mean that you're like the head honcho guy? So does that mean that you're like the senior pastor? Because you look kind of young. Now those kinds of questions and that kind of language, in all seriousness, it troubles me. And it troubles me because it reveals a fundamental flaw in much of American evangelicalism. And that is this, that the church is my church. or that I'm the senior pastor around here. The reason that troubles me, because in reality, when you look in the New Testament, that type of language does not exist. In actuality, the church is led not by a man, other than Jesus, of course, but at a visible level, the church is led by a group of men. And that group of men in the New Testament is referred to as a group of elders, a group of bishops, a group of pastors, a group of overseers. In other words, every one of those words, they're all used interchangeably in the New Testament, and they always refer to the same group of guys. So we could say it this way, elders are bishops, and bishops are overseers, and overseers are pastors, and pastors are elders. They all refer to the same office, and in every case, it refers to a group of men, or a plurality of men. You don't find that type of language, senior pastor, anywhere in the New Testament. Instead, what you find is a group of pastors, a group of elders, a group of et cetera. I'll give you just a couple of quick examples. Acts chapter 20, verse 17. This is what we read in Acts chapter 20, verse 17. Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders, plural, of the church. He called the elders of the church to come to him. So if you know Acts chapter 20, this is the apostle Paul calling the elders Calling the elders to him. He's gonna give him kind of their fare his farewell instructions before he leaves never to return again So acts after 20 verse 17, he calls the elders of the church. Then he says this in verse 28 So act 17, he calls the elders of the church verse 28 to that same group to those same elders. He says this Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in much in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers So according to the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20, elders are overseers and overseers are elders. It's the same guys, it's the same group. It's a plurality of men that are responsible for the leadership within the local church there at Ephesus. Let me give you another quick example. Titus chapter one. We know the reason why Paul left Titus in Crete. We know the reason that Paul left Titus in Crete. It's revealed to us in Titus chapter one, verse five. Titus chapter one, verse five. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you may put what remained into order and appoint elders, plural, in every town as I directed you. So why is Titus in Crete? Why did Paul leave Titus in Crete? Simple, to appoint a plurality of elders. Now notice this in verse 7, just two verses later, Paul then begins to give the list of qualifications to Titus for these elders. Verse 7, for an overseer, and then he goes on lifting the qualifications. Acts chapter 20, Titus chapter 20, you see the same thing. Overseers are elders, elders are overseers. They are used as synonyms in the New Testament. Let me show you just one last example, and this one is from 1 Peter 5, verses one and two. 1 Peter 5, verses one and two. So I exhort the elders, and that is plural again, so I exhort the elders, plural among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as partaking of the glory that is gonna be revealed, okay? So verse one, I'm exhorting the elders, and then in verse two, this is the exhortation. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. Notice what Peter is doing here in these verses. There are three important words that we wanna grab onto here. Elders, shepherd, and oversight. The group of guys that he is exhorting, we are told in verse one, is the elders. That is the office. But here's the question, how do they function? What do these elders do? Well, according to verse two, they do two things, don't they? They shepherd the flock and they exercise oversight. Just as an aside, I want you to notice in verse two when it says shepherd the flock, that word there, shepherd, is where we get our English word, pastor, from. We could say, we could translate it, so I exhort the elders among you to pastor the flock. So they shepherd the flock, they pastor the flock, and they also exercise oversight. And again, this idea of exercising oversight here, it is the same word that we saw earlier in Titus and Acts chapter 20 and 1 Timothy chapter three that's translated as overseers. So to put it all together here, 1 Peter 5, the office is elder and what elders do, how they function is by shepherding or by pastoring and by overseeing. Friends, what you see in the New Testament for leadership in the church is a plurality of men who all share the same office. The church, according to the apostles, is to be led by a group of pastors, or a group of elders, or a group of bishops, or a group of overseers. All the words refer to the same office and the same group of men. But unfortunately, that is not what we see in most churches today, is it? If we are honest, far too many churches are set up almost like a pyramid, aren't they? There's kind of this one guy who sits at the top. There's this one individual and he is the pope, he is the CEO, he is the head honcho, he is the pastor with the definite article. And the problem with that is the New Testament knows of no such leadership structure. The pattern that is laid down in scripture is that a local church is led by a group or a plurality of men who again are called elders or bishops or pastors or overseers. And they are all equal in their authority. One is no more an elder than the other, if you will. So at this church, I am not the pastor. I'm a pastor. My wife is not the pastor's wife. She is a pastor's wife. I am one of several men who God has raised up to oversee this congregation. And the same is true when it comes to Steve and Eddie and Tom. We are all pastors. We all, granted, have our own unique giftings, but we are all pastors in the full sense of the word. I'm not the senior pastor around here, and the rest of these guys are my associates or something like that. We are all pastors. I might be the voice and the face that you hear and see up front on a regular basis. But that's not because those men aren't pastors, or it's not because I'm the pastor. It's because God has gifted us differently. And just as an aside, it is also because hearing the four of us all preach at the exact same time every Sunday would probably make sermons even more unbearable than they already are. By definition, there is only one face and one voice up here at a time. But we operate in unison one with another. I hope now brief survey, we can see that elders and pastors and overseers and bishops and shepherds, they are all the same thing. The New Testament is talking about the same group, a group of men who work together for the spiritual oversight of the local church. Now, with that foundation being laid, I do want to answer the question, what do elders do? What are they called to do? What is the job description of an elder? Well, first, elders are to be shepherds. First, elders are shepherds. Again, remember, that is where we get the word pastor from in the New Testament. It's the word shepherds. So elders are to be shepherds. They're to be pastors. They're to be shepherds. What do shepherds do? Well, shepherds care for the sheep. That's what shepherds do. That's the imagery, which means that elders are called to care for the flock. Elders are called to care for the church in the same way that shepherds protect and care and watch out for their sheep. So elders protect and care and watch out for those whom God has entrusted to them. Second, elders are not only shepherds, they are also to be teachers. Now you'll notice in verse 2 of 1 Timothy 3 that this is the primary difference in the list between elders and deacons. Elders are those who are to be able to teach. Elders, according to the New Testament, are required to be able to handle the Word of God and to teach it, while deacons are not. This is so important, so critical for us to see in our day and age. We live in a world where there is a famine of biblical exposition. There is a shortage of teachers of the gospel. There is a lack of men who are willing to stand up and say, thus saith the Lord. What do we have instead? We have church leadership that is overrun with businessmen, with those who are skilled in marketing, with those who are adept at strategizing, with those who are gifted planners, with those who have degrees in administration, with those who have charisma and are able to network, with those who, to use a buzzword, have what? They're creative visionaries. Now, I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with any of that, but you know what the problem is? That there's no single shred of New Testament evidence for any one of those as being qualifications to be an elder. What we need, friends, whether we know it or not, are teachers. What we need, whether we know it or not, are preachers. What we need are those men who are convinced and gripped by the gospel and who are sold out and willing to give their lives for that proclamation. The church, more than anything here and around the world, needs Bible expositors. We need men in the church who humbly and expectantly submit to texts like 2 Timothy 2.4. I'm sorry, that's one about being a good soldier. That's important too. 2 Timothy 4.2, I got them switched there. One of you should have caught me. 2 Timothy 4.2, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove and rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. That is what elders are called to do. I am not an event coordinator. I am not a motivational speaker. I am not a party planner. I'm a herald. I exist to do this. Look at the book. There is no greater joy than when I say that language comes from 1 Timothy 3 and I sneak up and you know what I see? I see all of you do this. Thank the Lord. Thank the Lord. I exist to help you and to encourage you to look at the book. Now don't take what I'm gonna say next wrong, but I do wanna say it. The chief way that I love you And I mean that, this is as emotional, my friends know, this is as emotional as I will ever get. The chief way that I love you is not by going to your first, you know, your three-year-old's birthday party. I probably will if you invite me and there's cake, but that's not the chief way that I love you. The chief way that I love you is by putting my nose in the book, by pouring over the text, by immersing myself in the words of scripture so that I come here every Sunday morning with a manuscript of seven or eight pages that I have written out because I care about this so that I've been touched by the text so that I can feed you the same text. That is how I love you. You wanna know how I don't love you anymore? You wanna know when I start taking things loosely? You wanna know when I'm derelict? It's when I come to church on Sunday and I don't have seven or eight pages and I haven't spent hours and hours praying and working through the text. Folks, this is how I love you. This is how I love you. Now, invite me to your birthday parties, serve cake, do it on anything other than a Saturday night, and chances are I will be there. But this is how I love you. And this is how the elders in this church love you. It's because we give ourselves to being teachers of the word. Now, third elders are to equip the church. They are to equip the church. We find this language in Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12. Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12, and he gave the apostles. the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, why? Why would God gift the church? Because that's what they are. Why would God gift the church with these offices? Ephesians 4, 12, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Now, this may come off wrong, but here goes anyway. It is not my job to be doing all the ministry around here. It's not my job. And it's not Steve's job, it's not Eddie's job, and it's not Tom's job, and it's certainly not Mike's job and Joe's job. It's not our job to be doing all the ministry around here. You know whose job it is? Don't get mad at me, get mad at the Bible. It's your job. It's your job. You are the saints who are to be equipped for the work of ministry. Our job, the job of the leadership, is to equip you in and through the word so that you, you can do the work that God has uniquely called and uniquely gifted you to do. It's your job. A faithful Christian life, according to Ephesians chapter four, is you, the congregation, doing gospel ministry. Elders are to be shepherds, they are to be teachers, they are to equip, and what is perhaps the most often overlooked, and this will be our last one on what elders do, elders are to pray. Elders are to pray. Now, for the sake of time, I'm just gonna make allusion to that great picture that we see in Acts chapter six. You remember Acts chapter six with the whole drama that surrounds the Hellenist widows and them being neglected? You remember the apostles, they recognize the need, they see that something is going on that shouldn't be going on, but you'll notice in Acts chapter six that they don't personally take care of it, do they? What do they do? They delegate. That's what good leadership does. It doesn't micromanage, it delegates. Why? Why do the apostles delegate? Because of what is said in Acts chapter 6 verse 4. They delegate because we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The apostles had a priority and it is one that is passed on to the elders. And what is that priority? According to Acts chapter 6 verse 4, it is twofold. It is prayer and word. Notice not word and prayer, but prayer and word. Now I say that because sadly, it seems to me in my limited experience, and I don't mean here, I mean just in general, in pastors that I hang out with, the quickest thing to go in much of leadership in the church is prayer. It's prayer. We're just too busy for it. I have to study. We're too busy for it. I have to get this done. We're too busy for it. I have to do administrative things. We're too busy for it. I have to plan this. We're too busy for it. I have to make the... So what happens to prayer? It gets delegated to particular prayer warriors in the church. Now don't mishear me, there's nothing wrong with being a prayer warrior. I am simply saying that first and foremost, the prayer warriors of the local church are to be the elders. We are to be men who are relentless in prayer, who are devoted to prayer. That's what elders do. They shepherd, they teach, they equip, and they pray. What about the deacons? What about deacons? What are they called to do? Now admittedly, the New Testament has quite a bit less to say on this front. But a picture does emerge when we begin to put all the pieces together. This is what we know from 1 Timothy 3, deacons are servants. According to verse 10, deacons have been examined, you will notice. Deacons are those who meet specific moral and spiritual qualifications just as the elders. And as a result, they are then appointed to the office of deacon. Now, contrary to popular opinion, deacons are not ruling executives or corporate board members. Neither are they building or property managers as if they were somehow to be glorified janitors. Again, I appeal to the New Testament that there's not a shred of evidence anywhere in the scriptures for that kind of view. And it perhaps should be said, why would God require deacons to meet these specific spiritual and specific moral qualifications? And why would God require deacons to undergo an examination process, again, as verse 10 says, if their calling was to scrub toilets and mow the grass? There's obviously something more going on here. Instead, it would seem that the New Testament is painting a different picture altogether. When it comes to deacons, it is the picture of kind and patient and loving and sacrificial service. More specific even than that, deacons are called to provide care for the sick, to provide care for the needy, and to provide care for the elderly. This often takes on the shape of meeting physical and tangible needs in the life of the church. Again, to appeal to Acts chapter six, just like what we saw there with the neglected widows. There was, in the church, those who were needy and those who were elderly, and it was the deacons who were, in that moment, Jesus' hands and Jesus' feet. That is what deacons do. You see, the church can't merely teach sound doctrine. Nor can the church merely meet the physical needs of those around her. According to the biblical model, it is not either or, it is both and. The church does both, and both work in tandem with one another and serve one another so that we teach and we preach and we love and we care. That is what faithful leadership is called to do. That is what faithful leadership looks like. In fact, it looks a lot like Jesus, doesn't it? Jesus is one who taught and preached, and he is one who loved and cared. That is the paradigm that is set forth by the leadership of the local church. So here's the beauty of how God has orchestrated things. to bring this home now to you guys. When the elders and the deacons who meet the specific qualifications, the expectations laid down in scripture, when they are called to their respective offices and when the elders and deacons do what the New Testament calls them to do, it is good for the church and it brings glory to Jesus Christ. It is good for the church and it brings glory to Jesus. Why? Well, here is how faithful leadership is good for the local church, because souls are spiritually cared for. Because when the leadership of the church is doing what the leadership of the church is called to do, the whole church will flourish, and the church will thrive, and the church will grow, and the church will bear fruit. We are a church who I hope and continue to strive for, we are a church who takes seriously the teaching of the Word of God. It is because we are actually some of those crazy people that believe that in and through the teaching and the preaching of the Word that the church is built up. We're those kind of weird people that actually take the Bible seriously when it comes to those types of things. But not only will souls be cared for spiritually, but they will also be cared for physically. Faithful leadership. will keep the church from drawing a false dichotomy between the physical and the spiritual. Faithful leadership recognizes that you and I are holistic beings made in God's image, and as such, we will be cared for. We will seek to meet the needs, not just spiritual, but also physical, of those who are around us. And faithful leadership is also good for the church because faithful leadership keeps the main things, the main things. Keeps the main things, the main things. This is one of the great graces of how and why God has set up leadership in the church to be carried out by a plurality of elders and deacons. Because that way, there isn't just one type A guy who can take and sink the ship. Instead, there is a whole group of gifted and qualified men who preserve the truth. You might not know this yet, but you will learn it if you are new. It is very, very good for you that this is not the Ryan Show. It is super good for you, trust me, that this is not the Ryan Show. The elders and the deacons help keep the main things, the main things. But most importantly, we would want to say that faithful leadership brings glory to Christ. Faithful leadership brings glory to Christ. This is because faithful leadership will be leadership that is serious about the gospel being preached and practiced in the local church. And folks, the gospel is what brings supreme glory to Jesus. Faithful leadership brings glory to Christ. Why? Because faithful leadership will not surrender to the pragmatic philosophies or human innovation that seems to win the day. Faithful leadership will remind us all Faithful leadership will remind the church time and time and time again that we are formed and that we are created and that we are sustained and that we are nurtured by God and by his gospel. And that we need not capitulate to the shifting sands of our culture. Folks, Jesus is enough. Folks, the Bible is enough. The gospel is enough. God giving himself in his son to us is enough. And faithful leadership will make sure that that is the note and the bell that is struck and rung week in and week out. And finally, faithful leadership is faithful. And it brings glory to Christ because ultimately, leadership is both transparent and reflective. By transparent, I simply mean that leadership, I hope, in this church is not the focus. I am replaceable. I am expendable. Faithful leadership gets out of the way from blocking the church's view of Jesus given for sinners on a bloody cross and an empty tomb. Faithful leadership is transparent. And faithful leadership is reflective. By reflective, I simply mean that leaders are to point us and direct us back to Jesus. This is because Jesus is the only one who can truly nourish us. Jesus is the only one who can truly care for us. Jesus is the only one who truly loves us. Jesus is the only one who can truly provide for us. Jesus is the only one who truly ministers to us, who truly forgives us of our sin, the only one who truly gives us meaning and purpose in this life. Which means if you think about it, that in that way, Jesus is actually the faithful leader of this church. Jesus is, to use the language of 1 Peter 5, 4, the chief shepherd. He is the chief shepherd because he is the one who gave his life for you, and he is the one who gave his life for me. He is the one who bought this church with his blood. So Jesus is the leader. Jesus is the head. Jesus is the bridegroom. Jesus is the senior pastor. Jesus is the leader. And Jesus is faithful. And what we want to do is make much of Him. Let's pray together. Our Father, we are thankful to you for Jesus. We are thankful to you for your son, our life. We recognize that every one of us here this morning are merely beggars, thankful for the manna that has been given to us in the gospel of Christ. Lord, it is our desire, it is our prayer that our church here, your church here, be faithful, that your church here be bearing fruit, and that you, by the Holy Spirit, would help us to that end. But we also want to take this moment and pray, not just for this church, but for all the churches that are in this community, those who are faithful, gospel-preaching churches. God, we pray that you would bless them and care for them. We pray that you would strengthen and nourish and build and equip and teach and correct us and all your churches. that you would be in the business of calling us back to your word, that you would be in the business of giving us eyes for Jesus and Jesus alone, that you would be working in each one of us as individuals and as a church, enabling us to better see and testify and magnify to your glory and your grace. God, we pray, as has already been said this morning, leave us not to ourselves this morning. In Jesus's name we pray, amen.