We enjoyed the little trip that we took, but we were pretty well sick most of the time we were there. But it was good to be somewhere where we didn't have to clean the house after we got done. We could just get up and leave. But God is good, and we are feeling better. I'm still sounding under the weather a little, and I am. somewhat under the weather, so you pray for me and bear with me this morning. We're going to continue our study in the qualifications for elder this morning. And then as Brother Paul mentioned, he will be bringing the message on the deacons next week. So turn in your Bibles this morning to 1 Timothy 3. We're going to look at the first seven verses that deal with the qualifications of elder or bishop. 1 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 1. Hear the word. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that runeth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he should fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them that are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Jesus Christ our Lord. We come before You in His name, submitting these words to Your people that we may know more about who You would have us to set apart as an elder in our church. Thank You that You have given us these words. And we pray we would be faithful in our use of them, that we would honor Christ in them. For Christ's sake we pray, Amen. Now last week we talked about that the passage that we looked at and the terms we looked at last week were Terms that were negatives, things that must not be. This week we're looking at the terms that are positive that express exactly how a deacon should be, what he should be like. And before we get started, I want to note two main things as preface. Number one, is that Paul is writing to Timothy, but he's also writing to the church. In the book of Acts, we have Paul's instructions to give to Timothy and Titus, the admonition to set apart elders in every church. The plural is there, so there could be more than one as the Lord puts forth in the congregation. But we also notice that they, the church, are to have a part in setting those men apart. The word used for setting apart is the use of the hand, which indicates a vote. set apart by vote, those that will be looked upon as and filling the office of bishop and elder. In 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15, he goes on to say that the church is the foundation, how does he say it, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Now, we don't take that to be like the Roman Catholics do, to believe that the church has the truth and then it gives the truth to the church. That's kind of awkward anyway. How does the church give the truth to the church? Is it behind the back or is it up in front? Hand to hand? And they believe that God gave the Word of God to the magisterium in the church, the bishops, the hierarchy, and that through the priests and the bishops, they would give the Word to the people of God. But we believe that God gave the Word of God to the people of God, and that the people of God, the Church, is the pillar and ground of the truth. We are the ones that are responsible for holding forth that Word in a dark and evil day. We are not the source of the truth, but we are the ones that Paul says to Timothy in Philippians, holding forth the word of life. Standing forth in a dark, wicked world. and holding the light of the truth of God. So as Paul is writing to Timothy, he's giving him instructions on the way the church should be ordered, but not in such a way as to Timothy being solely responsible for ordering the church. But as elder in the church, he was to teach the church their responsibilities. And so Timothy didn't have any private revelation from Paul given to him that he would then go to the church and say, alright, Paul told me how I'm supposed to do that, so y'all just sit there and I'll be picking out the elders for you this morning. No. He publicly gave him these qualifications that the church would have them. And therefore, we the church are responsible for seeing that that's the kind of elders we get. Amen? So there is a responsibility going with this. Don't just sit back and say, well, that's for the elders and that's for the pastors. This doesn't bother me. Yes it does. You need to be thoroughly connected up with what is going on here so that you can understand your responsibility in making sure that the man of God that we put in the pulpit is truly qualified by God and by the Word of God to be bringing forth the Word of God to the people of God. So that's why we're doing this. So I hope you're kind of paying attention and saying, you know, when we look at anybody else, it's these kind of qualifications that we need to look at. These and not any others. So I want to go back over what we looked at last week in negative. reproach, one that cannot be laid hold of. Two, he's not supposed to be a fighter. Yes, he is to be a strong man, able to lead his family and his wife, yet he's meek, not of a fighting character. He is not to be a lover of money. He is not to be given to wine. He does not sit long at his wine. He is not a striker. He is not greedy of base gain. And he is not to be a neophyte. He is not to be a new Christian. Those are the NOTs. On the other side, we have what he must be. And we look at verses 1-3 and see some of these. Number 1, He is to be a one woman man. A man of one wife. This does mean this term is masculine. It means a male as opposed to a female. A husband as opposed to a wife. And that's why we do not set apart women to the role of pastors. I don't know why some churches do, but we don't. The Word of God forbids it. Wife, as modified by the following word, one wife. Of one wife, not of two or of more. One is a cardinal number, meaning specifically one. This is a limiting idea, however. It is not prescriptive. That means he does not have to be married. But if he is married, he's only married to one woman in every city. He goes, no, just one woman. One woman man. The other commands of scripture help us to see that if his wife is unfaithful to him, his divorcing her does not disqualify him. This also applies to the idea that once his first wife dies, he is free to take another wife, only in the Lord. The second term we come across is Nephalion, which means sober, temperate, abstaining from wine, either entirely, or from its immoderate use. But this term is probably to be taken in the thought processes, meaning sober and temperate, tempering his whole mindset. He's not to be one that flies off the handle quickly. He's not to be one that is like one who sits long at his wine. Wine is not to be something that identifies him. Thirdly, he is to be soprano. That word is made up of two words, sophos, from which we get our word sophisticated, which means wise, and phronos which means to think. So he is to be of sound mind, in one's senses, sane, wise minded. curbing one's desires and impulses in a way that a person is self-controlled, temperate, sober-minded, a sane mind. Do you get it from all that? He's supposed to be a sane person. No, that does not disqualify me. He's supposed to be self-controlled. One that, again, does not fly off the handle. He is temperate. He is in control of his heart, his mind, his emotions. He is of sober mind. Next, we come to the word Kosmion, from which we get our word Kosmos, or world. which means well-arranged, seemly, or modest, a well-ordered something. In other words, the world in which we live is well-ordered. It's not a chaos like many of the modern scientists believe, but it is well-arranged. It shows purpose everywhere, and beautiful purpose at that. When used modifying a man, it is of a man living with decorum, one who has a well-ordered life. We get our word cosmetology from this word, which means well-ordered hair. A godly, decorated life. I'm going to refrain from foolishness. I nearly was, but anyway. A godly, decorated life. A life that says, I want to adorn the glory of the gospel in everything that happens in my life. So I want my house to be orderly. I want my children to be orderly. I want my dealings with men and women in the world to be well ordered. I don't want to be running around having to escape one town to go to another because people are finding out how I really live. I should have a well-ordered life. The next one is a lover of hospitalities. The word is really lover of strangers. In other words, it's not just your household you're thinking about entertaining, but People that you may not have known them for a long time, but because of the gospel, you welcomed them into your home. My wife laughed because in the churches I've been in, there have been strangers who wandered up to the door. And because our house was usually right next to the church, they presumed the pastor lived there, and they would go to the pastor's house and ask the pastor if he could have some money for gas or this or that. And many times I was willing to do that, but most of the time I would say, if you will come in and either have supper with me or come in and share coffee and spend a couple of hours talking about the Gospel, I'd be glad to share with you. Some of them would say, well, I really don't have time. And sometimes I'd say, well, I really don't have money. You need to go on down the road then, because if you want money, you need to listen to the Gospel. I got so sick of people waiting until 1215 and coming up as church dismissed and wanting to ask the people of the church for a donation. Well, why didn't you come before church? Why didn't you come to hear the gospel? We want you to hear the gospel. I'm thinking of one particular person whom we have helped many, many times. And this person continues to come at a time when we are not having church. And I've gotten to where I'll say, I won't give you money until you come to church. I won't do it. That makes some people very offended. One lady even cussed me out. The point is, we want to help people, but if the gospel is not to be received by that person, I don't have anything good to give them. There is nothing as good as the gospel! And if they reject the gospel, they're rejecting me. They're rejecting my Savior. They're rejecting the resources my God has given me to help people and to help people that really do need help. Well, I don't want to spend too long on this, but the point is, the pastor should be furnished by the church with enough goods to be able to help people when they need help. But he should be furnished with wisdom to know who really needs it and who doesn't want anything to do with the Gospel. And there's a difference between those. I know some people don't like that. That's ok. But that's the way I'm going to go ahead doing it. The point is, I love to help people. My problem is usually I'm too nice to people. I give them too much. And that's why Cheryl laughed. You know, who are we having for lunch today? But I have noticed, if there is someone who wants to hitch a ride, and I've got my wife with me, I'll not pick them up. God has given me my wife to take care of, to protect. Now, I'll do it by myself, but I don't have time to watch me and her and him all at the same time, and I'm not going to put her under that type of situation. But a godly pastor should be hospitable, willing to love strangers. In the day of the Gospel, in the day of the first century, men and women went from place to place. And many times, preachers would go from place to place. And rather than staying in an expensive inn, they would find the people that were God's people in the church And God's people would provide them a home. That's not really the way we live. I mean, we don't just have the pastor of Grace Baptist Church taking off on a trip and then getting to Watson, Ocoogee, Washington, wherever that is, And then calling up, is there a Reformed Baptist church here? You know, me and my wife are here and we just need a place to stay and we thought y'all would... Now there are some times that we get stranded on the highway and if we know of someone that is a Reformed Baptist, we might try to contact them for a contact for help, but we certainly don't go expecting them to put us up for the night. We don't live as they lived. Many of them really lived going from place to place preaching the gospel, not knowing where they would be staying next. But my question to those who are called to preach the gospel is, are you a lover of strangers? Do you want to help people because they need the gospel. Are you willing to adorn the gospel with a lovely life that shows you're willing to share it? The next word is easily understood, didacticon. It's not easily pronounced. Didacticon, which means apt and skillful in teaching. Now here, we park company with some of the other brothers that order their churches differently. Some churches believe that there are teachers in the church and then there are elders. Though the elders may need to be able to teach, yet they're not going to be called on to do that because that's the office of the teacher. Well, the Scripture here teaches that if you're going to be a bishop, If you're going to be in the office of elder, you need to be able, willing, and skillful to teach the Word of God. You need to have studied it, and studied it, and studied it, and presented it to people in such a way that it adorns Christ Jesus our Lord. One of the other reasons that I don't believe in every member evangelism is that not every member is equipped to be able to share the gospel in a logical, fine way. We are to share what we know, and we are to tell people the things that Christ has done for us, and we are to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies in us. But at the same time, I'm not going to gather up a whole group of you and put a burden on you and say, now we need to get everybody that can to come down to the church Tuesday night, and we're going to have prayer, and we're going to split up, and we're going to go to different houses, and you're going to be giving your testimony, and you're going to be preaching or teaching the gospel. No, that's for those that are able to teach. And not everyone is able. But every elder should be able and ready. And as part of his office, he ought to be teaching. F-E-I-K, the next one, which means seemingly suitable, mild, and gentle. Equitable, fair, easy to get along with. Not real, real hard to please. He may be hard to believe some of men's mistakes. He may not just swallow everything down whole, but in his disagreeing with you, he'll be agreeable. He'll be gentle with you as a person. And he'll say, listen, let's go to the Scriptures. Let's talk about these things. God did not call preachers to be fighters. I don't believe He even called preachers as a whole life to be a debater. I believe He's called pastors to preach and teach and to be mild and gentle toward people, so that people can understand the love and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But He should not be one that gives in to everything that comes up. He needs to be well prepared to present the Gospel. Now verses 4-6, there's a couple of ideas here we want to look at. He should be ruling his household well. The word for ruling means to stand above it, which means to be over, to superintend, to preside. An elder should preside over his family. His family may not like it. His family may not agree with him. His family may not even agree with his whole line of thought. But he should preside over and rule them, not with a rod of iron, but with mild and gentle entreaties. But he is to rule his own house. The home is the training ground for the pastor. If he doesn't rule his home well, that's not going to work. Paul says, having his children, ta techno, all of his children, in subjection, having them respect your authority, in subjection with all gravity and integrity." Now this does not mean that every one of your children must be converted. But they must respect your authority in the home. If they don't respect that, they don't need to be in the home anymore. Respect That presidential authority that the man has over his own house? Paul asked the question, for if a man knows not how to stand over or preside over his house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Now that word, take care of, it's an interesting word in that it is the word that is used when the good Samaritan poured oil and wine into the wounds of the man that had been left as half dead. And he took him and he brought him to the inn, and the Bible says he took care of him. And then he left him with the innkeeper, and he said that was probably a hospital in their day, He said, I've got to go a journey when I come back. You take care of him and whatever more is needed, I will pay. How did he take care of him? He dealt with his needs. So we see that being a pastor in the church is helping to take care of the needs of church members. And if you don't know how to stand over your own children, your own family, how are you going to try to take care of the needs of the church? A man must preside over his children or else he cannot take care of and preside over the church. He must be a good ruler, really. That's what it means. And then finally, it is necessary to have a good report, a good testimony from them that are outside. Now that doesn't mean that all the Unbelievers need to be in good standing with you. It doesn't mean that you need to be going down to the coffee shop with all the unbelievers and sitting through all their unbelieving talk and their ragging on Christ and the church and all that is good. But it means that the people on the outside cannot bring a just your type of living. They may not like it. They may snarl at the way you live. They may make fun of the way you live, but they can't bring a just accusation against the way the pastor rules and lives in his own household. He ought to so live in the world that the world would not be able to say, that guy's a thief. There was a guy that was pastor of a church before I had gotten there, who literally got the church to borrow more than $40,000, and about half of it went into his own pocket. And then they folded up, and the note went back to the bank. And then later after I got there, he came and told people that he himself was so good that he went and paid off the note at the bank. Somebody told me that. I said, I wish you'd go tell the bank that because we're still paying them. That's not the kind of guy that needs to be a pastor. That's a robber. That's a thief. That's the wolf. Needs to have a good testimony. The word testimony is from our word martyrs. The voice of the martyrs. They have a testimony that they love Christ. They fill that testimony with their blood. Do you have a testimony of a good report with the world outside. And then it's lest they should fall into condemnation, shame, and reproach that belongs to the devil. In verse 6 it says, Not a new plant, not a neophyte. Lest he be lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. As high as you think you may be filled up with pride, you're still down below with the condemnation of the devil. You're not getting anywhere. Don't be lifted with pride. Now I want to close with a few comments on these things. First of all, we see through all of these positive words that a man that is in the office of elder should be gentle, mild, meek, Loving, gracious, strong, ruling his house, and yet meek with, you know, you should be wise as serpents, but gentle as doves. Not hurting anyone. And then one of the last thoughts I want to leave you with is, who can be all this? Who is sufficient for these things? We don't line up. I don't line up on all these. I seek to. I try to. I know I must. But in myself, I cannot be these things. I need a Savior. And I need to be one who sees himself as only in Jesus Christ can I do any of this. But at the same time, I recognize that this is what I'm called to be. Just as we have the command in Scripture, Be ye holy. For I the Lord your God am holy. And we look at it and we say, I can't be holy. And God knows that. And He says, be holy. You need holiness. Where do you find it? In the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we flee to Christ and Christ says, go and sin no more. We need to be looking at these qualifications not as a perfection list that we can hold against someone and say, you're not all of this, you're not perfect. But as a guide to what is their character life? Is God bringing them along in these ideas? Or are they at the brand new, fresh front door of salvation? If they are, they're not ready to be a pastor. But we don't look for perfection. We look for someone who is trusty in Christ alone. and who has learned how to order his conversation aright, and to walk in the ways of Jesus Christ, following Paul as he followed Christ. And these are the things that we need to look at. So I want you to be looking at these things in 1 Timothy. These are the qualifications, not our man-made ideas. Not something we might would want to see a pastor be. I sure would like my pastor to have three cars and a station wagon and a pickup. That's irrelevant. I want my pastor not to have stolen two of those cars. Okay? How did he get what he got? How is he living for Jesus? What would his kiddos tell you about him? I know when our kiddos were growing up, if you were to ask them, what are your parents really like? They would say, they're tough. But then they would say, but we love them. We were not too harsh. We made mistakes. I've told you about the little boy. I picked up and paddled him four or five times before I realized he wasn't my boy. So be glad that I don't have children your age, your children's age. But these two boys, they almost looked like twins. And I just grabbed the one I thought was mine, and it was certainly my son screaming. And I was going to stop the screaming. But I thank God for what He's done in our lives. I thank God for what He's doing in our church. We want a man like this. And we're doing the best we can to find that man. And find out how he might fit in here. So pray for us. And if you see someone you want to recommend, we're open to recommendations. But pray for us. We've got a man or two we're thinking about. We just haven't gotten together. We don't know. I can't tell you where we're headed. I don't know. I just know this is the type of man we're looking for. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.