Well, George Harley might not be a familiar name to you. He was a medical doctor who went to Liberia with his pregnant wife, obtained a medical degree from Yale University, his PhD in tropical diseases from the University of London, and he set out to serve in a remote jungle area in Liberia. I reached this particular village after walking 17 days with his pregnant wife. Did I mention that? After five years, there was no visual response to the gospel. No converts. Every week they met for worship. The people were invited to come, but no Africans joined them. Then his son died. He himself had to make the coffin and carry it to the place of burial. He was all alone there except for one African who had come to help him. As Harley was shoveling the soil onto the casket, he was overcome with grief, and he buried his face in the fresh dirt and sobbed. The African who was watching raised the doctor's head by the hair and looked into his face for a long time. Then he ran into the village crying, white man, white man, he cry like one of us. At the following Sunday service, the place was packed with Africans. Harley served in Liberia for 35 years. His achievements in numerous fields are amazing, produced the first accurate map of Liberia, given the highest award Liberia could bestow. Before all of that, he had to give his son. The account of George Harley reminds us that the care of souls is time-consuming, labor-intensive, emotionally taxing work. To really enter into someone else's plight into someone else's life, to really invest in a significant way. For Harley, it meant the death of his son, and that created an opportunity, a context for the people to be able to see Harley as a broken human being like them. It's the product of relationship, the product of many hours spent and invested. If we were to interview Harley today, he would tell us undoubtedly that it was worth it. That the consequences were eternal. What came out of his investment was something so great that he would never want to take it back. We talked last week again about first responders, people who show up in the midst of crisis. to help people in medical emergencies, at the scenes of accidents, give themselves for the good of others, risk their own well-being in order to rescue someone else. And George Harley was a spiritual first responder. He was one who showed up, who sought to help people who didn't even know that they needed help, who really weren't interested in his help. But he gave himself in the care of others. And we liken that to the ministry of the overseer that Paul talks about here in 1 Timothy 3. Overseers are ones who show up. The root of this word has to do with visiting someone, looking in on someone, guarding over someone, checking up on them. Of course, God being the great overseer, The great guardian of our souls, as one translation puts it. Even the Hebrew slaves, as they were in Egypt, began to languish under the oppression of Pharaoh. And we're told that Moses encountered God in the burning bush. And God said to Moses, go tell my people that I have visited them. that I'm not distant, that I haven't forgotten, that I'm keeping track of them, that I'm watching over them, that I'm here. This is the ministry of an overseer. God Himself being the most outstanding example, but we too are given the opportunity and are given the responsibility to oversee and care for one another. Specifically, Paul is talking here about church leadership. It's been his whole context here of how the church is to function as they gather in the local church, in the family of God. But we all ought to aspire. We all ought to want to come to a place where we could care for others, right? Children, Only look out for themselves. They throw temper tantrums when they don't get what they want. It's a rather one-sided endeavor, isn't it? Of caring for them without getting a lot in return except for maybe some laughs and some smiles and we love them. But they come to a point, our aspiration is as parents that they would come to a point where they would now begin to help others. And so we all, whether in formal leadership or informal, whether male or female, we ought all to want to be in a place where we can care for souls. So 1 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 1, hear the word of the Lord. 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. May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word. So the text here extends several challenges to those who would seek to care for souls, for those who would desire to be overseers, for spiritual first responders. Two of these we considered last week, and I'll just touch on them briefly. Two additional exhortations that we will focus on this morning. The first thing that we noted here is what I call the call you should view the care of souls as a noble task." Paul asks them to think about this type of work in a certain way. Perhaps he knew that it would be a hard sell. He had to acknowledge that the care of souls is labor-intensive, time-consuming work. But it is worth it. It is worth aspiring to. It is worth giving your life in service for others. And so he starts off here and says, this is a trustworthy saying. It is true, even if it doesn't seem like it. Even if it runs counter to what you might think and feel. It is a good, beautiful thing to care for other people. So that initial call, and some of us need to have our worldviews sort of shaped. We would do everything we can to kind of avoid getting involved in other people's stuff. We certainly wouldn't ever want to be considered for church leadership. Think of how much time that would take, how much stress it would involve. We have to have our minds shaped here. And Paul calls us to that, to think about the value of investing in people. And then the criteria, verses two and three, he gives a list there of various character qualifications. You should pursue spiritual health and maturity so you are in a position to care for others. Because this is a noble task, it demands a high standard. Souls are at stake. You must have a pattern of godliness if you are going to influence others toward godliness. So we ought to aspire this, we ought to value this task, and we ought to be taking active steps to be in a place that I can carry out that task, that I can care for other people. So we have to think about, what is my plan to pursue godliness? How am I growing in my own walk with Christ? I can't lead anybody else someplace that I haven't been myself. So we have to think through what that would look like and challenge ourselves in these areas of character, of qualification and criteria. Number three, this brings us into a bit of new territory this morning. Another facet, another exhortation regarding the care of souls. It's what I call the case study. The case study. You should make sure that you are already caring for those who have been entrusted to your care. You should make sure that you're already caring for those who have been entrusted to your care. So verse 4, he must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. So Paul has given a list of character qualities in verses 2 and 3. Now Paul presents a litmus test. What is going on in your home? How are you doing outside the public spotlight? How are you doing in the day-to-day responsibilities? How are you doing in the small assignments that God has already given to you? What is your pattern among those who know you best? He gives several exhortations here. Again, you must manage your own household well. The word manage has a range of meaning. It does have the sense of care for, look after, but it also has a very clear sense of authority. So you're looking after someone, but you're doing so because that person has been placed under your care. You are responsible for them. You are in charge. And so manage is a good word. The King James rendering brought this across as rule. Individual must rule their family well. That's a little strong for us. We might shrink back a little bit from that, but clearly there's an element of authority here that men are to exercise within their homes. They're responsible. There's a heaviness to that charge. If you aspire to lead others spiritually, you must effectively lead those who are already under your charge. You must be engaged, particularly men, fathers, must be engaged in the life of your family. You can't be checked out. You must be embracing the responsibilities that you currently have before you could be entrusted with additional responsibilities. We have a couple of texts that tell us what this looks like. And here in this text, we're given a little qualifier that they are to manage their households well. There's our word again. There's the word for good or beautiful or noble or excellent, right? So they're there to do this, to undertake this responsibility in their homes in a beautiful, attractive, healthy way. And again, a number of texts address this, particularly as it relates to fathers. Ephesians 6, 4, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. Colossians 3.21, fathers, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged, lest you crush their spirit. So it gives us a sense as to what it would look like to lead or manage your family poorly. And maybe that's a good lens for us to think about what it looks like to lead your family well or to manage your family well. not be given to inordinate criticism. Some parents, some fathers are never pleased, are never given to commend their children. No accomplishment is ever enough. That certainly should not be the type of management of your family, the type of authority that you exercise, a critical authority. You should not be overly strict. Particularly as fathers, as parents, there's a lot of things about which we have to say no if we're on the ball, if we're doing our job, right? But not every issue is worth fighting over. Not every issue is one to be negative about. And we better learn, certainly as fathers, to give our children the whys. W-H-Y. To explain why we have held to the particular standard that we have. We have the prerogative as parents to say, because I told you so. Right? Because God has put me as a leader in this home. But a wise parent is going to seek to win the heart of their child. Not just bring about conformity, but to help appeal to their soul. And we can run the risk sometimes of being overly strict and harsh with our kids. You should be consistent. Sometimes we can infuriate our children by arbitrarily punishing them without a consistent standard. Sometimes dads can be checked out, busy at work, emotionally drained, Not really paying much attention until things reach a certain level and then they explode, right? We as guys, we have that tendency, okay? Particularly as men. And those things can certainly embitter our children against us if we are not steady and consistent. You can be stubborn. When is the last time that you acknowledged your sin and asked forgiveness of your kids? or maybe disciplining before you got all the facts, right? Maybe for not being consistent. But when we hold to the high ground, when we're unwilling to admit when we are wrong, certainly that's a way that we embitter or can embitter our children. You can be inauthentic, asking them to do what you are not willing to do. Some parents are shocked at their children's behavior when they probably shouldn't be. If you want your kids to respond appropriately to authority, then that needs to be modeled in your own life. If you want them to love Christ and love His church, then it needs to be a priority for you. in all these ways that we could think of that would be inappropriate ways to manage our family. Here the text says that an individual who would aspire to care for other people must be caring well for the people that are already in their charge. He goes on to say that you must keep your children under authority. He goes on to explain, at least in part, what he means by managing your family. This is a big part of it, is maintaining and keeping your kids under authority. So you must manage well with grace and compassion and love, but you must manage. You must exert and exercise authority. We read in Titus that the children of an overseer should be believers and that they should not be open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. We have Eli in the Old Testament. You might remember his story. He had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Eli was a priest. His sons were priests. And the text says that his sons were wicked men. When people would come and bring their offering, the fat portions should have been, the best cuts of meat should have been reserved for the Lord, but they would demand the best cuts of meat for themselves. And we're told there, God came down and brought judgment on Eli, in part because he failed to restrain them. Yes, it was their fault. They were responsible for their own sin and their own wickedness, but it was also Eli's fault. because He did not bring His children under authority. And He allowed this to persist. The reality is we do ourselves a great disservice, we do our kids a great disservice when we don't appropriately bring them under authority. We sabotage their future, making it difficult for them to work under an employer, for them to function in a marriage relationship. if they've never learned to come under authority. So this is an important task for parents, again, fathers in particular. We have a lot of goals for our kids, maybe academic goals, maybe athletic goals, musical goals. But we must be intentional and make it a priority to bring our kids under authority. The text there in Ephesians 4 says we're not to embitter our kids, but we're to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. So there it is, there's the task stated positively. Discipline, just what it sounds like. Firmness, training, not just punishment for wrongdoing, but formative discipline. We've all walked through that as parents to have to help our kids respond when spoken to, right? To look someone in the eye. and to return a greeting, right? It can be a challenge sometimes, depending on the temperament of our kids, but we work with them because that's important. That's courteous. That is polite. That's a way in which we honor people. That's discipline. We help them establish good work habits. We help them stick with tasks even when they don't want to do it. Even when we have to call them back for the fifth time to finish what we asked them to do an hour ago. And they've made little attempts and they've gotten distracted and we keep coming back to it because we're committed to training them. That's discipline. Challenge in an age of helicopter parents who hover over and shield their children from all hardship when the teacher gives a bad grade, the parents are there to sort of cushion their children and catch them from falling and being at all discouraged. And sometimes we don't allow them to experience hardship. Dwight Peterson, one of Pastor Craig's mentors, was often asked about his kids. Kids were godly young people and was often asked about that. And what are some secrets? What are some tips? And he said, I let them suffer. That advice has always rung in my ears. I've got it secondhand. He said, I don't structure suffering. I don't try to make life difficult. I don't be mean to my kids. But I don't shield them from the natural consequences of their actions. I let them suffer. Walking around the neighborhood last night watching the number of people driving their kids from house to house in the rain. Maybe it was you. But we have this tendency, don't we? We have to acknowledge it, to coddle. We don't like to see our kids suffer. We don't like to see them upset with us. But part of what we're called to is to bring them up in the discipline of the Lord. To help them ultimately come under God's authority. And then instruction, discipline and instruction. Instruction referring to rebuke, admonition, confrontation, words, warnings, appeals. Sometimes I just get tired. I have other things to do and I know that to deal with this properly is going to take time and to be honest, I'm selfish sometimes. I need to be willing to invest, be willing to confront, be willing to challenge my kids. And so we have to ask ourselves, how am I doing in these areas in which God has already entrusted me with oversight? A father's leadership in his home is analogous to the leadership required in a local church. The dynamics are similar. The closest parallel that Paul can think of when it comes to spiritual leadership in the church is family. So the family is the proving ground for spiritual leadership. In Pilgrim's Progress, a Christian encountered a man named Talkative as he journeyed on the way to the Celestial City. We're given a very concise description of talkative. You've maybe heard it before. It was said that talkative was a saint abroad and a devil at home. In other words, he had a certain pattern when he was in public, but his pattern in private was very, very different. God help us from establishing a separate public persona from the realities of our private life. What it is to care for people. You might have a certain amount of charisma. You might have a good foundation of Bible knowledge, but how are you handling the day-to-day responsibilities that God has already entrusted to you? How are you doing in those smaller spheres? Are you being faithful? Are you doing what God has called you to do? So the case study that he lays out there. Finally, what I'm going to call the caution, verses 6 and 7. The caution. You should guard against the strategies of Satan. Here we have two references to the devil. Those who engage in this kind of ministry will find themselves under the enemy's attack. Satan hates God's plan of redemption. We see it even back to His temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. What was the temptation there? The temptation was that Jesus would pick back up His power and kind of bag this whole plan of redemption. He would bag the cross. You see, Satan's intent has been to disrupt the redemptive plan of God. He's against anyone who would seek to build up in Christ's church, anyone who would seek to care for God's people. So we have two particular strategies that we need to be aware of if we engage in this type of work. You must first guard against pride. Verse 6, he must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. The terminology literally is that he shouldn't be newly planted There should be a sense of rootedness there. There should have been some seasons in which the wind has blown against the tree, and that tree has become established. And only then should they be able to serve in leadership. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, wrote about the responsibilities that we have to confess our sins to one another. And he asked the question, who should we confess our sins to? And he said, I'm afraid the only safe rule is that we confess our sins to those who are actively disciplined in confessing their sins to others. And I think Paul says something similar here, that a person should not be put in a place of authority unless they have first shown that they are able to function under authority. So it shouldn't be carved out for a new believer. It ought to be someone who has an appropriate sense of their own sinfulness, their own propensities. And then secondly, you must guard against duplicity. Guard against duplicity. Verse 7, Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. So our normal pattern is to post the names of nominees so that our people can examine that list and discern whether they are fit to lead. In reality, Paul says we might also want to post the list around town. Maybe we could even rent a commercial spot, a couple of local stations. These individuals are being considered for church leadership. Please dial 616. Give your feedback. See how a person functions in the workplace. Do they pay their debts? Are they a good neighbor? All of these things are important because they reflect on the testimony of the church. They would be a means that Satan would use to undermine the testimony of the gospel and the testimony and credibility of the church. If you're a drunk Monday through Saturday and present yourself as a church leader on Sunday, that discredits the church's reputation. And that's just an extreme example, right? In countless other ways, in more subtle ways, in attitudinal ways, we can undermine our testimony. And Satan loves to discredit the church by discrediting its leaders. Well, hunting season has started, right? I've been told, at least for archery season. And my dad is an avid hunter. He's already logged lots of hours in the woods, employing a number of different strategies, you know, he makes sure that he's Not in a place where the wind is going to carry his scent, you know, towards the prey. He puts himself in proximity to a cornfield where there's a food source. He knows the deer travel regularly. He's out there like an hour before the sun even comes up. I know this by experience because I've went with my dad. And he's out there late into the night where you couldn't possibly see anything. But he knows those are the optimum times, right at twilight, to be able to see a deer and bag the trophy buck, going to all these lengths. We need to be reminded that Satan, that we are hunted. That Satan, this is the terminology here, Satan is seeking to trap or to snare. He's putting out things with attractive bait, well camouflaged, so that we won't see what's really going on. And we need to be reminded that we are being hunted. Satan is calculated in his attempts to destroy and discredit. So I ask you this morning, are you a spiritual first responder? Are you one who cares for souls? Perhaps you need to be challenged with the call, right? To really come to a place where you agree with God that this is a really good and beautiful thing. Lots of things you can invest your life into. Lots of hobbies and side things. But have you come to agree with God that an investment in the lives of people is a beautiful, noble investment? Maybe you need to be reminded of the criteria. Maybe there's one or two things in that list that you say, you know, I gotta grow in this area. If I'm gonna really be able to help other people, I gotta achieve some victory here. I need to seek God's face. I need to discipline myself and involve myself in some practices that are gonna help me to grow spiritually. And they take those criteria seriously. Maybe it's the case study. They say, okay, I aspire to this, but how am I doing in the areas in which I've already been entrusted with certain responsibility? What is my pattern here in the private areas? Out of the spotlight? Am I doing the small things that would put me in a place where God could entrust me with bigger things? And then finally, the caution. Have I wrestled with some of the unique ways in which Satan would perhaps want to attack me as I put myself into a role that he hates? And what would I do to guard myself against his strategies? To be aware of his strategies and to guard myself against his strategies.