Take your copy of the scripture now, please, and open it to 1 Timothy 3. 1 Timothy 3, we're continuing on our study in the book of 1 Timothy, and we come to that section of the book now, started it last week, where the Apostle Paul is reminding Timothy of the importance of qualified leadership in the church, because the church at Ephesus had a great struggle with that, much like the struggle that, in many ways, grips the American church today. Take a look at this. We're going to read verses 1 to 7. Our text for today, verses 2 and 3, probably just verse 2. We'll read the text, get our minds into the flow of it, and then we'll pray. And we'll begin. Paul writes it as a trustworthy saying. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work. An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach. Not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but considerate, peaceable, free from the love of money, leading his own household well, having his children in submission with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to lead his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? And not a new convert so that he will not become conceited and fall into the temptation of the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Father, your word is sure. Your word is clear. And your word instructs your church in exactly what it is supposed to do and how it is to be. And so, Father, this morning, as we look at this text in 1 Timothy, we're reminded of how important it is to have qualified leadership in the church. You view the church as your bride. You would not hand her off to just anyone. And so, Father, we pray this morning you would help us again to see and understand not only what these qualifications mean, but why it is so important, and how they are an example to the entire church, which means that all of the church is to strive to have this character in their lives. Help us today, Father, as we look at this now, in Jesus' name, amen. There is an epidemic of poor leadership in the American church today. It is everywhere. It's common to hear about pastors who openly admit that they are not qualified in the pulpit, even going so far as to use vulgar and curse words as they preach. It's disgusting, inexcusable. We have pastors and elders today who struggle with lust and addiction, anger, as we said a moment ago, vulgar speech, alcohol, and treating people harshly within their congregations. They have the inability to teach the Word of God skillfully. Many of them have a tremendous love of money. And in many cases, their households are an absolute mess. Relationship with their wife is in shambles. The children are nowhere near obedient. The problem is this is commonplace in churches. This isn't unusual anymore. This is the norm. And that is to say nothing of pastors who are adulterers, or who have no control over their children, whose wives lead the family instead of men leading the family, husbands leading the family, as God has designed, as we've seen over the past several weeks. And what I've just described is true of pastors in some of the largest churches in the United States. Just because the church is large and the congregation is vast, doesn't mean they're obedient to God. It's definitely true of pastors within just a few miles drive of here. Churches bow to the whims of the unsaved around them. They design their services around whatever the unsaved person wants, the unchurched person wants because we want to get them in the doors and the reality is all they want is nickels and noses. They want money in their coffer and they want people in the seats. This is shallow and deceptive at best. They focus on gimmicks to draw people into the church. Pastors whose so-called worship services are nothing more than smoke and light shows. Their church meetings are more of a rock concert than they are a worship service. They're often complete with low lights, stage shows, rhythmic dancing that is little more than thinly veiled promiscuity. And it all appeals to the flesh, doesn't it? It's Hollywood or Nashville, come to the church. And if that's what you win people with, that's what you win people to. But what you haven't won them to is Christ. It's sad. Such pastors want to tailor their services to the appeal of the unbelievers. We said that a moment ago. They want them to be entertained. They want them to be comfortable. They want them to be unconvicted and reassured that God loves them no matter what. God does love them, He does love us, but the reality is if they don't actually preach the real gospel, no one will ever get to heaven. And by the way, if you are structuring your service to entertain people, the entertainment has to keep getting bigger and better. And so you keep doing more crazy, crazier and crazier things in order to keep their interest. and you find yourself competing with Hollywood and Nashville. And all the while they refuse to actually preach the message of the text. The focus is on nothing but music alone, hype, emotion. They don't preach the text, they don't preach the real gospel because that might actually offend somebody. And so what they do is they take the unsaved, they take those who don't know Christ by the hand and lead them straight into and through the gates of hell. All being done in the church, all being done in the name of Christ. We're constantly hearing of pastors who fall and are disqualifying themselves from ministry. And if that's what's true of the man in the pulpit, How true is it of the less visible lay leaders of some churches? We can safely say it's true of them because they actually condone men such as those in the pulpit and they lobby for them to stay there. If that's the state of the leadership of most churches, is it any wonder today why Christians struggle with holiness? why we have such a low view of holiness in the American church and why the American church is chasing after the culture so much. They want to be like it. The church is drinking the cultural Kool-Aid of a nation bent on perversion. And all the while we need to be following the Hebrews 12 verses 1 and 2 it says, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus." Not the culture, but on Christ. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Our job is to focus on Christ. Our job is to run the race after Christ, all directly in front of his eyes. Our job is to sanctify ourselves. And if it's true that all believers are to lay aside our sin and set our eyes on Christ, how much more is that true of the leadership in the church? And how are you ever going to have any examples of what that looks like without godly leadership in the church? None of those leaders that I was describing earlier fit the description that Paul has given here in 1 Timothy chapter 3 of what qualified leaders actually look like. You remember that Paul was writing this letter to Timothy. He was the pastor of the church in the city of Ephesus. And that church was plagued with many problems. Not because of Timothy as their pastor, but it's what he inherited as he came in. They were plagued with many problems. One of the most serious is that they had unqualified leaders. And so as Paul was writing Timothy here, this book of 1 Timothy, to help him understand how to instruct his church. He's writing to remind him of the qualifications necessary for leadership, and that's what we have here. Last week, we looked at the ministry calling of all those who are elders, and that's true whether you are a paid pastor, a paid elder, or whether you are a lay elder. All people who are genuinely qualified to be elders are called. It's a ministry calling. That's in verse one. That's in verse one. We said last week it was an office of high regard. It's an office that reveals God's creative design, which means it's an office of male leadership. It requires work to attain. That's the effort that the called man must exhort to be qualified for the office. It's an office of responsibility. He's an overseer of the ministry of the church. It's an office that seeks service to others. We said last week that this means Elder is someone who's not enamored with the position or with the power or with the prestige. He's not interested in that. He desires the office because he seeks the work of serving Christ and serving this church. And that work is to feed and to lead and to protect the sheep. And he often does so at tremendous risk or peril to himself. Those are the aspects of the office or the calling to be an elder. But now this text that we're looking at today shows us that an elder must be a man who is above reproach in four specific areas of his life. So that's what we want to look at today, what it is to be above reproach, and then begin to look at those four specific areas. So, if you're taking notes, Roman numeral number one, number one, he must be above reproach. He must be above reproach. This is the very first part of verse two. Paul writes, an overseer then must be above reproach. Paul begins verse two by saying that an overseer or an elder must, they must. And what he means by this is this requirement for the office along with every other requirement that's listed here in this text is a must. In other words, all of these requirements are not negotiable. To be qualified in 13 of the 15 areas that he mentions, That's not enough. He can't be pretty qualified. He can't be partially qualified. He can't be mostly qualified. He must be fully qualified. And so what you have here as you're looking at this passage is the minimum that you can have to hold the office of elder. That's the bar. And the Holy Spirit sets the bar high. And God does that because if you're going to lead in Christ's church, you must be an example to the flock. So while this is what it takes to enter service as an elder, this isn't where the elder stops. He doesn't get to the office of elder. He doesn't get qualified and then appointed to the office by the other elders and through the watchful eye of the congregation and then get there and go, OK, that's it. I've arrived. I'm there. I have attained maturity. I have no further to grow." No. No. He wants to be mature even as an elder. He has to be a man who's ahead of the rest of the church in maturity. So he has, as an example, he must be someone whose character is worthy of emulation. 1 Peter 5, verse 3 tells us that the elder is an example to the flock or an example to the rest of the church. The Apostle Paul was a man of such character. Paul had this to say in 1 Corinthians 4, verses 16 and 17. Paul writes, Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. Again, to that same church in 1 Corinthians Chapter 11 in verse 1, Paul again writes, And so the spiritual leader of the church is an example to others because he is following Christ. In other words, he is striving for the character of Christ, and now he's calling for others to strive for that same standard, that same goal, that same standard of excellence that he strives for in himself. He's to be an example so that the rest of the congregation will come along behind him, everyone following the example of Christ. So he must meet these requirements. And then the question is, well, what must he be? If he must meet the requirements, what are those requirements? Well, the first one that Paul mentions is being above reproach. Above reproach, that's from a Greek word that means literally to not be able to be taken hold of. To not be able to be taken hold of. In other words, there is no accusation that can catch or stick to him or hold him down in some way. The word means that the man is widely known and spoken well of, and he is actually worthy of the reputation of being an elder, worthy of the reputation of being a godly man. And so there's someone that even if an accusation is made, because accusations, any accusation can be made against anybody. If you've ever been the victim of a false accusation, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But the idea is that even if an accusation is made, it's instantly known by everyone to be false. Just because everybody knows and has seen the character of this man. So there is no realistic accusation that can be brought that sticks or grabs a hold of him. That's what this word means. Now, we understand that elders are a target of the enemy. They are a target of Satan. There is no doubt about that. And over the years in ministry, accusations are made against godly men. And often it happens when the elders are going, many times, through the steps of church discipline with somebody. Because if that person who is under discipline can throw dirt at an elder, well, it makes their sin look not so bad, right? Other times they'll make accusations because they don't like the direction that the church is going or some policy that the elders have set. In that case, if you can make an elder look bad or cast doubt upon them or sometimes false accusations are used as a form of retaliation for the elders doing something that isn't appreciated. That doesn't mean that elders never sin, they're human beings. They're not perfect. And all Christians do sin, but it does mean that his life is not characterized by a pattern of disqualifying sin. It's not. Instead, the elder needs to be a model of what being a Christian looks like. In other words, as we've been saying, his character is worthy of emulation. This elder is not one who is under the grips of sin. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 27, the apostle Paul talks about this in his own life. Listen to what he says. Again, 1 Corinthians 9, verse 27. Paul says, but I discipline my body. The word there in the Greek for discipline means to beat into submission. Paul says, that's what I do with my own body. The lusts that my body has, the cravings that my body has. I beat them into submission. I don't obey my lusts and my cravings. I force them to submit. Going on, Paul says, I discipline my body and make it, listen to this, make it my slave. So that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. So what's Paul saying? He's saying that he, that the elder, that the qualified elder knows how to discipline his body and keep his passions in submission to him. And so the elder is not a man who is known for his sinful character. Instead, he beats his body into submission, as Paul has said. 2 Peter 2, verse 19. Peter writes, for by what a man is overcome, listen, there's real wisdom in this, listen. For by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. Really, no one in the body of Christ, but especially in elders, to be enslaved to any sin or any controlling passion or anything that would stop him from holiness or his progression in his relationship with Christ. He is to have no controlling influence over him but the Holy Spirit and the Word of God." So it's doubly important that an elder maintain his testimony. First, because they're under greater attack from the enemy. And if Satan can force an elder to stumble, he has a massive impact on the church body, doesn't he? Why? Because the elder is someone that the church looks up to. And then in that situation, if an elder is in sin and they refuse to repent, their rebuke has to be public. Why? Because they're an example to the flock. Paul talks about that later in this very book in 1 Timothy chapter 5. So when an elder falls, it has a far greater potential to affect the church negatively. And for that reason, they are in the enemy's crosshairs. You need to pray for your elders. for that reason alone. Second, they have a greater accountability because they have a greater understanding of the scripture. They have a greater accountability because they have a greater understanding of what the scripture means. Those who know the scriptures the best are those who are the most accountable. So the elder, whether they're hired and on staff or whether they're a lay elder, they must be people that are thoroughly saturated with the scripture. They know the word well. And it's that kind of life that will keep the elders pure in the face of opposition and attack. Because they're constantly filling and constantly saturating their mind with what the Word of God says, so that their thinking matches what God's thinking is. Because when the Word of God controls a person's mind, what you have on the page of the Bible is the thoughts of God Himself. And when you fill your mind with that, you're filling your mind with the Word of God, with His very words. His thinking flows through your mind. That is a strong controlling influence that causes us to have the desire and the will to obey Him. Further, when a man's thinking is dominated by Scripture, his mind will be clear. He won't be confused. Biblical clarity is what you must have to lead, especially in the days in which we live. And really what all this points to is a man who is under the control and under the filling of the Holy Spirit. And as they're filled with his word, and that word impacts his thinking, that man will obey God and will love God more and more. You say, well, how do you do that? How do you fill your mind more with scripture? How are you impacted by Him, by God, more and more? Well, there's a process to this. Here it is. Number one, I renew my mind by the Scriptures. This is to read Scripture, to get Scripture into your head, to think its thoughts, to know what it means. And as that Scripture is infused into me, then the Holy Spirit, together with that Scripture, changes my desires. It changes what I love. It takes my heart and my desires from the things of the world and my own lusts and my own passions to become more the things that God loves. And so that I love the things, I will love the things that He loves. And then you act on those desires. And so you're not only filling your mind with the word and learning to love the things that God loves, but then when that is what controls you, you will have a life that is obedient to God. You'll act on those new desires. And you not only act on those new desires, but at the same time you reject what feeds your flesh. And then fourth, as all of those things happen, my desires and my practice, what I wish and what I do are more and more conformed to who God desires me to be. And the more I do all of that, the more the Holy Spirit empowers me to obey. And so it becomes a circle, a process that we keep going through as a Christian. We bring the word of God into our minds. It changes our desires. That leads to actions that are holy. As we do that, the spirit empowers us more to understand the word, to have godly desires, to love the things that he loves, to obey him. And in the circle, the cycle just keeps going. That's the idea. So the elder must be above reproach. And that qualification is the qualification that rules over them all. The rest of what follows in this text, all the way down to verse 7, is simply an example of what it means, specific ways of what it means to be above reproach. So what does that mean? It means the elder must be above reproach or beyond reproach in every single area of his life because that's what Paul is going to discuss next. As he goes through all of these qualifications in verses 2 through 7 he literally covers every single area of someone's life. So Paul gives four really specific spheres if you will and this will be the outline for the rest of our time we're in this text. We're just going to get started in it this week. Four specific spheres of life where elders must be above reproach. So number one is he must be above reproach. Number two, he must be above reproach in his character, in his character. Again, this is the last half of verse two and verse three. An overseer then must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, and able to teach. We'll stop with that for now. Those verses fit into the category, verses two and three here, of moral qualifications. They're about the character of the man. The Bible says this in Luke chapter 6 verse 45, Jesus is speaking and he says, the good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good, right? So where do our actions flow from? They flow from our heart. That's what starts there. Our thinking controls our will and our desires and that will and desire comes out of our heart and we act on that, don't we? So whatever we are flows out of the heart. The good man out of the good treasure, Luke 6, 45. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good. The evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil. Listen, for his mouth speaks from the abundance of his heart. It's a man's character that flows out of his heart that determines his actions. See, in the area of character, people often try to blame their circumstances for their wrong actions or their wrong doing. Oh, I did this because such and such happened to me. Wrong answer. Wrong answer. No, you didn't. No. The reality is bad circumstances don't create bad character or bad actions. Nor do good circumstances create good character. What was Jesus saying? He's saying that how you respond to any circumstance only reveals what's already in your heart. It just reveals what's there. See, this is why character matters. It's a measure of the heart before the Lord, and that's what these qualifications are all about. And so the qualifications that Paul mentions here are external actions, but he's not just talking about stapling good actions onto the outside. He doesn't just want you to look a certain way or to put on a show when you're around other people and you really have a rotten heart inside. He's concerned with the heart. And so underlying all of these character traits that are here in verses two to seven is the attitude of an obedient heart. And that heart's an obedient heart because it loves Christ. Now just one last thought before we really jump into these qualifications. Repeatedly the Bible tells us that elders are to be an example to the flock. The man who has a life that meets all these qualifications is rare, but when he does, that's someone you want to seek to emulate. We talked about that a little bit earlier, didn't we? We also see this in 1 Peter 5, verse 3. Peter is writing about what elders are to be and to do, and he says, not yet as lording it over those allotted to you, but being examples to the flock. Philippians 3, verse 17. Again, Paul, brothers, join in following my example and look for those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. So don't just follow my example, but also look for other men, look for leaders who follow after the pattern of actions that you see in us. That's who you wanna follow and model your life after. So again, elders are an example to the flock. Their life is what all of our lives are to be like with regard to the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3. All right, so Paul tells us that we are to be people who desire the work the Lord has given to them, and if we want to do that, we've got to be beyond reproach, because then we'll be different. Then we'll be different. And these qualifications that are here for the elders, if they're truly an example to the flock, That's what God wants for the entire church. The entire church. So don't forget that as we're looking through this. Don't be sitting there in the pew and thinking to yourself, well, yes, this is great to know. I'm glad to know this. It helps us as a congregation be able to identify godly leadership or encourage our elders or pray for our elders. It's about you, too. If they're the example, then the elders are the ones that the rest of the congregation follows. So this is the character God wants in you, too. So it's not just about the elders, all right? Let's look at these qualifications now. Number one on the list. After being above reproach, Paul writes the husband of one wife. The husband of one wife. It literally says in the Greek, one woman's man. One woman's man. Or a man of or a man belonging to one woman. In other words, this is a man who belongs to a single woman. He's not a lady's man. He's a man of one lady. Paul's not talking about a man's marital status here so much. In other words, he's not talking about whether the guy is married or divorced. That's not what this means. So first, to really understand this, I think we need to go through what it doesn't mean before we can talk about what it does mean. What does it not mean? Well, first there are some who say that this rules out having multiple wives at the same time. In other words, they think that Paul's talking about polygamy. Well, that really doesn't fit the case here. Polygamy so clearly violates God's design for marriage that it is obviously sin. Genesis 2 tells us that in marriage you have one husband and one wife and they leave their parents and they cleave to each other. And so there's a necessary exclusivity in that, such that right marriage can only be one man and one woman. So this isn't even in view here. And second of all, that wasn't a problem in Roman society, so to speak. It wasn't a problem in the Ephesian church. It wasn't a problem in Ephesian culture. So there's no way this can be what Paul's speaking about. Second, there are others who believe that this forbids remarriage after death. In other words, someone is married, their wife dies, and then they think, well, Paul's saying he can't remarry. But other passages of Scripture disagree with that. In fact, the Scripture tells us that death severs the marriage relationship. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 39, it says, But if her husband has fallen asleep, in other words, if he has died, she is free to be married to whom she wishes only in the Lord. In other words, she can marry any man she wants as long as it's another believer, as long as it's a Christian. In 1 Timothy 5, verse 14, a couple chapters after this, this same book, Paul says that younger widows were expected to remarry. And so it's clear that a surviving spouse is free to remarry and that does not disqualify anyone from being an elder. Some say, third, that this is an absolute prohibition against remarriage after divorce. Remarriage after divorce. The problem with that is that the Bible doesn't forbid all divorce nor remarriage after it. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 15, it says, If an unbelieving spouse deserts and divorces a believer, then they are free to remarry. They are not bound, Paul says. Both in Matthew 5, 31 and 32, and then Matthew 19, 9, Jesus allowed for divorce in the case of unrelenting, unrepentant adultery. That's an utter hardness of heart on the part of the adulterer. and it's a horrendous situation, and God does permit divorce in that case. Why? Because no married believer is ever expected to share their spouse with another sexual partner. Hebrews chapter 13, verse four, the writer of Hebrews says, marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled. And then he goes on, for the sexually immoral and adulterers, God will judge. So unrepentant adultery makes a mockery of God's exclusive design for marriage. And again, note, we're talking about unrepentant adultery. And for that, God permits divorce. So just because a man is divorced doesn't automatically disqualify him. That situation has to be examined carefully. Third. Paul's not excluding, or rather fourth, Paul's not excluding a single man from serving as an elder. Some would say, look at this and say that. Well, if it says he has to be a husband of one wife, they would say then, well, a man must be married in order to be an elder. But if that were the case, then Paul himself would not be qualified and he, both he and others throughout the text of Scripture refer to themselves as elders and overseers. So, Paul himself would be disqualified. He's not forbidding single men from serving in this capacity. So the question is, what does this mean? If that's what it does, if that's all the things it doesn't mean, then what does this mean? It means that this is a man who is totally committed to the one woman to which he is married. It means that he is pure sexually, both in his actions and his thoughts. It means that all of an elder's fulfillment in this realm is from his wife. God has given him clear protection in the form of his wife. Proverbs chapter 5 verses 19 and 20 talks about how a man is to view his wife. He says, the text says this, be intoxicated always with her love. So why would you, my son, be intoxicated with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a foreign woman? What's he saying? He's saying, men, don't you dare go looking for fulfillment in some other woman besides your wife. Don't you even think about it. Your greatest protection against immorality is the wife that God gave you. She is your sanctification. Now, why would Paul put this first after mentioning being above reproach? Well, several reasons. I think first, because if you fall to this, you are definitely not above reproach. If you are not a man of one woman, you are not above reproach. Second, he puts this here, I think first on the list, because more men become disqualified in this area of sin than in any other single area, any other area. And so Paul gets really the one that catches the most men right out of the chute from the start. So the man who refuses to trust in the provision of the wife that God gave him is foolish indeed, and he sets himself up for great sin. So men, be devoted to your wife only. What's the next thing he says? Overseer then must be above reproach, husband of one wife. What's the next word? It's temperate, temperate. Taken in the most literal sense, The word, as it's written and with just the portions that there are of the word, it means holding no wine. Holding no wine. And the issue of being addicted to wine comes up later, so that's not exactly what Paul is talking about here, although it can have an impact. What he's saying here is that this is a character trait that means to be alert. It means to be watchful, to be vigilant. That's what the word means. It means to have nothing clouding your judgment in any way. Do you see why it would be written as, the Greek word is par oinon, no wine, nothing that clouds your judgment. Which is to say that a leader in God's church must think clearly. He can't have anything that dulls his alertness or his ability to think. These are men who are not intoxicated or controlled by anything that the world has to offer. They're controlled by and their life is submitted to the word of God and the Holy Spirit. This is what must mark them. They're to be sober men, ready for service all the time. And so they do nothing that might cloud their thinking or cause them to make foolish choices. That's what this word's really talking about. Third Paul says elders are to be sensible, sensible. This is the result of a man being temperate in his thinking. If he's temperate in his thinking, then he will be sensible in his actions. The word means to be in control of yourself. It carries with it the idea of being well-disciplined. This man keeps his priorities in the right order, and he lives by that. And when you have the right priorities according to the Bible and you live by them, that allows you to maintain God's agenda for your life. This man understands his responsibilities are great, and that life is short, and he needs to live it all to the glory of God. It's a man who doesn't just rush to judgment, but considers all points of a decision before he makes a final determination. And in the end, to be in full control of yourself and well-disciplined is a man whose mind is controlled by Scripture, as we've been saying. And to be sensible in this, to submit every area of life to the lordship of Christ. All right, so again, verse two, an overseer then must be above reproach, husband of one wife, temperate, sensible. Fourth, he must be respectable. Respectable. This is really having the characteristics or qualities that will engender the admiration of others. In other words, it causes others to look at the person who's in this role and have admiration for them because of their godly character. It's a word that carries the idea of being orderly. And if your thought life is sensible, that'll result in a respectable orderly life. His thoughts are not thrown about in confusion. He has orderly plans with realistic goals to accomplish them. And all that is to say this person is the opposite of chaotic. So an elder must be able to bring order to his life, thus he is respected for that. And so this is all coupled with the idea of acting appropriately in every situation. Fifth, Paul writes, he's to be hospitable, hospitable. It's a very interesting word. It means simply to love strangers, to love strangers. This is what a believer, really all believers are called to be anyway. It doesn't just refer to being kind or to have them over in your house for a meal. That's not what Paul is talking about when he mentions hospitality here. What does this word mean? It's meant to have people stay in your house. And biblically this is to be shown to strangers. And also the biblical injunction is that you weren't to be expecting repayment of any kind or any favor shown to you in return. What's the background to this? Well, in the Apostle Paul's day, there were no hotels like we have today. The inns of that day were often filthy and expensive, and they were also often filled with prostitutes. And often travelers, when they would go into an inn, the innkeeper would have men hired to rob or beat the people who stayed in his own inn. They were employed by the innkeeper themselves, and then, of course, he got a cut of the action. So the practice of hospitality became especially important for Christians in that environment, in that culture. You wanted to protect your sanctification. You want to remain a one-woman man. You did that by staying out of the inns while you were traveling. And if that's going to be the case, then what do you need? Well, you need a network of Christian homes all over the place so you could know that they were safe and clean and not immoral. And you knew that the fellowship that was going to happen in that home was going to draw you to sanctification and to maintain your purity. Because of all of that, elders became an important part of that network between churches so people could travel from point A to point B without having to worry about having that kind of influence or others taking advantage of them. Even today we're called to practice this kind of hospitality, that's the example to the flock. All Christians are commanded to practice hospitality but it's especially important for elders to do so. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 9, Peter writes, be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Fifth, he's to be hospitable. Sixth, the elder must be able to teach. He must be able to teach. This is the one qualification in everything on this list that is a skill or a giftedness. All of the others that we've seen so far are an issue of character, aren't they? Elders need to have this as one of their primary areas of giftedness from the Holy Spirit, and this is not an optional thing. It is the primary responsibility of elders to bring the Word of God to bear on every situation they face and on the lives of the people that they serve. So the Bible has to inform and govern all we do as a church, and that means that the elders have to bring the full weight of Scripture and apply it to the issues that we're going through as a church. So this is being examples. And the primary way that they do that, the primary way in which they lead is through teaching. That's why it's so important for elders to be trained in the scripture. Why it's so important for them to be trained in doctrine. Trained in their ability to interpret the scripture. And even a man that's called by the Holy Spirit To be an elder must be trained before he can actually serve in that capacity. And that's the church's responsibility. That's our responsibility. If he's not trained, he may well lead the church astray with poor teaching of the Bible, with bad theology, and that results in a wrong view of God. And if you have a wrong view of God and you don't understand what his word has said, then how can you obey it? And so if you're following an elder who doesn't understand the word of God well, who doesn't understand how to interpret it, who doesn't understand theology, then he's not going to be able to lead you well or lead you into obedience to God. There's going to be confusion. You're going to be living a life that isn't obedient to God all the while you're thinking you are. One of the things we cannot do is we absolutely cannot mislead people regarding who God is or what he has commanded. And if we do that as leaders, we share responsibility in their sin. We're just as responsible for it at that point as they are. And the Lord holds his leaders accountable for that. We need to remember that the church is his bride. That's how scripture refers to it. That's how dear the church is to Christ. And he cares for that bride with the greatest possible love that there is. And so he hands that bride over to the elders for their safekeeping and their protection, their teaching, and them being examples and displaying the love of Christ to the church. And we're accountable when we don't. Further, in understanding an elder's teaching or his ability to teach, his giftedness to teach, an elder's teaching can be both prepared and also teaching that happens on the spot. So you're both expected, you have both expected times of teaching and then at any moment someone could ask any question, literally of anything in scripture. And that's when an elder must be able to direct and to counsel and to teach and that's on the spot. And he's either got to be able to have a good answer or get them a reasonable one quickly. That's why the elder has to have a life saturated with the scripture and with theology to be able to counsel and teach at a moment's notice. And so often we're just faced with the situation that pops up and we as elders have to give guidance for those circumstances. How can we do that? And the answer is because we have a life that has been saturated and filled with the Bible. We have to have. And all that teaching has to flow from a heart of humility. Because you see, qualified elders realize that they're not the authority. The scripture is the authority. And so we have to bring the word of God to bear on every situation and know that the results are from the Lord. Finally, with regard to teaching, the elder must have rock solid confidence in the scripture itself. which is to say he's got to know that the Bible is sufficient for every different circumstance of life that we face. We don't need to go running to unsaved man for the answers to life. The scripture has what we need. And so in every one of those circumstances, he's got to be able to take hold of the scripture and bring its truth to bear on the situation in front of him. with the mindset that is thoroughly and the conviction that is thoroughly convinced that the Bible will always do its work as God has said it will. That's why qualified elders don't fall for gimmicks or worldly wisdom or whatever is popular in the culture or all the quote unquote cool churches are doing. Our job is to get the word of God into the hearts of God's people. and to know that that word is going to accomplish all God desires it to accomplish. And that's the confidence that you have to have as well. So it's not about power. Being an elder is not about prominence. It's not about knowing the secret things that are going on in the church. It's not about egos and it's not about politics. It's not about any of that. It's about men who love the Lord so they have made sacrifices in their lives to serve him and his church. At the end of the day, it's about the calling that the Holy Spirit has placed on our lives and the work for the church that we do and love. It's hard work. It's long work. It's demanding and exhausting work. but it's good work, and it is work that is worth it. And for the elder who's qualified, we desire no other work. We'll see the rest of these moral qualifications and the other three areas in which a man must be qualified next week. Let's pray. Father, we wanna be a body of Christians knit together by the salvation that you've provided in your word. And Father, we need godly leaders, not only the ones that we have, but ones for the future. And so it's our responsibility to call men to this level of godliness and holiness in their lives, of humility before you and before your people. of clear thinking, of being informed by the scriptures, not informed by everything else that's going on in the culture. So Father, help those of us who are in the position of elder now to lead well, to do so with confidence and trust that your word is absolutely all we need in every circumstance of life. And that as we strive to do that work, that your people will follow that example of character. And that as we do that, we raise up more men for the future to be godly elders. This is the future of the church. This is your design conveyed to us through the pen of the Apostle Paul. Father, we thank you for its wisdom, We pray that you'd give us the courage to live it and to fulfill it. It's in Christ's name we ask it. Amen.