Good morning to everyone. We will continue with our study of distinctives. And we are now in our Baptist distinctives. And again, just a quick, in quick succession of review, we are considering this... Huh? As a pyramid or a triangle, starting with the base, which is the widest latitude, the Orthodox distinctives, which we share with all those who profess Orthodox Christendom, even with Roman Catholics. And then we are evangelical because we believe in salvation by grace. We are Reformed in our commitment to the solace of the Reformation. And even among Reformed, we are still in terms of narrowing distinctive Puritan. in our commitment to the Puritan version of Christian life and practice. And we are now considering, as the last and the summit of these distinctives, we are Baptists. But let me remind you that Baptists, in fact, are a diversity in terms of theology. Some Baptists are liberal. And yet, in the original Baptist churches that developed in Europe, they were not liberal, and also among those who profess to be evangelical, a significant number of Baptists are not Reformed. They are Armenian, so even as we share the distinctives of Baptists with them, we still do not share much of our distinctives with many fellow Baptists. Our GBC distinctives are that we are Reformed Baptists with a Puritan identity and commitment. And of this, we are looking at four important distinctives as Baptists. We are already done with Believer's Baptism by immersion. We are now in the section of New Testament Church Government, and I'm just explaining that we are expanding this because it happened to coincide with a very important process that our Church is undergoing. We expanded this section of the Church Government, although it is no longer with the so-called distinctives, but to be part of our process of choosing who will be a part of our eldership. We are extending this. And after this, God willing, we shall be looking at our relationship with other churches, which we characterize as one of interdependence and association. And then the final point is our contribution to the world of freedom and democracy is that it is recognized by historians that Baptists were the ones who bequeathed the legacy of liberty of conscience to the world. And that is something worth looking forward to. Pero nandito tayo sa church government and we are asking the question, what is the New Testament way of governing the church? And then if we answer that, we ask as well, is it imperative on government by It is up to you to decide, or it is up to the Church to decide how to best manage the Church. Is this what is being preached in the New Testament? We believe that this is being preached in the New Testament. In other words, this is a duty. And of the wrong approaches, we consider those who do not believe in any government at all, that is wrong, that will just lead to anarchy. The other extreme of that, or the opposite extreme, is centralized and connectional, that is, merong central body of authority which is above the Church. And again, the New Testament does not countenance any authority above the Church of human committee or panel or organization. Also, we reject the other extreme parin, ang congregational, democratic, where everything is decided by the people, or the members of the church. No, the members do not decide what the teaching of the word is. And the other extreme of that particular extreme is pastoral monarchy or dictatorship or some, the more The more usual way of calling this is heavy eldership or overbearing eldership. We also do not, we do not subscribe to that. These are all wrong approaches. The biblical presentation shows us that the primary principle is the headship of Christ. There is no head in the church that is merely human, whether Pope, priest or pastor. They are not the head of the church. The head of the church is Christ. And then we started last week consideration of there are two offices, and by offices we mean those that are defined by the New Testament. We have different positions here, like secretary, treasurer, and accountant. They are not biblical offices. They are auxiliary positions that help the church in its practical matters, but they are not officers of the church. There are only two offices of the church, and we are now dealing with the particular issue we are most interested in because of the process we're undergoing and that is the preaching or the ruling and the teaching elder. The other we will also consider as the diaconate but for now we are dealing with the ruling teaching elders and we only finished last week with the plurality with parity. It means that not only one should be there but there should be several and there should be plurality with parity, but we do not dismiss the diversity. very equal apportionment ng mga function. Like kung every Sunday preaching bawat isa ay dahil pare-pareho ng gift. No, we need to understand the diversity of gifts even as we understand that in terms of authority there is parity sa eldership. Now we come to what was raised last week, and I promise to address that today, the qualifications for eldership. I said to the members of the Church, I will be giving you a checklist, but before the checklist, I need to teach the lesson. Because if you already have the checklist, you already made a judgment that you didn't hear. what should be known about these qualifications. Now, as to the qualifications, we say that this is imperative for church recognition. This is not optional. You can't say, oh, he's good at preaching, but he has a problem with the graces that a leader needs. We can say, so it must be imperative that is they are of necessity and there are two key passages that are dense with teaching concerning the qualifications they are not the only passages there are other passages but these two passages are dense because they are required by Paul in two different situations of churches, but they show that these are the characters that must be combined in a candidate who will be recognized by the church. The first is 1 Timothy 3, which is addressed to Timothy as he was representing Paul in an established church in Ephesus. Now, the Ephesus is not without problems. There is that if you read the letter to the Ephesians. But it is more or less an established church and consolidated. And here we can see the qualifications that we can say should continue. And then the other passage is Titus 1.5-9 which is the case of a church in crisis in Crete where Titus like Timothy, was sent by Paul as his representative in order to carry out apostolic rule in the church of Crete. It will do us good if we read. both passages because we will combine them and see what are common and then what is unique in each. And that's how we will approach this. So reading 1 Timothy 3, the saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, that's the same as pastor or elder, 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, well, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or a novice, 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." So that's from 1 Timothy. Here is Titus 1, 5-9. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy for gain. but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it." So those are the two passages and there have been many ways in which commentators and Theologians, expositors have tried to organize these characters, and I'm offering to you my own take of these characters. What we will do is consider first what is common in both 1 Timothy and Titus, and then what is unique in Timothy, what is unique in Titus. That way we exhaust all the characters have been propounded by the Apostle Paul. So what is common in Titus? The umbrella character, you can say this is the character that under which all other characters fall beyond reproach. That is blameless in other translations. In the word that is used, I gave you the Greek word in your handouts. I will not use the Greek word here in the PowerPoint. The font is not there in the PowerPoint. In 1 Timothy, the legal sense of the word that is used by Paul, anepileptos, has the legal sense of one who cannot be arrested, while in Titus, it's a different word, anenkletos, it also has a legal sense of one who cannot be convicted. Now, you can perhaps object, what about those who are unjustly accused? And there have been pastors in persecuted places where pastors are arrested, so are they no longer qualified? No, that's not the point here. The point is that the overarching character is one of an unassailable public testimony. Wala kang kaso o ikaw ay pwedeng a fugitive from the law. Ang sinasabi niya ay beyond reproach means in terms of your public character, the way people see you. whether brethren or unbelievers, and there is something said of unbelievers later, but this is more of the church. Your character before the church is unassailable. That is, there is no just charge that is disqualifying that can be leveled against the man. So, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have critics, that he doesn't have a rightful pastor who doesn't have critics. It doesn't mean that he doesn't have a star. That's not the point. It's just that his character is such that it will not be liable to fair charge by the public. So, that's the umbrella. Now, under that, how do we determine a person that is beyond reproach? Well, inunay, domestic piety, one's conduct in the home, one's treatment and dealing and relation with wife and children. Now, the question here is, yung sinabing husband of one wife, does that disqualify singles? The point here is in a situation where there was a lot of polygamous relationships because that was common. It was common among pagans to have a polygamous relationship and when a sinner is converted with a polygamous relationship, He cannot just let go of one of his wives, and the point is that he cannot be a leader of the church. So it must be a monogamous relationship. This is against polygamy of all kinds. Now, the equivalent of that today where monogamy is more or less the prevailing practice, the equivalent is that there should be no infidelity, that is, there is no other relationship. that he pursues in terms of intimacy other than his wife. So that is something that we know in our time many have fallen sometimes in ways that are very traumatic to the Christian community. Then, leadership in the house. in terms of the children being submissive, well-behaved. Now again, there must be a caution here. This is about children under custody, under custodial authority, because children grow up, and even if they were trained in the right way in their youth. Yet they can go wayward when they become adult and it is no longer the pastor's blame. If a child who once was trained then go wayward, that is not a blemish on the pastor and that is something that we should qualify. But in terms of leadership, what we see here a man who is henpecked. Henpecked is what we call under desire. Henpecked is what his wife is capable of. When he is adamant in speaking, because his wife told him to do this, he says, yes, I will do it. So, he must have that leadership. And in fact, Paul gives a reason. How can you rule the household of God in which you have, figuratively speaking, more children then you're in your own household. If you cannot rule in a household of few children, how will you rule the household of God? So what we see here, itong inuna, which means that before a man is considered for the office, he should be tested in terms of his domestic piety. House rule is argued as precedent to rule of God's house. Again, it does not disqualify the single ones. When I became a pastor here, I was still single, and many pastors who proved useful and profitable began as single pastors, and then they married and had a household. Now, if ever the household of the man who already was a pastor and yet the household is a mess, then you begin to consider the possibility of disqualification. And sometimes the pastor's children advertise the disqualified character of the pastor. They seem to be the most troublesome when there's a congregational gathering. I was invited to several churches and I saw someone who was very confused. I asked the pastor, who is that child? So domestic piety is the first, then sound judgment. That is, mental sobriety in decisions. And Apostle Paul uses several words, in fact, three words to emphasize this. He must be temperate. Temperate means not given to excesses of use. The temper, when we say you temper your emotion, you temper your language, it means it's weak. It's not excessive. For example, if you have a view, it's not excessive, it's extreme. You have to fight for your opinions. Temperate, sensible means able to be rational and reasonable. For example, you talk to him and he has a position. He doesn't want to listen anymore. As long as he says something, that's right. He doesn't want to listen. You won't be able to get him if you don't talk to him properly. He will be closed off immediately. And again, that will not be a good pastor, I can tell you that. And then, appropriate, a wholesome manner. He is characterized by propriety. It's one of those things that instead of love, love is not rude. whether in language or mannerism, it makes you feel attacked or something that you feel improper. Again, that does not demonstrate sound judgment. So that's the next, and then that reminds us that the pastoral work entails a lot of decision making, and if he's not mentally sober, in times, sometimes decisions that are urgent must be done by the pastor. And if he is one given to excess or unreasonable, he is bound to do wrong decisions. A pastor will make wrong decisions. There's no pastor who has done all the right decisions, all his pastoral ministry. And if you're a pastor for 43 years, you've done many wrong decisions. But that's just fine as long as it builds character. Like when someone interviewed a successful businessman, asking an apprentice, what made you successful? And the successful businessman said, right decisions. And the apprentice asked, as a follow-up, Well, what makes you do the right decisions? And he said, experience. And the next question, what gains experience? Wrong decisions. So, wrong decisions gain you experience so that you can make the right decisions. So, it doesn't mean that the pastor is perfect in his decision-making. It only means that he learns from his decision-making. Then, another common in First Timothy and Titus is social grace, relation with people. And in this case, there are two things that are emphasized by Paul, hospitable. Hospitable, we usually think in terms of welcoming to the home. That's included, but the main thought of hospitable in the Greek that is used is in literal translation, a lover of stranger. Now, that means he is at ease in company, and his company is at ease with him. makisama kung gamitin natin yung ating lengwahe. He's not someone na para kang tinataboy, kundi there is an inviting company. Because again, the pastorate is about dealing with people. And then, not quarrelsome. Not given to conflicts. If this does not mean that you will never have a conflict, Apostle Paul had his, and many good pastors have theirs. But the point is that he is not one looking for conflicts. And as long as he could resolve it in a way that is without conflict, that is the option to choose, But if a man is always looking for conflict, and I've dealt with some who always invoke principle by principle. It's a problem of attitude. So the person, the candidate, must not be quarrelsome. Because the pastoral work requires company with brethren and unbelievers. Therefore, the pastor must be a good company. It's just a matter of getting to know each other. If he knows that she is Armenian, they can discuss about the tulip and other things. It's not like that. In fact, believers in general should not be like that. If we meet brethren of a different view, the first thing that they should sense of us is we are brethren. We have the same Lord. Now later if you have the opportunity and the kind of relationship you build and you're able to admonish then do so, but that should not be the beginning of any relationship that we establish with people, not quarrelsome. Next to social grace, is self-denial, that is, restraint in things and feelings. So here is one that is important. Self-control, that is, ability to control or restrain in matters that pertain to one's Thinking, feeling, that's the general language. Self-control. Then, not given to wine. Now this is representation of everything that has to do with one's appetite. One must restrain his appetite. And sometimes, again, there are pastors who advertise their lack of appetite by their mere appearance. Hindi dapat syon. So it does not say that he cannot taste wine, he cannot take wine in appropriate circumstances. What it is saying is he's not given to wine, he is not a drunkard in other translations and that includes other appetite which leads to gluttony and others of that nature and not quick-tempered again that has to do with control of emotion and there is a lot in the pastoral that will challenge your emotion challenge your anger and if you are quick tempered you will erupt again and again and now again in a long pastoral career you have you will have your moments of display of such temper, but it must not be one that will be considered habitual and a weakness. The pastoral work challenges both emotion and body. Sometimes, when depressed, there are people whose outlet is food or alcohol. So there is no restraint. Pintuan para sa pagkakasunduan. These are things that are not worthy of consideration for the eldership. Then another and the last that is common in Timus and Titus is financial integrity. He must not be a lover of money, whether in motive His heart must not be covetous for money. That's what Peter said of the elders in 1 Peter chapter 5, not with, in the old translation, filthy looker. That means not lovers of money. So there are things that that will show in a pastor who seeks to control the finances of the church. There are structures of government in the church, in many churches, where the pastor has control of the finances, and that is courting temptation. and this must be avoided in the church. That's why we have deacons and members are part of the whole process of the financial decisions in the church. It must not be the pastors alone. He must not be covetous for money and in manner not suspected of COVID-19's ways. luxury na hindi kailangan na if his lifestyle is almost head and shoulder above the rest of the congregation, that is not a good testimony for a man who has given himself to Christ to live of the gospel. and not of the income of the world. So, financial integrity. Now, if you will take note what is common in both passages, that is Timothy and Titus, the Communists' underscoring of the graces. Now, when we turn to what is unique, we will find that here more on the ability concerning teaching. Unique in Timothy is able to teach. Remember, he is dealing with an established church. What he is saying is this is what's going on routinely and continually in the church. So what's regular in the church is not the retreats and the special activities. What is going on continually and regularly in the church is teaching, and that will be the regular job, if you like to put it that way, of the pastor. And if he cannot teach, that his hearers do not learn from the Word, then what will he do in the pastorate? He was charming and easy to make friends with. But when he stood in front of the pulpit and started to speak, what I usually say, he started with a clear and clear text. After that, it's not bright anymore, it's foggy. Think about it, if you're like that on 52 Sundays, every text you hold becomes foggy. A pastor can't do that because the regular task of the pastor, and in fact, what you should seek for a pastor in terms of profit, by the members is that he can teach the word. Hearers learn from the word and then that he is qualified to rule. This includes both leadership and management. The way this is distinguished, these are distinguished leadership is able to deal with people for the right objective, management is able to deal with processes so that they will achieve the objective. But both are used in the scriptures, leadership in terms of rule, management, the word used often is kubernetes, which has to do with piloting a ship. That is, you're able to use the mechanism of the ship so that it will go into the right direction. So both are needed by the man to be chosen, especially in an established church. Also, not a novice. That means, in other translations, not a recent convert, but it is possible for a person to have been a long convert converted for many years and still a novice. That's in fact the rebuke by the writer of Hebrews 6. You should be teachers now, but you still need the milk of the word. And so you choose the person who has maturity of knowledge and experience. As I've said, I will not quantify it in age. The word elder has the connotation of age, but age is not the primary thing, but rather knowledge and experience, because you want someone with maturity. Also, good testimony outside. This has to do now with unbelievers. His reputation must be intact, that people who know him, who are not believers, have nothing to say against him that is disqualifying. So especially applicable to a settled church like Ephesus, and that's why these are unique in Timothy. Now what is unique in Titus? is first holding fast the faithful word. He should be persevering in doctrinal stand and teaching. Now remember, this is dealing with a church in Crete that has problems and stubbornness in their hearing, and it is easy for a pastor who is not committed to his task to just change whatever he is teaching so that it may be acceptable to the congregation. And this is one danger for the pastor. The danger for the pastor is not so much that of affliction and trials. God, by His grace, can help us bear those trials and afflictions and even those things that perhaps will challenge our peace and our commitment. The real challenge, I'll tell you, is when something is popular. And it is obvious that that's the popular thing. But your conscience sees something different in scriptures. And the challenge for a faithful pastor is stand on the scriptures and be unpopular, at least for a while, in his church, in his own church, be the object of criticisms, and perhaps even to be kicked out of the church, but he will not sell his conscience. That's the faithful pastor and that's what Paul is telling Titus that he should do in Crete, given the stubbornness of the congregation, you must hold fast. So, hold fast means, no, don't let go. It means, someone is pulling you. This is popular. This is what people want. But he holds fast to the teachings of scriptures. That's what will challenge a pastor when something is obviously the popular choice. but you have to stand by what is scriptural. That's the challenge, and then that's when another unique thing is said to Titus, able to convict those who contradict. That is, he has the ability to refute error and dissension. He should be able to show and convince from scriptures this is the right way. And if it is a matter of conviction and conscience, you make clear, you can kick me out, but if you keep me as a pastor, this will be the biblical way. And if you are not content with that, I'm willing to step down, but I will not sell my conscience. That's the challenge that Paul gives to Titus in a situation applicable to a forming or reforming church. I've dealt with many reforming churches. This is where pastors tend to bend their knees is because something is unpopular, but it must be done. So with those in view, there are practical considerations for us to make a recognition of the man who is a candidate for eldership. One is there should be sufficient acquaintance with and knowledge of the candidate. That's why it can't be just a new acquaintance. This is the fault of systems that have body of authority above the church. but it was just given to them. You know, they should have come from the Church, become members, and be recognized by the Church. miembro ng kongregasyon. And then it requires a credibly free and prudently sober discussion of the merits. So the pastor has no right to run on the church any candidate that he desires. And yet there are many churches like that. There should be a decision of the church and that should be preceded by a credibly free. By credibly free means that members are free to express their thoughts, but a sober discussion. We are not to consider the candidates to make it an opportunity to attack. Again, I've witnessed that happen in other churches. There should be sober discussion of the merits, and finally, consensus representative of the congregational decision. We do not go necessarily for unanimity. You go for unanimity, it is a formula for the tyranny of the minority. there are only one or two who abstained for wrong prejudicial reasons, then the discussion is over. There are churches that again, they go for unanimity or at least very close to unanimity and that is very unrealistic. You are unrealistic about the sinfulness even of Christians. And that's why we go for consensus. So not a slim majority of 50% plus one. Kundi consensus means an overwhelming majority which quantifiably is defined in legal terms as two-thirds of the voting congregation. So, dun ma sisignify ang pagtanggap at pagkilala ng kongregasyon sa sino ma na Just a final reminder. Paul tells Timothy, practice these things after several exhortations of what to do in order to do his work of ministry. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. What does that mean? It means we look for those qualifications we studied, but we must be mindful of continuing growth and progress. So that means, don't look for someone who is already in the very high standard. You want someone who is already there. Whether in ability of teaching or graces, even pastors have their room for growth. because nobody attains perfection. And therefore, we must be accommodating to the reality of growth. When you say ability to teach, you should look for a standard that this is the ability to teach. and you're talking of someone who has been seasoned by many years and you compare and then you say he's not qualified because I do not see him teaching like R.C. Sproul or John MacArthur, or anyone else that we make a standard, we give them room for progress. And that's what will happen when we face new candidates for ministry, for eldership. There must be those qualifications. But, give room for progress.