reading is Numbers 11, verse 16 through 30. And here we see where God is gifting men to serve as elders alongside of Moses. And of course, God had men all through the Old Testament that served as elders. And here there's an evidence of their gift being received for that ministry. So here now, the word of God. This is Numbers 11, beginning of verse 16. So the Lord said to Moses, gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them. Give them to the tabernacle of meeting that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them. And they shall bear the burden of the people with you that you may not bear it yourself alone. Then you shall say to the people, consecrate yourselves For tomorrow you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you despise the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we ever come out of Egypt? And Moses said, the people whom I am among are 600,000 men on foot. Yet you have said, I will give them meat that they may eat for a whole month. Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to provide enough for them? And the Lord said to Moses, has the Lord's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered the 70 men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took of the spirit that was upon him and placed the same upon the 70 elders. And it happened when the spirit rested upon them that they prophesied, although they never did so again. But two men had remained in the camp, and the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad, and the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle, yet they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. So Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of the choice men, answered and said, Moses, my Lord, forbid them. Then Moses said to him, are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. And Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel. And there we'll end our reading, that reading from God's word. Our second reading is from Titus chapter one. Titus 1, and I'll read the first nine verses. The order that I sent out on Thursday, I had the 1st Timothy 3, but it's a parallel passage, but I decided to focus more on Titus 1, so I'm going to read from that. Titus 1, beginning in verse 1. Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested his word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior." Now I'm just going to pause there for a minute with that introduction You notice how he mentions especially that this is a time of preaching. The word of the gospel is now the way that especially the gospel is communicated. In the Old Testament it was through the ceremonies of the priests together with prophets and things speaking the word. But now it's all word based because we declare Christ who has been revealed in all of his fullness to us as the son of God coming in the flesh and dying on the cross for our sins. So we proclaim the good news of Christ crucified and risen again. That's the work that we have particularly in this time. God has now manifested His word through preaching. And now carrying on, verse 4. To Titus, a true son in our common faith, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination. For a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict." And may God add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. Well, we are at a time in the life of our congregation when we need more elders. We've been in that situation actually for a while now. A congregation can function with two elders, a minister and a ruling elder, but ideally there ought to be at least three elders to make up a local session. This is especially the case where the elders have still young children at home and other responsibilities and things and where most of our members also in this congregation are not from a reformed church background. Many are new to the faith even, and there's a lot of ministry that is needed. And now all the more, The Lord has seen fit to open the way for ministry in Truro to have an outreach there. And there's an even greater need for more labor. Moses said he wished that God would put his spirit on everybody for that. So for this cause, the session has asked you for nominations for elders. And we have received quite a few. Some people have been nominated seven or eight times. But over the next few weeks, we will be interviewing the men who are nominated to see if they are willing and able to serve. And we will ask you, after we find out the ones that are willing and able, and that we as a session believe to be willing or qualified, then we will ask you to let us know if you know of any reason that these men would be disqualified. Maybe you know something about them that we don't know. And then we will be asking all of you to indicate by vote as a congregation which ones you want to serve, which is a little different than saying whether they're disqualified to serve. And then if there is a strong support for some of these men, or whichever ones end up standing, their names standing, then we will lay hands on them to set them apart to this work. Since this is an important matter in our congregation, I've taken a break from our regular series in Mark to preach about church government by elders. It's always hard to know where to start when you preach a subject like this because you kind of get ahead of yourself. Like, do you talk about what the government should be? Well, that's what we did last week. That's how I got started, that there should be government by presbyteries. by groups of elders we saw. And then this week, I'm going to move on to look at what are the qualifications that they need to have. And how do we recognize the ones, how does God provide them to us? What mechanism does he use for that? And then in the following week, we'll be looking at the work of the elder. You see, we could have started with the work and then gone to how God has appointed it and gone in a different structure, but that's the structure I've chosen to use. And so we'll plan to do that probably next week. Let me begin today by reminding you of what we looked at last week though. Last week, I showed you that Christ is the head of the church. and I showed you that he has appointed that his people should be governed, I already mentioned this, by a body of elders, which is a presbytery, presbyteroi, or presbyteros is the word for elder, and they are to serve as bishops, episkopoi, which means overseers. It's the same thing. The elders are to be overseers in the church, ruling in the fear of the Lord. In the Old Testament, the body of elders was made up of priests together with scribes and ruling elders. And in the New Testament, it is made up of ministers of the word with ruling elders. So the ruling elders are in both situations. As in the Old Testament, there is to be a body of elders at every level of the church. So there is to be in the new. A presbytery or body of elders is to be at the congregational level, what we call a session. But it is really a presbytery because it's a body of elders that is working together to administer the government. Then there should be a presbytery or body of elders at the regional level. And if you were here last week, I showed you that. That's what we had at Ephesus, where there were many little house churches, very clearly so also at Jerusalem, for example. They didn't have one great big church with elders of that church. The elders at Jerusalem were from a whole lot of little congregations that were all over, and they gathered together for one common government. concerning those churches in that city. So that was a regional presbytery. Now, our regional presbytery is spread out more than that because we don't have as many churches. So we go all the way over all of Eastern Canada. But that's the form here. And then finally, there's a presbytery or body of elders overseeing the church at even broader levels. It could be national or international. You had the council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 that we looked at last week. where the church came together to decide whether the Gentiles should be circumcised, something that concerned all of the churches. We know this, as I showed you last week, because this is a government that we do find that the apostles established in the New Testament. And they didn't do things just because they thought it was a good idea. They did things because Christ had appointed it, Christ had commanded it. and they told us that we're to follow the traditions that they set up. We sometimes think traditions are a bad thing, because they often are. The traditions of men are bad news, because men add things. At first, they're innovations, like praying to the saints or something like that, and then they become traditions, and people say, oh, we follow the ancient traditions. Well, it's not as ancient enough. You need to go back to the apostles. Those are the traditions that we need to follow, not the traditions of men. So this is an important thing for us to recognize. Church had no right after the apostles to appoint individual men either with government to be bishops at every level. where you were supposed to have presbyteries at every level, groups of bishops, not one man. But that's the form that the church went to. They had one man over the church, and then one man over the whole regional church, and a man at the top, eventually, that was the Pope. It took a while before they went that far, but that's the way that it went. Nor does the church in our day have a right to say, oh, well, we want democracy. We're going to have the congregation to do the rule. No, Christ appointed presbyters, presbyteries to do the rule, elders in each church. But we've got to move on to our topic for today. How do we get our elders? How are they put into their office in the church, their office of bishop or overseer in the church? We'll look at three things today about this. First, that the Lord is the one who gives us elders. Second, that We will look at the qualifications that an elder must have. And third, we'll look at the process we're to follow in choosing out elders. So the first point, the Lord shows us in scripture that he is the one who gives us elders. We must never forget that the elders as overseers are his gracious gift to us. We saw in numbers 11 how he gave them in the Old Testament when Paul met with the presbytery at Ephesus. That meeting is recorded for us in Acts 20, where all the elders from the different congregations gathered together with him in Acts 20. He said to them in Acts 20, 28, therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Did they make themselves overseers? No. Did men make them overseers? No. It was the Holy Spirit, first and foremost, given by Christ, who made them ministers or elders. You see how he reminds them, the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. It's not man. but God that does this first and foremost. Now we'll look at the work of the elder in detail next week, but note something here at this point. They are called as in many other places, overseers. I mentioned this last week too, but it's important. The Lord made them, what? Overseers. Now again, that's the word episkopoi. bishops, overseers. As a verb, this word means one who visits, or it means to visit, I should say, as a verb. Not merely in the sense of somebody just dropping by, say, hi, how are things going? But visiting, like the Bible talks about I think it is. I'm not sure if I got that right. But visiting orphans and widows. That kind of thing. Why do you visit orphans and widows? Oh, hi, how are you? No, it's to go and take things to them. You're assessing the need and then you're bringing ministry to them. And the elders particularly are responsible for spiritual ministry. And so they visit, they give oversight. See, this word scope is in episcopacy, right? They scope the congregation, they keep watch over them, and then they go and they bring what's needed to them. the spiritual needs. Somebody struggling needs comfort. Somebody is sinning and needs to be corrected and rebuked. All the different things. Whatever is needed, spiritually, the elders particularly are responsible for that. Now, the elders are to do the work of looking after the body, too, to some extent. It's part of their office, but that's particularly the function of the deacons when they are there. So, there are these, this whole idea of oversight. God made them bishops. Now we should understand that Jesus is the bishop or the overseer of our souls. He has visited us from heaven. First scoping out and seeing our need as fallen sinners, and then ministering to our need as a prophet, priest, and king. We're very glad that he visited us. The day spring on high has visited us. And we're very glad for that because we would be still in our sins if He had not come to us. So the elders then are taking on this role of coming and visiting, bringing the Word to God's people, applying it to them in their need. This is why Christ gives the elders because of His great love for us. He's made men in the church overseers. who visit, both in the sense of evaluating the need and in the sense of ministering to those needs. In Jeremiah 3.15, He gives us this promise, And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, this is the Lord speaking, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. That's how he cares for his church. And we, of course, should put ourselves into that way. That's why we need to be members of a church where we have the elders that are ministering to us that he's appointed. In 1 Corinthians 12, 18, we're told that God has set the members, each one of them in the body, just as he pleased. So there were those that were apostles, it says, and prophets, All different ones, miracle workers. God had different ones, different times, doing different work in the church. And He has appointed in our day ministers of the word, elders, deacons, and all sorts of other gifts of the body that people have. So since He is the one who raises up elders for us, that means that this is something that we ought to pray for. If God says, and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding, we need to say, Lord, give us elders to feed us according to to give us knowledge and understanding. Whenever he promises something, that's the way it's supposed to work. When he says that he will save us, we're to call on his name. We receive the promises through prayer. So this is something that Jesus expressly told us. that we should pray for workers in the harvest in Luke 10 too. He says, then he said to them, the harvest truly is great. Now he's talking about people harvest, right? The people that need to hear and receive the word of salvation. The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Don't expect there to be elders if you don't pray for them. There won't be. We need to pray for this. That He raises up elders for us also means that we ought to give thanks for them and to esteem them highly as His representatives. 1 Thessalonians 5, 12-13, I preached on that not long ago. We urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. Why would you esteem them highly? Because they visit you in the name of Christ. He visits you to bring his truth to you and apply it to you, and the elders do that in the church in his name. But in saying that he gives elders to us, There's an important qualification to make. Very important to understand that he does not give them to us in the same way that he gives us prophets and apostles, for example, in the same. It is the same in that he is the one who gives elders gifts for service, just as he does give the gift of service for the gifts that they need to prophets and apostles. But it's not the same in that he directly calls apostles and prophets, but he uses his church to recognize elders and to appoint them. You see, you don't go out and say, the people didn't go out and say, hey, you know, I think Moses should be a prophet, don't you? And they, yeah, yeah, let's go and ordain him to be a prophet. No, Moses met God at the burning bush, and God said, you're gonna be a prophet, you're gonna go and speak for me. Moses didn't have a choice, nobody had a choice. God was the one that did it. But when it comes to elders, choose out from among yourselves, you see, those that are able to serve. So that's what I mean by the difference. Now, it's important to understand that God has given us a list of qualifications that we're bound to go by. And God doesn't have that list when he's choosing prophets and kings. And a lot of people get confused because they think, well, God must have the same list. But he doesn't. And then people will say, well, you know, so-and-so was a prophet. And so why would that mean that they can't be an elder? You see, God can get anyone he chooses. You know, God had Balaam's donkey prophesy. But it doesn't mean that we, therefore, well, God used Balaam's donkey, so that means that we can ordain donkeys to be elders in the church. It doesn't work that way. Now, you see where this becomes an issue is we're told that men are supposed to be ones who serve as elders and people say, well, well, Deborah was a prophet. Yes, she was. God called her to be a prophet. Philip's daughters were too, but they were not appointed to be elders in the church because we have to follow the directives that God gives us. He will say, well, well, David, he had multiple wives. And he was a prophet and a king. He was. God chose him and appointed him. God can choose whoever he wants. But we could not ordain David as an elder, as one who has multiple wives. It was only God. who can call him, he's not bound by those restrictions for prophets. He even used Nebuchadnezzar, didn't he? He wrote one of the chapters in the Bible for us. So recorded in Daniel. So, okay, let's take a look then now at what qualifies or what qualities an overseer must have. Because if there's guidelines given to us, we need to pay attention to what they are. So you can turn back to Titus 1, if maybe you're still there. and we'll look at the qualifications that the Holy Spirit has given us in Scripture. First note that an overseer is to be a mature man. Titus 1.5, Titus is instructed to appoint elders presbyteroi in every city. Now the word elder itself refers to a mature man. Those are the ones that are to be made overseers. An elder can refer to one who is advanced in age But it also refers to one who is spiritually mature and not necessarily advanced in years. In First Timothy 3.6, Timothy says that an elder must not be a novice because he would be in danger of being puffed up with pride. So you don't get a new believer and say, oh, this guy's really zealous. Let's make him an elder. No, that's not someone you're supposed to appoint as an overseer. In our day, it needs to be stressed that an elder, and I mentioned this before, talking about how God calls people directly as prophets, that an elder is to be male and not female. In our list of qualifications, it says that he's to be the husband of one wife. It does not say that he is to be the wife of one husband. Furthermore, there are no examples whatsoever of female elders in the scripture. Perhaps even more importantly, women are expressly prohibited from ruling in the church in 1 Timothy 2, 11 and 12. The words are very plainly spoken. They need to be for our day. Let a woman learn in silence with all submission and I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man but to be in silence. Every woman, even women who are prophets were not permitted to speak in the assembly in an official way as prophets. In 1 Corinthians 14, 34 and 35, it says, let your women keep silent in the churches. And it's talking about prophecy in the context where they are not permitted to speak. Just before that, he was saying that two or three people shouldn't be speaking at the same time, claiming to be prophets. He says, but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. If they want to learn something, let them ask their husbands at home. for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. They could speak prophecies or teach outside the church, like Philip's daughters did, or like Aquila and Priscilla, husband and wife. They taught Apollos in their home, sat down with him and showed him the way of God, both of them together. But there's a boundary that God has set in his word for public worship. that a woman is not to lead in preaching in that way. Now, this doesn't mean that women are inferior to men. It means that they're different. OK, it means that they have a different role that God has given them in the church. Even in the Trinity, there is a kind of economy among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with even an economic or household kind of subordination. The father sends the Son, but you don't have it the other way around. You don't have the Son of God deciding, I'm going to send the Father to go and do thus and thus. Now the Father and the Son send the Spirit. So there's a role distinction in their work. And this doesn't diminish the glory or the deity of Jesus Christ. He is fully God, but he has a different role. He obeys the Father in coming here, becoming flesh and dying on the cross. It's in obedience to the Father as the Son of God that He does that. He wasn't already in human flesh when He left the glory of heaven to come here in obedience to the Father. And it's always, you never find that order reversed. And that's the way it is in our home. God has appointed men to be the head of the home. It doesn't mean that they're superior to women. It means that they have a different responsibility and role. They're to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and they bear the responsibility. They're supposed to take the burden of that responsibility. So often men pushed off all the responsibility on their wife, but that's something that they have been given to do. So this is an important thing for us to understand. The next thing we see is that the elder must be blameless in his home. The word blameless means that you can't bring a legitimate accusation against him. Obviously, it doesn't mean he's perfect, because if it did, there wouldn't be any elders. He's to rather live a consistently godly life in his home, that he is not as far as can be seen living in rebellion against the Lord, but he's serving faithfully and consistently so that when he When he sins, he repents and returns to the Lord. Of course, unprincipled people will accuse even Jesus himself. They did. and John the Baptist. You remember they said, oh, John the Baptist must have a demon because he has an austere life and he doesn't eat and drink and all of these things. And then Jesus, oh, you know, he drinks wine and he feasts. He's a glutton and a winebibber. They will find ways to accuse anyone. But such accusations to honest people do not make someone to be anything other than blameless. In fact, when silly accusations are brought, it actually shows that a man is blameless. OK, when unfounded accusations are brought against them, people are digging and trying to find something. That's a good sign. If they come up with silly things, it can be very difficult. And the world can often believe those. But as Christians, we should not follow the world's judgment. We're not to judge. We're to use God's word to evaluate everything. So the elder is to be blameless as to his family life. Titus 1.6 says that he is to be the husband of one wife. It doesn't mean that he must be married, but rather that if he is married, he is to be a one-woman man. Literally, that's what it says. A one-woman man. There's not even a definite article there. A one-woman man. A one-woman man means that he does not have eyes for women other than his wife. He's devoted. to her gave very important. She is his companion by covenant and he knows that he's committed to her as Christ is to the church. He loves her with a kind of a devoted love. So polygamy divorce on unbiblical grounds where you go from one to another fornication are all disqualifying issues. However if a man has repented and has proven himself with a consistent record of faithfulness, it's possible for one who has a divorce in the past or who has lived in fornication in the past, he can certainly have a new record in Christ where he can then become one who is rightly deemed to be qualified. Titus 1.6 goes on to say that he is to also have faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. Now, a faithful covenant child is one who submits to his parents and he submits in the most important matter of all, continuing in God's covenant. They continue by profession, by professing the truth and by serving Christ. Dissipation speaks of prodigal living and extravagance, and it includes wastefulness, immorality, drunkenness, such things. Insubordination is simply a lack of submission, refusing to obey their father and their mother, refusing to obey even the Lord. This is a legitimate test that's given to an elder. You say, well, that's the test of his children. Yes, it's a test of Him that God has given, because God has promised to bless us and our children in His covenant. And when our children in the covenant rebel, they are certainly to blame. They are themselves to blame, but so are their parents. Yes, men like David had rebellious children, but it's easy to see why when you consider that he had more than one wife. And he is said to have withheld discipline from his son. He never said no to him. We're told that. And he was involved in an adulterous affair. The Lord even tells us that it is because of these things that David would have strife and division in his home. So we don't have to guess and say, well, I wonder if David had anything to do with that. David had a lot to do with it. You see, that's why this is presented to us. Take Eli, another example. He had rebellious sons. God said, you did not restrain your sons. You see? So this is what God says. A man who has failed in this way may not be, also, may not be disqualified forever. However, if he If he truly repents, he may not be disqualified forever. If he refuses to accept responsibility for his children, though, and he points the finger at them, maybe they're grown up now, and he points the finger at them in a way that excuses himself, then he's not really fully repented of his own sin as a father, and he should not be an elder. He's not been humbled before the Lord. It's only if God has humbled him, then he can see clearly and accept that he bears responsibility for that. Children are responsible too, but so is he. And then when he bears, when he accepts that responsibility, he can be qualified to serve. Sadly, this requirement has often been ignored. even in solid churches. The result has been that excuse making in parent has been passed down from the elders to the members of the congregation. Instead of parents humbling themselves and looking at how they have contributed to their children's rebellion, God's promises to parents have been denied. And I know that's the thing that has constantly affected me as a parent. that knowing that I bear responsibility if I see one of my children going astray to get before God and say, Lord, how have I contributed to this? It's never failed that God has shown me how I contributed to it. And I have to repent and I have to go and deal with that. You see, it's very, very important to hold up the standard that God has given us. Instead of living by faith, humbly seeking the grace of God to obtain the promises, a culture of self-justification has become the norm in the church. And that's why there's so much problem today of one generation to the next continuing in the Lord. It's been that way all along in the church. Okay, next we're told that the elder should be blameless as a steward of God, so blameless in his family and next blameless as a steward of God. Titus 1.7 says a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God. And there are five things that he must not be and six things that he must be if he is to be a blameless steward. He's been given. First of all, let's talk about a steward. A steward is one who has been given the responsibility to look after another person's property. The the Wonderful example we have of that, somebody that did it right, is Joseph in the Old Testament when he was serving Potiphar. Potiphar had put everything in Joseph's hands, said, you know, here, you know, take my authority of my bank account and all my ownings, like, all in your hands, Joseph, you look after this stuff for me. That's a steward, someone looking after somebody else's property and taking care of it in a responsible way. That's the way that a steward is supposed to act. Potiphar probably, with Joseph, he probably thought, this guy, with his wisdom and everything, he'll take better care of my property than I will if I manage it. So he was happy. And some people will hire a steward. Maybe they're kind of a careless, rich person. They hire someone, look after all my stuff. Because they know they're not going to look after it very well. That's what you have in a steward. Now, no steward can be as devoted to the Lord's household as our Lord is. But an elder must not be devoid of a true love and devotion to the church over which the Holy Ghost has made him an overseer. The church that Jesus purchased with His own blood. That's how much He loves the church. And the elder is a steward looking after a portion of that church for the Lord Jesus Christ. Heard about a man that was complaining, saying, you know, he only had, I don't remember how many it was, you know, 30 people in the congregation or something like that. An older man said, that's plenty of souls to give an account for on the day of judgment. And that is certainly true, isn't it? Well, let's look at the five things then that must not be true of him if he is to be God's steward. First, he shouldn't be self-willed. Of course not. If you're self-willed, then you're not following the master of the house's directives. You want to do it this way, and the master says do it that way. You do it your own way. Elder can't be like that. He's looking after somebody else's house. You don't decide what's to be done with his stuff. He decides what's to be done with his stuff. That man will be either stubborn and inflexible, or else he'll be pliable, because he wants to please everyone. So it doesn't matter what the master says. What do the people think? Because it's about him. Or he's stubborn because I want it to be this way, and he doesn't care what anybody says and drives everything into the ground. That's not the kind of person that should be an elder, not a good man to be an elder. Second, he must not be quick-tempered. guy with a chip on his shoulder. He can't be a steward. That betrays him as someone who is about himself instead of about the Lord. You know, righteous anger is very evident when it occurs. It's something that happens when we're concerned about our master in his name and reputation. But the majority of our anger is about us. And we were tiffed off because something didn't go our way or whatever. That shows someone that's not a steward, but they're worried about their own things, whatever it is that they're clinging on to. Again, it's not a suitable thing. Moses was a very meek man, but there was one time he was always concerned about God and God's reputation when people insulted him. He said, it falls on God. You know, they're insulting God, not me. But then there was that one occasion where he lost it and he struck the rock and God said, you can't go on the promised land because of that. Because that one time he had to die outside of the promised land. And God never relented on that. So you see, it's a big thing to the Lord that we regard him as holy, that we don't take it as if we're the big shot. Third, he must not be given to wine. That means one who stays near to wine. This is a guy that hangs out the wine bottle. Proverbs says, it's not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink, lest they forget the law and pervert the justice of the afflicted. You're not concerned about running your master's house if you're boozing it up. If a king can't look after his kingdom when he's drunk, how can an elder look after God's kingdom if he is drunk? He's unfit for the solemn work to which he's called. Drunkenness takes away the spirit, the Holy Spirit's influence and has another influence in your life. Fourth, he must not be violent. literally a striker or a fist fighter. That's not how the kingdom of God comes. We don't use carnal weapons to get people into the service of God. We use spiritual weapons, the word of God brought to them by prayer and the Holy Spirit pleading with God to work in them and open their heart to the truth so that they will respond to the word. Not by getting in a fight with someone. And then fifth, he must not be greedy for money. A greedy steward, you can't trust him. That guy is going to be transferring stuff over to his account from God's account. So a man greedy for money is not going to be interested in the things of God. He will neglect the service of God. to serve money or he will serve in order to gain for himself. Maybe he'll make compromises so that, I talked about the pliable guy that wants everybody to like him. Well, maybe this guy wants everybody to come to church and, you know, there's a guy that gives a lot of money and he's not really a godly man, but he's going to welcome that guy because he wants that guy to be there to give his money. See, he's not going to be a faithful steward. It's not going to work. And more than that, he's not going to be able to help people with their own problem. We all have problems with covetousness. And if he's not fighting that battle himself, but giving into it, he's not going to have anything to say to anybody else. Love or money cannot be a blameless steward. That's a thing that sucks up your whole life with God. It's like lust of any kind, covetousness of whether it's sexual covetousness or whether it's financial covetousness. If that's where your focus is, you want something that God hadn't given you, your life with God is barren. It's dried up. Your whole focus is in the wrong place. Not a good person to be an elder. OK, so that's five things that disqualify a man from being a steward. Now, let's look at six things that a man must be if he is to be a steward of God's house. First, he needs to be hospitable, lover of strangers, a heart that cares for people, a heart that opens his home and welcomes people and he doesn't stand aloof. He invites people into his life, doesn't hold them off at a distance, but he encourages the body of Christ around a warm table. And he brings strangers who do not know the Lord around a warm hearth, you know, to to speak to them and help them and talk to them. Second, a man must be a lover of what is good if he is to be an elder. He needs to know the difference between good things and evil things. There are some religious men, and there were a lot that were beginning to rise up when Paul wrote this, who have fallen into the snare of despising things that are good, that God has given us, like marriage, feasting, good company, beautiful music. art, architecture, all kinds of things that are good. And these men err because God has given us these things and we're to use them and enjoy them for his glory. And we're to teach others to do so. So if you've got a guy that wants to go off and live in a cave away from everyone, he doesn't delight in what is good. He's to set an example of how to enjoy what God has given us with thanksgiving. Third, a man must be sober minded. rational and discreet. He didn't blow things out of proportion. You know, you have guys that, you know, they'll hear something and then they're all paralyzed with fear and worry. It's not a good fellow to be an elder. He'll make decisions that are not wise, not sober. Then there's the things come along, you know, the get-rich-quick schemes or the health fads or conspiracy theories or whatever it is. No, his goal, he doesn't get all wrapped up and bent out of shape. His goal is to disciple people and to teach them to trust God and to rest in Him. not to spout off some new thing that everybody's got to be afraid of or whatever it is. Fourth, a man who wants to be an elder must be just. doesn't judge according to his own standards. He evaluates based on the word of God and righteousness. The world is changes its perspective all the time. You know, you live in a society where they eat anybody that comes to visit their island, and that's OK to everybody that lives there. And then you have another society like ours where, you know, you can you can be sexually promiscuous and that's celebrated. And it's a great thing. It's not a great thing. It's just as bad as the ones that eat the people that come to their island, but yet are devoted and loyal to one wife. We sin in all different ways, and a man needs to be just. He needs to be just in his behavior, too, so that he treats people fairly in his life. He pays his bills. He doesn't lie. He doesn't change things unfairly. Fifthly, he must be holy. That is a man who is devoted to God. This particular word holy here means somebody that's devoted to God. He's a man who worships God in secret, in his family, and in church. He's a man of prayer. He lives for the glory of God. As a steward, he's devoted to his master. If you're not devoted to your master, how can you be a steward of his house? You won't be a faithful steward. Sixthly, he must be self-controlled. If he's not, he won't be able to devote himself to God's work. See, Chrysostom describes him as one having his passions, tongue, hand, and eyes at command. Wagging tongues, laziness, worry, distraction, all these can keep a man from being a faithful steward in God's house. So, what we've seen so far, the one qualified to serve as an elder must be a mature man, he must be blameless in his family, and blameless as a steward of God. And now we're told finally that a man whom God has prepared to be an elder will be one who is established in the word and able to instruct others in it. Titus 1.9, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict. This is very important, why? How does God reveal himself to us? through the word. So he needs to be a man of the word. If he doesn't understand the word, he doesn't know God, because that's how God reveals himself to us today. So he needs to be someone that knows how to understand the promises of God, to apply the promises of God, to understand the commandments of God, to apply the commandments of God in life, to correct errors and gently lead people. He has to be able to explain the truth in plainness and clarity, understanding the way of salvation, and the ordinances of God and instructing people in those things. We require that church officers hold to the Westminster standards as an expression of their own faith, because there we have a summary of doctrine. Why is that important? Because an elder needs to have a systematic understanding of the Scriptures. What I mean by that, he needs to see how everything fits together. Because you see, people will come along with erroneous teaching, and if he doesn't understand how everything fits together, then he'll easily go off on some error and not realize the implications of that. Take, for example, you reject the deity of Christ. It's always been a big deal in the church, and people say, well, what's the difference if Jesus isn't quite as divine as the Father is? Why is that such a big deal? Well, it affects everything. If that's true, then His death on the cross becomes not God dying on the cross, But it becomes now something less than God. And that diminishes the importance of the cross. And so then, what always happens when people deny the deity of Christ? What do you see in the cults that do that? Work salvation. You do stuff to get right with God. Because you don't have a divine savior on the cross anymore. And it goes on and on and on. You're not as thankful. Because, I mean, it's not that big a deal. You know, and I had to do my work anyway. So now I'm not as thankful to God. I don't worship God for his grace. It goes on and on to the implications. Then you deny hell. A lot of cults deny hell, don't they? Why? Well, they don't have a divine savior. And so if a divine savior wasn't needed to atone for sin, there's not that big a punishment for sin. I mean, I can do stuff to make up for it. So there's no hell for people that don't. You see, it just goes on and on and everything gets trashed. Because you went a little off on the deity of Christ. That's how an understanding that an elder needs to have so that he can see the implications of those errors. It should be pointed out, however, that those who preach are to be held to an even higher standard because they're called to preach. than the elders who are not called to preach. Remember that the office of ruling elder is carried over from the Old Testament, but the office of the minister of the word, in a sense, replaces the priest in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the gospel was set forth by priests who served together with elders. And in the New Testament, it's set forth, as I mentioned to you already, by preaching Okay. And elders then join with the ministers of the word. The new office of minister and the word is prominent in the office of ruling elder continues. Okay. As an overseer of the church and even the office of elder is now more word based because it's focused not as much on keeping ritual requirements related to the temple, but it's based now on the gospel and the word of truth. As we saw last week in Acts 20, the regional presbytery is to keep watch over those who preach to ensure that their doctrine is sound. There's a whole lot more I could say about that, but I won't. Let's move on. What is the process that the Lord has given us to follow in choosing our elders to serve among us? We've seen the qualifications. What is the process that's to be used? First, let me give you some guiding principles about this. We are not given specific details in scripture about the exact details of every detail, I should say. But we are given basic principles that are to be followed if we're gonna be true to the Lord. Okay, so we have principles that must not be deviated from that are clearly given to us. The details, they can be worked out in different ways. So what we see overall is that there are three parties involved in determining which men should be put into the service as elders or bishops. The individual himself needs to see that he is called, the members of the congregation must deem him to be suited to the office, and the elders who are already in service must recognize that he is qualified and able to serve so that they are able to lay hands on him. We must be careful in how we work this out. First, we must be careful that we do not ignore any of these three parties in determining who is to serve. Some men have appointed themselves to be even ministers of the gospel without coming under evaluation of anyone. They go out and declare themselves to be a minister and set up church. Should not be done. Okay, we have to not leave any of them out. If we do leave any of these out, We are putting ourselves in a place of danger because we may bring forth men who are not called of the Lord, not prepared by him for the work, and that will cause much harm to the church. But we must also beware of the opposite direction of being excessively cautious, lest we deprive the church of the service of those that he has called. And you see, this is the thing where you can't hold out. Like with Romans 14, if you're talking about food and you say, oh, I don't know if I should drink wine or not. What's the rule? Don't drink wine. Because there's nothing wrong with not drinking wine. But this is more like the Lord's table. Oh, I'm not sure that we should come to the Lord's table. I'm not sure if that's something we should still do today. Then maybe I shouldn't go. Well, no. If you're pretty sure that you should, you should go. Because it would be wrong not to go in that case. And so it is with elders. It would be wrong not to appoint someone that God has called. So we don't save ourselves by being cautious. We need to be careful that we neither deprive, that we keep someone back that should be, or that we push someone forward that shouldn't be. So it's a thing we really need to go to the Lord in prayer. It's easy to be excessively cautious and to deprive the church of the service of those that he has called. We need to realize that disobedience can come either direction. But let's look at the role of each of these three parties in determining, in the process of determining which men are called to serve as elders. We can find information about the requirement of the elder himself in 1 Timothy 3.1, that the elder himself is supposed to have a sense of call It says, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. Now, of course, there's going to be men who will desire the position of a bishop for wrong reasons, that they may be seen as important or whatever, or want to prove something or whatever it is. Part of the way the Lord calls a man is by giving him a desire to serve. And of course, there's gonna be mixed motives a lot of times, too. I have to say, I know my motives when I came to ministry were not altogether pure. And they're not now, they never will be. But overall, if he has a desire, a real desire to serve the kingdom of God, he sees the need, he sees that the Lord has gifted him, and he wants to be used for him. Okay, that's an important thing. There's no place for pride here, because God is the one that gifts us. But neither is there a place for false humility, more of an avoidance of responsibility than anything else. You see, there could be false humility where you won't, you know, you bury your talent because you're afraid. If you're gifted to the Lord, own it and use it for his glory. But if you know yourself to be unfit for some reason, or if your situation in life present prevents you, then by all means, do not agree to serve. You will do well to pray, though, that you will be brought into a position where you can serve. It's a good thing if a man desires that office. And now let me show you how the congregation and elders work together, the two parties together, in identifying who should serve. We've seen the one party, the elder himself. Now let's look at the other two at the same time. When we read Paul's instructions to Titus in Titus 1.5, it almost sounds like Titus is simply to choose out the elders at Crete single-handedly. Paul says, Titus 1.5, for this reason I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. So you could read that, okay, Titus comes along and he says, you, you, you are elders, and he appoints them and then he's done. But that's not, there's something else here. Look, notice the words, as I commanded you. Titus was not to go about this in his own way. He had received instructions from Paul about how to do it. J. Adams suggests the translation here, appoint elders in every city according to the program that I laid out for you. Those words, as I commanded you, actually refer to provisions that are set forth in a last will and testament. When someone is dying and they say, this is what I want done with my things, there's a way of doing things and distributing things that is laid out. Paul expected Titus to follow his instructions that he had given him about appointing elders, to follow them to the letter, the way you would follow the directives in the last will and testament. Now the way Titus was to carry out this work then had been clearly specified. But what do we do? Paul, we don't have those instructions. Paul just says, do it the way I commanded you. Appoint elders the way. Well, Paul, what did you say to him? Where's the document that you wrote, or where are the instructions that you gave? It's not here. So are we up the creek here? You know, what did Titus do? We're not told what he did. He was told to do it, is all we have. But things are not nearly as bad as they might seem. God's Word is complete. The Lord revealed the way of appointing officers to all of his prophets and apostles in the New Testament. And they followed it. And in the Old Testament too. It's not different for Paul than it was for Peter, James, and John. Right? It's the same Lord. He has the same method. Remember with the Lord's Supper? Like they all got the Lord's Supper when they were with Jesus the night that he was betrayed, except Paul. And what does he say? I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. He was an apostle. He got it directly from the Lord, too. And it was the same thing that they got. Why was it the same? Because there's one Lord and he has one way of doing the Lord's Supper. So is it not the same then with church government? So if we want to know what method was used to ordain officers, we need an example somewhere of how it's done. Well, don't think that when Paul tells Titus to appoint elders, he was giving him authority to appoint them without consenting the people, consulting the people. There can be no doubt that Paul commanded Titus to do the same thing the apostles did in Acts 6 when they appointed officers in the church. Since the same God that instructed the apostles in Acts 6 also instructed Paul, we can only assume that he did the same thing. That Titus did the same thing. He's not a God who contradicts. So the advantage of Acts 6 is that here we're given the details of the process which is only alluded to when Paul tells Titus to appoint elders by the method that I commanded you. So let's look at the example. The word appoint that's used by Paul in Titus 1.5 is exactly the same word in the original that's used in Acts 6.3. When the apostles say, Therefore, brethren, speaking to the congregation, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may, what? Appoint over this business. Okay, Paul says to Titus, go and appoint elders. Here they are appointing elders over this business. And what did they say to do? Acts 6.3, it says the people are to choose them out. Now, after these seven men were chosen out by the people, what happens in verse 6, Acts 6, 6? The apostles prayed and laid hands on them to set them apart to office. So we have a complete picture here. There is the method. People choose, leaders ordain. Who can improve on that method? There is a double approval to help ensure that a wise choice is made. Approval by the ministers who selected their leaders and approval by the existing leaders who lay hands on them and refuse to do so if they don't think they're qualified. Think about how that important that is. If you've got a hierarchical church and they appoint all the officers, they just say, OK, this is your minister. They send it to the church. These are your leaders. They appoint. You can have corruption in there. The congregation doesn't say that these guys aren't qualified. They just have to accept it. And on the other side, the congregation, you know, they have a popularity contest and they want someone. Oh, this guy's great. He's so good. He's so I like him so much. And he's appointed to serve. And the elders say, well, yeah, but he's not qualified. And so you see, there's a there's a protection going on here that the Holy Spirit has given us. God's ways are so good and wise. We need to do, as Paul said to Titus, do it the way that I commanded you. You see, Although we don't have a full description of the process anywhere else, we can find evidence that the same method was used elsewhere because we're given bits and pieces. Like what we just looked at, appoint elders. That's what they did in Acts 6. They appointed, it was actually deacons here, it was officers though. Although we don't have a full description then, let me give you some examples of other places like that where we have connections. In Acts 14, when Paul and Barnabas went back and appointed elders in all the churches that they had planted, Luke uses a very descriptive word in Acts 14.23, a different word for appoint. He says, so when they had appointed elders, Acts 14.23, in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Now here again, at first it might sound like they just appointed elders without consulting the congregation, but the word that's translated appoint is a word that means appoint by vote. So how did they appoint the elders? They did it by vote. It's not surprising. The same way they appointed officers in Acts 6. If you have a different method for appointing officers, then it would be inconsistent. But you can be sure that they did what Act 6 says when that word is used that refers to them doing it by vote. We might look at the Old Testament as well. When elders were first chosen, Moses said in Deuteronomy 1.13, choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. We also have supporting evidence that the existing elders are always to do what was done in Acts 6 and lay hands on the men that are appointed. In 1 Timothy 4.14, Paul speaks of Timothy being set apart to office and says, do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Presbytery, or the eldership. In the New King James, it says of the hands of the eldership. Presbuteroi. And then even more helpful, the advice that Paul gives to the presbytery about laying hands on officers. When he says 1 Timothy 5.22, do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure. That reminds us that when the presbytery lays hands on those chosen by the congregation, it's not just an automatic approval and acceptance of whoever the congregation chooses. If the elders do not believe the man is qualified, don't lay hands on him hastily, he says, because then you'll participate in the sins that come as a result of that. Only on the ones you approve. So, you see that elders are not to appoint themselves. nor are elders to appoint the presbytery or bishops or someone or not to appoint them alone unless the congregation chooses them nor congregations to have the final say if the elders do not approve conclusion never forget it is our gracious Lord who raises up elders to his church when he is qualified a man He brings the candidate and the members and the governing body of elders together in the matter. There is a triple confirmation. And then he uses these elders to visit his people, to discern their need and to minister to their spiritual needs as their loving savior. To him be all the glory and praise. Please stand. Gracious Heavenly Father, we come to you with thanksgiving for the instructions that you have given us in your word and for the warm teaching concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, that he loves us and has given us shepherds because he cares about us, that he is the shepherd and bishop of our souls. He is the overseer, the one who visits us in our need, and that he has appointed men to represent him in the world. and to visit, to oversee the congregation, and to visit them according to need, to bring the word to them according to need, to minister to them. And we pray, O Lord, that you would help us, Lord, as we look to choose our elders and to ordain elders, You would indeed show us men that you have raised up for this purpose. Father, if indeed you have raised up new men, we pray that you would make it clear to us, Lord, and that we would be able to appoint them to this work. We thank you so much, Lord, for your care of your church. And we know, Lord, that it is for us to pray and to ask you, Lord, that you will send forth those who can serve you in this way. So we plead with you in Jesus name to have mercy on us and to visit us through the hands of those that you have chosen and appointed. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated as we prepare to receive the supper. Our Lord Jesus was so delighted to gather his disciples together at the Last Supper and to, even though he was being betrayed that very night, to gather them together and to appoint the Lord's Supper to them. Because he is a loving bishop, an overseer, who is intimately aware of our need as sinners, and who came for the purpose of giving himself as a sacrifice to atone for our sin, visiting us with salvation that we could not have any other way. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. And his commitment is such that he continues to visit us in all sorts of different ways. He cares about our needs. One of the ways we saw today is that he appoints elders to go and represent him and to minister to his people, to bring his word to them in all different ways, publicly, privately, rebukes, comfort, encouragement, any way that it's needed. He loves us. And that's his commitment. And the Lord's Supper itself. What is he doing there? He's setting forth to us in the supper. This is what I did for you. This is my body. Represented by the bread that we have on the table. My body given for you. And he says this cup is the new covenant of my blood. My blood that was shed for the remission of sins. This is what I did for you. Why does he why was he eager to show them that? because He wanted them to know that what He did was sufficient. His visitation to come and die on the cross was sufficient for our salvation. He wants us to rest in that and to delight in that as His people. And He's given us the Lord's Supper to say, this continues to have power in your life for the forgiveness of sins and for growth in grace that you can become I nourish you. My cross, my death on the cross, I nourish you with my body and blood so that you can go on by my grace serving the Lord. How does an elder become qualified to serve as an elder? It's by the grace of God. It's not because of anything in that man. It's because of God's grace in him. This is the way our Lord works. Listen to His... Enthusiasm? Can I call it enthusiasm? His joy in getting his disciples together in Luke 22. It says, When the hour had come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him. Then he said to them, With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. So eager. With desire I have desired. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took the cup and gave thanks, and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. I visited you with salvation so you can live forever through faith in me. We should meet his zeal with our own zeal. Lord, give me what you brought when you visited us. Give me your body and blood shed for the remission of my sins. Give that to me, Lord, so that I can live forever. Give that to me so I can serve God and I can know God and I can walk with him. Give me what you brought to me when you visited with your salvation. And if you are not one who desires that salvation, if you're not interested in having eternal life, walking with God, knowing God, serving God, Don't come to this table. I don't care what you've ever professed. Don't come to this table if that's not you. If it is you, then come to this table if you're a member in good standing of his church. You need to be a member. You need to be under the care of those that he has appointed to be his visitors here, to be his bishops. And if you're not, then I encourage you, if you are yearning for Jesus Christ and his salvation, then come, profess your faith. and meet with the elders and we'll receive you if you're trusting in Him. Let's pray as we prepare to go to the table. Heavenly Father, please bless the bread and the wine on this table that it would be to us, Lord, a true token of what Jesus Christ has done. It is a true token. Help us to see it. Help us to recognize. What is the truth that is revealed here with such joy by our Lord Jesus Christ, even though he was on his way to the cross? He had a delight because of what he was going to give to us as he as he gathered with his disciples and he looked down through the ages and he saw people all through the ages. He saw us coming to this table and receiving and delighting in what he brought when he visited. We thank you that he went to the cross and that his atonement covers our sin, takes away our sin if we come in faith to him. Father, that we have this bread and wine that represents that, to bring it before us, Lord, to give us hope and encouragement, to refresh us in our walk. And we pray, oh Lord, that you would do that ongoing work, that you would continue to visit our souls. You are the shepherd and the bishop of our souls. And we praise you for the hope and encouragement that that gives to us. Lord, you will not leave us dry. You will continue to visit us and bring what is good if we are your elect. Oh, Father, have mercy upon us, Lord. Forgive us for our sins and help us to walk with delight and to receive with delight the bread and wine that represents your saving work. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. and receive now the blessing of the Lord which He delights to give to His people. He delights to visit you with His blessing. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.