Please open up your Bibles to 1 Timothy 3, and if you do not have a copy of God's Word, it is printed for you in the bulletin, although, as Pastor Mike has already said, we do encourage you to bring a copy of God's Word. From time to time, we will go from passage to passage. We have been for the last two weeks, and this week being the third week, a series, a brief series on blueprints for a biblical church. You know that our normal practice is to preach through books of the Bible, and the reason for that is to protect you from any hobby horse we might have, and it's also to protect me when the congregation might not necessarily want to hear what we want to preach. And so expository preaching through books of the Bible protects both the minister and the congregation. But because Mike George has been nominated to be a deacon, the elders thought it a good idea to cover the subject of how the church is supposed to be governed and why we do what we do. And so we're going to complete this series this morning from 1 Timothy 3, and we're going to go through the first 13 verses and cover the biblical qualifications for the offices of elder and deacon. So hear the word of the Lord from 1 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 1. This is a faithful saying. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise, deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience, But let these also first be tested, then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own house as well. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. We began this series by looking at the biblical office of the elder, which is in our text called bishop. Sometimes the same office is referred to in several different ways. Sometimes elder, sometimes bishop, sometimes overseer, sometimes pastor. And we saw that all of those names refer to the same office and that it is the elders of the church who are elected by the congregation who have the primary responsibility of providing leadership and caring for the spiritual needs in the church. So, not all elders are responsible to make their labor, their primary labor in life, preaching and teaching, but all elders have the responsibility to provide leadership and rule in the church according to the Word of God. So, we saw that elders are not to make up doctrines for you to believe, and elders don't make up rules for you to follow. but elders are, their authority is strictly ministerial. So they only teach what is according to the word of God for you to believe and for you to obey. And then the following week, last week, we looked at the office of deacon and we saw that deacons, their primary responsibility is to care for the temporal needs of the church. that they look after the financial responsibilities and have the task of managing the finances of the church, but they have a particular focus of caring for and ministering to the sick, to the needy, to orphans, and especially the situation that came up in Acts chapter 6, were widows. And I want to remind you that it is Christ who is called the chief shepherd of the church and that all of the shepherds or the pastors in the church are to look to Christ as their example for being a shepherd. But it is also true that Christ is the chief deacon of the church. And we see him in his earthly ministry caring for the sick oftentimes, and so deacons are to look to Christ to care for the sick and the needy as their example as well. And so then we ask the question, okay, well then how does God call men to the office of elder and to the office of deacon? And let me just start by saying God does not call them by sending a chill up their spine when people talk about it. That is not what the calling of God is. Nor does God call men through an audible voice. They don't hear him speak. God no longer speaks audibly to his church. He only speaks to us through the scriptures. And so the question is, okay, well then how does God call His men? Well, He works through the men two ways. He works through the men. and that he works through the congregation. And let me say very quickly how. He works through the man by firstly giving him the desire for that office to take up the responsibilities of those offices and also by equipping him with the qualifications necessary. So God works through the man by giving him the desire and by giving him the qualifications for that office. But then he also works through the congregation. How does he work through the congregation? Well, he works through the congregation in a very similar way. The congregation will have the desire to be under this man or to have this man serve in this office, and they will be able to observe those qualifications in that man. So they'll say, this is someone who has gifts of teaching, and we think that he should observe, or maybe not observe, but serve in the office of elder or of pastor, and that he meets the biblical character qualifications for that office. Or, with respect to deacons, they'll say, this is a man that we see is faithful in serving God's people, cares for the widows, cares for orphans, cares for the poor, cares for the temporal needs of the body of Christ, and therefore, we believe he would serve well and serve faithfully as a deacon in Christ's church. And so, this is how God calls men into the office. by giving them the desires and giving them the qualifications. And then through the congregation, he gives the desire to see this man serve in this office. And they are able to observe the qualifications in this man. And so then we need to know, well, what are the qualifications? And that is what 1 Timothy 3 is all about. And a couple of things I want to say before we go through this list of qualifications. The first thing is that these are primarily descriptions of character. There are some having to do with skills that he must have, but most of these have to do with his character. The question is not, has he ever done this or has he ever struggled with this sin? There is no one who would look at this list of qualifications rightly and think, I meet these qualified, I think I'm good here. By the way, that's a red flag. I sent, there was a man that I knew, a young man, he was a little bit younger than me, but we were about the same age. And he had been at a church for about six months. And he told me, hey, the guys here, I forget what state he lives in now, but he called me and he said, hey, there's some men here who want me to serve as an elder. Now keep in mind, he'd only been there about six months. And ever since I had known this guy, he was, one week this is a heresy, the next week he believes it, then a month from then there was some other controversial thing that he thought was heretical, and then the next month he believed it. I mean, it was just, his life was a constant rollercoaster ride of what he believed and didn't believe, and then these people want him to serve as an elder. And so I emailed him, I thought, how can I tell him I really don't think this is a good idea for you, without just immediately turning him away, which now that I think of it, may have been a better idea. But I sent him something that I had written a long time ago as I had studied through these qualifications. And I expected him to kind of chew on these for a while and study them. Well, I sent him an email with this document, and about 10 minutes later, he emails me back and says, yeah, I think I've got these in the bag, so I think I'm going to go ahead and proceed with this. And I thought, wow, what a foolish thing for a man to look at these requirements and think, yeah, that sounds like me. But we'll talk, but these are character descriptions. And the question is not, has he ever done these things or anything like that? The question is, do they describe him? And is he growing in these characteristics? Not, has he ever sinned? Nobody other than Christ would possibly meet these qualifications perfectly. So they are character, primarily character qualifications. But secondly, they're not optional. So we can't look at this list and say, well, some of these he has and some of these he doesn't. And so we just really like this guy and he's really influential or maybe makes a lot of money or something like that. And so we're going to put him in office. No, God's list of qualifications are not optional. And the last thing I want to say before we begin looking at these qualifications is that both of the offices of elder and deacon are virtually the same in qualifications. Now, the qualifications for elders or bishops or overseers are in verses 1 through 7, And the qualifications for deacons are primarily through verses 1 through 13. However, these are to be taken together and there are various reasons for that. We couldn't give a detailed exposition of everything in this passage. one morning but because of the nature of our discussion having to do with nominating officers we're going to focus primarily on the qualifications rather than giving a detailed exposition of why all of the reasons why Paul is writing to Timothy everything like that. But do note that the qualifications for elders and deacons are virtually the same with the exception being of having the skill of teaching and preaching the Word of God. Alright, so there are three categories into which these qualifications fall. There are personal qualifications or character qualifications. There are family qualifications, secondly. And then thirdly, there are church or ecclesiastical qualifications. church ecclesiastical qualifications that the man must meet. So let's begin by looking at the personal qualifications. We've already said that the man must desire this, that God will give this individual the desire, as it says in verse 1, if a man desires the position of a bishop. So he must be aspiring to or desire to serve in this regard. And the next thing that it says in verse 2, it says that a bishop then must be blameless. Now this word blameless, or as it is sometimes translated, above reproach, is kind of a broad descriptive term. I believe the rest of the passage having to do with these qualifications is kind of an exposition of this word. Meaning, what does it mean to be blameless or what does it mean to be above reproach? Well, simply keep reading. And so we might ask, broadly speaking, is he a man of God? We're not necessarily asking if people like him. We're asking, does he meet God's standards of living? Does he have any overarching, glaring character issues that would disqualify him from the office? Is he a blameless man, a man above reproach? Now, one of the more controversial requirements is the next one. If you read it, verse two, it says a bishop then must be blameless, says the husband of one wife. Now, typically what this gets reduced to is two things. They'll say, has he ever been divorced? When I was growing up in the churches, the tradition in which I grew up, it was, has he ever been divorced? And then there are other people will say, well, since this was written in the first century, in a context that had a lot of polygamy still around, which by the way, there are places in the world that Christian missionaries do still have to deal with this polygamy. having multiple wives, that this is what it's talking about. And so does he currently have more than one wife? And which is the answer? And I would say neither, but at the same time both. Now let me explain why. Okay, the qualification literally reads in Greek, he must be a one-woman man. Now, does that mean he could have never been divorced if he'd had a biblical divorce? And I would say, no, and here's why. And does it refer to polygamy? And I would say, yes and no, and here's why. All of these character qualifications are just that. They're character qualifications. And so the question is, does his character describe, would you look at that man and describe him as a one-woman man? Not, has he ever committed sexual sin in the past? Has he ever fornicated in the past? That's not necessarily the question. The question is, is he currently, which is what verse one, excuse me, verse two, the verb is a bishop then must be currently, is he a one-woman man now? Now, Well, then it gets a little more difficult when you say, well, okay, well, a couple of years ago, he did this, or a couple of years ago, he did that. And so you have to analyze a man's life and look at him and say, it could be that divorce would prevent him from holding this office, but it might not necessarily be the case. If he had committed some sexual sin 20 years ago and then was converted, well, but for the last 10 or 15 years of his life, he's been faithful to his wife and is living a godly lifestyle, well then you would look at his character and say, he is currently a one-woman man. And so the question is not necessarily about one particular act in the past that he may have done. The question is, is he currently a one-woman man? And by the way, if you're going to argue that way, that he could have never committed any of those sins in the past, then you would also have to say, well, if he's ever lost his temper before, which is also one of the requirements, then he's disqualified. Or if he's ever been drunk before, then he's also disqualified. And so, to be consistent, I think we would have to say, looking at the man's life, is he a one-woman man? Would you describe him as being faithfully devoted to only one woman? Next qualification. Verse two, in the New King James, which is predominantly, usually what we use here, it uses the word temperate. Now, when the word temperance is used, we typically tend to think of prohibition or something like that. But the word doesn't have anything to do with alcohol or substance abuse. Now, there are requirements for that, which we'll get to in a moment. But the King James, I think, translates this more accurately when it uses the word vigilant. Why would Paul use this word then? Vigilant. What does that mean? Is he a man that pays attention? Is he a man that thinks like a Christian? Maybe when he watches TV, does he think like a Christian when he watches TV? Does he think like a Christian when someone is giving information to him? When he's reading news reports? Does he think like a Christian with all of his entertainment? Does he operate under a biblical worldview? That's what I take vigilance to mean in this context. Is he paying attention to life? Is he trying to foresee any threats to the church's well-being? Is he a man that is vigilant? Next in verse two, after temperate or vigilance, sober-minded. Now in other ancient literature, this word is used to describe those that are able to control their desires. Now let me let you in on a little secret. All the evil desires that you have, all those things that you think in your heart that you would never tell anybody about, that are wicked, that you're ashamed of, guess what? Pastors and deacons have those desires too. We are not sinless people. And so the question is not, do pastors or deacons ever have evil desires? The question is, are they the type of men that know how to control their desires? Or are they the type of men that fly off the handle? Is the man the kind of man that says anything that just comes into his mind, that he doesn't have any type of filter? Or is he a man that practices self-control and is able to control his desires? Next one in verse 2 is of good behavior. Now this word is used only two times in the New Testament, and the other time that it's used is in chapter 2 in verse 9, just a few verses up in 1 Timothy, to describe women's clothing. In like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, meaning well-ordered apparel, And to describe the man's life, the question is, does he have a well-ordered life? We should ask of a man if he wants to be an elder or if he aspires to be a deacon, does this man have orderly conduct? Is he a dignified man or is his behavior outrageous or wild or is he a respectable man and is he dignified? Next in verse three, the qualification, excuse me, in verse two is hospitable. Does he open his home to strangers? Is this the kind of man that uses his home and his resources for the kingdom of God? Or does he see his home as a fortress of solitude? Now you might think, well, okay, well, what does hospitality mean? I thought hospitality was a gift, but in the New Testament, hospitality is a command. And it is something that all of Christ's church is responsible for obeying. However, the question is, I should say, the requirement here is you are required to be someone who uses your goods and your home as something for the kingdom of God, welcoming people into your home, those that you know, and those that you don't know, in order to counsel them, in order to help them, in order to teach them the Word of God, and perhaps to provide a place of refuge. Is this man hospitable? That's one of the questions we need to ask. Now the last qualification in verse 3, I keep saying verse 3, verse 2. The last qualification in verse 2 is a skill. This is not primarily having to do with his character and that is, is he able to teach? And this is the one qualification that if we keep reading with deacons is different than deacons. Deacons are not required to have the skill engaging in preaching and teaching of God's Word, although there is always some measure when you hold an office in the church where you're going to have to do some measure of private teaching here and there and explaining certain things from the Word of God, but elders are required to have the skill of teaching. Is he a man? who knows the Word of God, who knows the doctrines of the faith, and by the way, at our church we hold to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and so we would require of a man that if he is holding an office in the church that he subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith. Is that because we hold the Westminster Confession higher than the Scriptures? No. It's because we hold the Scriptures as our highest authority and we believe the Westminster Standards are a faithful expression, a summary teaching of what the Bible expresses. And so that's why we require them to hold the Westminster Standards, because we have a high view of Scriptures. Now if you look down at verse 9, this doesn't mean that deacons are off the hook. As far as doctrine, verse 9 says that deacons must be holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. Now, deacons must know the Word of God. Deacons are required to know the doctrines of the faith. They're required to know biblical history. Deacons need to know how to give a biblical defense of the Trinity. Deacons need to know the faith that they are holding office for in the Church of Christ. And it's not by accident that two of the deacons in Acts 6, the first deacons of the church, the first two that are mentioned are Stephen and Philip. Stephen, in the very next chapter, becomes a martyr for the faith. and is killed because of his stance in the faith of Jesus Christ. And Philip ends up becoming an evangelist preaching the gospel. And so the point here is deacons are not those men that are just, you know, maybe they're not quite to elder level, that's not what you need to think when you think of deacons. You need to think of them having the exact same qualifications as elders, although they may not necessarily be skilled at preaching and teaching the Word of God. Because deacons must be the kind of men who will stand up for the faith and be willing to give their lives for Christ. Now, obviously all Christians are called to deny themselves and take up their crosses and follow Christ, but particularly the officers in the church, elders and deacons, may be called, and by the way, I, from time to time, try and remind you of this, there may, in our near future, be persecution coming, and so you need to especially make sure to take the election of officers very seriously, because there may be a time in our near future, maybe 20 years, maybe longer than that, where the officers of the church will be called to give their lives for Christ. So, elders must be able to teach, have that skill, but deacons must also hold the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. Now if you look at verse 4, the last couple of personal or character qualifications are kind of given, there's a triple contrast given here. And it doesn't translate, it's not so easy to see necessarily in the translation, but if you look at verse 3, there are three nots. And then there's the word but as a contrast, and then three other qualifications that contrast these first three. So he says, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but Gentle, and we'll talk about what that means in a minute, not quarrelsome, not covetous. Now I'm gonna explain how, this is actually a triple contrast here. He's saying not this but this, not this but this, not this but this. So let's talk about these three contrasts here. The first is, he says not given to wine. And then he says, but gentle. And we'll explain what that means. I know that doesn't sound like a contrast, but I'll explain that in just a minute what that means. Now, this Greek expression here for not given to wine means one who sits long at his wine. Now, one time I was on a retreat with some leadership from a church, and I did not know this at the time, but the pastor almost all day was drinking, and heavy drinking, and it was a sad thing. We eventually ended up leaving the church, and this pastor was eventually disciplined by the church, thankfully, for his drinking when he, at the onset, refused to repent of his heavy drinking. But it disqualifies you from office if you are one who is given to drunkenness or who is a slave to wine, and we might add other substances as well, whether it be if you feel like you have to take painkillers or any other addictive substances. You cannot be, as a minister or as a deacon, a slave to anything but the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you look in verse when it's giving the qualifications for deacon. You notice in verse 3 it says of elders not given to wine, and then in verse 8 it says of deacons not given to much wine. Why is there the addition of this one word? Well, I don't know. Other than maybe, deacons tend to argue that deacons are allowed to drink a little more, but I don't think that's what Paul's getting at here. I think he's just simply saying the same thing, that you cannot be addicted to alcohol or anything else, be a slave of any of these other addictive substances. And then the contrast that he gives with that is not, he says, but gentle. Now I know that doesn't sound like a contrast with drunkenness, but this word is sometimes translated in the New Testament as reasonable. That his reasonableness be made known to all men. The ESV translates virtually the same word in Philippians that way. And the point is that he's not a slave to alcohol, but he's a reasonable man. that he uses God's gifts in a way that honors and pleases the Lord, that he's not a slave to these things or master by them, but he's a reasonable man using them in moderation. So that's the first contrast. The second contrast in verse three is not violent, but, and then it says not quarrelsome. The Greek text almost makes this sound like not violent, but unquarrelsome. Not this, but un-this. And so, Why does he use the word violence? Well, it can refer to physical violence. And I think we would all be in agreement that it would be inappropriate for the elders and the deacons of the church to physically assault the members of the congregation. And that certainly would be included in that. We don't want men, you know, given to that. But I think primarily what this is referring to is men who are skilled in doctrine and who are given in teaching are often also given to arguing. Now, there is a place for organized arguing and debate, but this has to do with fighting. This has to do with arguing in the sense of causing divisions. And it is required of ministers that they correct false doctrine, but they have to do it in a certain way. Listen to 2 Timothy 2, verse 24. And a servant of the Lord, this is Paul writing to Timothy, talking about pastoral ministry now, says, And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, fight, argue, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth. I think it was Calvin who said that shepherds must have one voice for warning away the wolves and another voice for calling the sheep. And Paul here tells Timothy, listen, you're going to have to correct opposition, but there is a certain way that God requires you to do that. You have to be gentle. You have to be humble. You have to be caring with the sheep who are in opposition. You don't treat them the same way that you do heretics or other pastors who are teaching false doctrine. that you must be gentle when those members of your congregation are in opposition. So they ought not to be the ones who are constantly arguing with people about doctrine, that there is a particular way that they teach and a particular way that they correct those who are in opposition. So not violent and not quarrelsome. And then this third contrast says not greedy for money but and then he says at the last thing in the verse 3 is not covetous and then it says the same thing as we've already said for deacons the last thing in verse 8 is not greedy for money now this is crucial and particularly with respect to the office of deacon. I mean, it matters for elders, it's a requirement for elders, but it is the deacons who have the primary responsibility of handling the finances of the church, and so you need to make sure that you've got a man that's not just a money grubber. You know, you don't want these kind of men that you see on TV. that all they want is your money and all they care about is getting, you know, send us in this much money and the only thing you ever hear them talking about is tithing and all that. So that's not the kind of men that you want serving in the office. You want the kind of men that care about others, not themselves. You want the kind of men who are going to be over the responsibility of the Lord's tithe and distributing it as he sees fit in his word that are not going to be pilfering the Lord's resources. And so these are the primary character qualifications for elders and deacons. And so two more qualifications, one having to do with family, or family qualifications, And then also. church qualifications. We'll go through these quickly. The family is requesters and pastors and elders and also deacons that their families be in order, that they rule their own houses well. Now I know we don't like the word rule, but it is the word that the Bible uses and in the Bible ruling does not mean coming down with an iron fist, beating your wife. That's not what rule means. In fact, he says ruling your house well, which means with skill, which means that he's the kind of man who can lead his family and lead his children without being what we would call heavy-handed. And it's required that their wives actually have certain character qualifications as well, because while good women do often make a good minister, they can also ruin ministries as well. I'm sure many of us could probably tell stories about ministers' wives who ruined churches and ministries, but in verse 11 it says that their wives must be reverent or dignified. Not slanderers, temperate and faithful in all things, and by the way, slandering, usually in the Bible, what that means is, now, I know men can slander, men can be gossips, but oftentimes, gossiping is usually directed to women because it is, there are certain sins that men especially struggle with, and there are certain sins that women especially struggle with, and gossiping is oftentimes a struggle for women. And it is required that ministers and deacons' wives be those that if someone comes to them and there's a conflict or if there's a concern, and they're not part of the problem and they're not part of the solution, then they don't need to hear that. Now, let me say this. Oftentimes, it is ministers' wives and deacons' wives that the ladies will go to when they have a conflict, and there's nothing wrong with that, to seek godly counsel. That is a good thing. You read about that in Titus, too, that older women or godly women are to help younger women with certain things. But here's how you handle that, ladies. You go to the minister's wife or to a deacon's wife and you say, look, I've got a problem and you don't need to tell them the names and you need to keep it vague enough where they don't know who you're talking about. And you say, I have a situation I need to deal with and here's what's going on and I need your help. And so that protects them and yourself from slander or from gossip, but it also affords you to be able to have the counsel and the help that you need from women in the church, and also that their children be in submission as well. Now, let me go to the third area here, and that is church qualifications. In verse 6, it says that he not be a novice or literally newly planted. And then the deacons in verse 10, it says, but let these also first be tested. And these are virtually the same qualification. They can't be a noob in the church. They need to be someone who has been serving for a while, who's been faithful to the church, and who has demonstrated themselves as being a servant in the church, and as being someone who is proficient in preaching and teaching God's Word. So, there are character qualifications, family qualifications, and church qualifications. I tell you, real quick, let me add this, verse 7, he gives a qualification here, or an addendum to this. He must have a good testimony among, excuse me, verse 6 I mean, lest being puffed up with pride, and then he says, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Well, this could mean one of two things. Number one, it could mean that he's falling into the same sin into which Satan fell, which is pride, or it could mean that because he's falling into the sin of pride, Satan has reason to accuse him. Now, both of those things would probably be true theologically. However, I tend to go with the latter explanation. Let me explain what I mean by that. That means that if you get someone who is new to the faith, and even if they grew up in the Christian church, but they haven't been active and serving in the local church for a long time, and they come back and then they start serving and people want them to be an elder, they will fall into the sin of pride and think, look at me, I get to serve as a deacon, I get to serve as an elder, I'm so spiritually mature. And what that will do is that will inevitably lead to some kind of church split or division. Because they will grow in that sin of pride because they're not necessarily ready to handle that situation yet, and it is a difficult situation, and Satan will accuse them because of that. That means that that gives Satan reason to accuse them and to tear apart the church because of this man's sin, which means that, by the way, he's probably no longer qualified to serve in that aspect. And so it would have been much wiser in most cases just to wait a couple of years so that the man could be first tested and then serve as a deacon or as an elder. Now, I'm going to wrap this up real quick by telling you two things. Number one, and I've mentioned this already every week, but I'm going to mention it one last time. And that has to do with committing to faithful membership. This is not just something that's for elders and deacons, okay? Remember, the way that God calls men is not just through the man, but through the congregation, which means, number one, if you're not a member, you can't elect an officer, which means you can't participate in the life of the church. I'm not again also throw another qualification out there if you're still getting your feet wet trying to decide Is this the place that we want to serve? I'm not talking to you. All right, let me just throw that out there But I am saying if you've if you've been here for quite a while and you're serving here and you're not planning on going Anywhere else then you need to join so that you can be faithful in God's calling to participate in the election of officers and by the way, there is a movement Today, one of the false doctrines that is believed in the United States today is that there is no need for church membership, and I know some folks that will go from church to church to church and never commit to faithful membership at one particular place, and here's what that does. First of all, if you don't commit to membership, as we've already said, you can't participate in the election. But besides that, you could never possibly get to know the man well enough to know that he meets the qualifications. So, by the way, this goes for members. If you are a member and you're slack in your church attendance, then what that means is you probably don't know the man well enough to know that he meets the qualifications. And so I'm not just talking about joining as some formal, outward, external thing. I mean, you are a member, if you're in union with Christ, of Christ's church. And that means you've got commitments to Christ as well as to his people. So serving faithfully in the church, and all these qualifications matter, not just for Mike George, who every other week of the year is sitting right there in that second chair. And so I can't help but point there and think that he's still there, because I'm used to him being there. But he's in Chicago this week. It doesn't just matter for him, it matters for you because you've got to observe these qualities in him and anyone else that you would nominate or vote for for office. And then the second thing I would say is make use of the elders and the deacons in your church. We are, the elders are shepherds to help you live life and our deacon, Chester Hamilton, is here to help you with temporal needs. We long for you to come to us with concerns. I received a call last night about a concern and I am always delighted. when somebody calls me with a concern about the church, even if it's a negative one. Even if someone calls me and they want to complain about something or they're concerned about something. I love it when I get calls from members of the congregation about concerns that they have about the church because you know what that tells me? That tells me that people care. that tells me that they're not just showing up for no reason. And so, make use of the elders and the deacons in your church and participate in the life of the church. And the last thing that I would say is this, last thing, I mean it. Oftentimes, when people are considering how they might serve in the church. They will observe a weakness in the church. I've seen this here before. There were about three families, all within about eight to 12 months of each other. This was maybe three, four years ago, that they said, well, we love the theology here. And all the members seem to really love one another and care about each other here. But there are just not quite enough young families. And all of these three couples were young families. However, they never came at the same time. And so, what oftentimes, this is how we think. We think, I observe a weakness in this church, and therefore, I'm going to go to another place where that need is already met. Not realizing that perhaps you are the one that God has sent to this place to fulfill that need. If you've got a care for children, if you've got a care for evangelism, and you think, well, we're weak in these areas, then don't leave and go somewhere else where they don't need you. Perhaps what is needed is that you are here, as the scripture says, for such a time as this, so that you can fulfill the void and the weakness that you see. So it's the old slogan, we've heard it a hundred times from Kennedy, ask not what you can do, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. We need to think about this with the church. Don't ask, the church isn't here for you. Jesus doesn't exist for your happiness. You come to Christ so that you can live for Christ and serve Christ. And so what you need to be asking is, how can I serve Christ in his church? Amen? Amen, let's pray. Lord, we are grateful for your church. We are thankful that you sent your son to die for your church, and we are thankful that you sent your spirit to indwell your church and to strengthen your church. We ask that you would continue to work through the members of Reformation Bible Church, that we might be a glorious and spotless bride for Christ when he returns. And in his name we pray, amen.