Qualifications of Elders

Good evening. Thankful to see you all tonight. Thankful for another night for encounter, for us to come together, to call on God’s name together, to praise him together, to worship him, and to surrender all that we are to him. As you all know, we’re in our series Wise Young Servant, Studying Through First Timothy. And we’ve had a lot of great speakers who have shared the last few weeks, reminding us the truths of God’s word, the instructions for us, in our day and age, in our lives, and why it matters. And tonight, as we get into chapter 3, we’ll be studying about the qualifications of elders. Now, you may wonder to yourself, why will this matter to me? I may never be an elder. But it matters because you are all part of the Church of God. And as members of Jesus’s church, it matters to have leaders, overseers, elders, who meet the qualifications that the word of God teaches.

Now, prior to the 1900s, the primary form of travel, if you’re trying to get somewhere far away, was through a ship, through a boat, if you’re trying to cross lands. We’ve seen that in our study in Acts, about the different travels that happen via ship. You read about it in the Old Testament with Jonah. It’s a well-recorded thing. And so airplanes, the way that you got from one piece of land to a faraway another place with water in between, it was through a ship. Now, every ship has a sea captain. The sea captain’s responsibilities was to navigation, safety and emergency response, crew management, cargo and operations management. And they had many responsibilities. They were the ones that had to oversee every element of the ship, from which direction it was going, what was on board, what the people were doing, and managing emergencies and things that would happen all of a sudden.

Now, like a sea captain, elders of the church have many responsibilities. They have to navigate the body with proper vision and guidance. They have to be able to respond to emergency situations and issues that come up in the voyage of life. They will need to manage leaders and departments. They oversee the operations and assets of the church and additional responsibilities that I may not mention.

However, unlike a sea captain, their qualifications are not based on education, certifications, or training. But their qualifications are based on their character and integrity primarily. And that’s what we read in God’s word. And that’s what we will study today. We will understand the importance of character and integrity in an overseer, in an elder. And one may ask the question, why do we need elders? Number one, God instituted order in the church. The same God that created the sun, the moon, and the stars, the one created order in the world around us has created order in his church. He has instituted that to be. And so there is a need for structure in the church, because God designed a place for that. But number two, I think we can all personally attest to the need of godly leaders in the church. We’ve seen with our own eyes, and we’ve experienced it. We’ve heard stories of what happens when there’s no godly leadership. What happens when people who aren’t qualified or don’t meet God’s word lead the church, and how that causes pain, brokenness, leads the church in the wrong direction, causes so much sorrow and hurt for many people. And so that’s why this scripture is important. That’s why it’s important for us to know and understand these verses.

So we’ll be docked in 1 Timothy 3. And we’ll start with verse 1. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is the fine work he desires to do. Paul starts here by saying that this is a credible statement. This is something that should have value. Now, overseer is a word that we don’t really use. We don’t really elect overseers. Different terms that are used for overseers are elders, pastors, bishops. But ultimately, an overseer means those appointed to watch over and protect the local church community. Their role is to protect the church. They’re to oversee the church. And Paul describes this work as a fine and noble work, which is an interesting description, a noble work.

Typically in our world, in our lives, we see that there are many pursuits for different types of careers, different types of positions, different types of organizations. And with a lot of giftings and talents, people might pursue their businesses. They’ll start a small business. They’ll get involved in politics, run for office. They’ll get involved with various organizations. They’ll spend their times pursuing many things that ultimately benefit themselves. And these things aren’t inherently wrong. But there is a value to the work that is described here. There is a value to this work that Paul describes calling this a noble work. For us as believers, whether you are in this position or not, there is a value to the work that we do in the local church. It is a noble work. It is a work that will outlast us and has an internal impact. And so when we understand the significance of the work, we have to, and the significance of those who lead in this work, we have to understand the significance of the work that we do in itself.

Unfortunately for us, what we find is that many people who seek positions like this don’t have that good desire. It’s almost contradictory to what he’s saying, that it is a fine work they desire to do. Oftentimes, in these positions, we see people with selfish ambition pursuing these roles. And that’s because historically, the church, positions in this church, in the church was seen as a place of status. In the Catholic Church during the middle of the years, there was various positions of bishops and the popes over the years. And these were all seen as positions for control and power. And so there were many people who would build alliances over years, build coalitions, build friendships, build different means of power so they can gain power in the church to have a position of status and power. But one commentator said, well, spiritual leadership in the church isn’t all about titles and honor and glory. It’s about work. Jesus said, if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

Another person said that this work is a good work, but a hard work. The ministry is not an idle man’s occupation, but a sore laborer. I think Jesus is an illustration of how we’re supposed to be, if you want to be a leader, as most beautifully said. He said, those who want to be a leader should seek to be the last of all and a servant to all. If you would imagine the idea of a servant, we don’t really give much status to it. A servant in a house was typically considered the least. They’re the ones that are doing the work when others are eating. They’re the ones that are laboring when others are resting. A servant is considered one that may not be as skilled. They may be considered weak, of lower status. But in God’s church, in God’s body, anyone that seeks to be an overseer, anyone that desires to work in God’s kingdom, should view themselves as last and like a servant. That is a type of humility that is required for anyone that goes for service in God’s kingdom, in God’s church.

Additionally, here it says, office of overseers. In our church, when I was preparing for this, I was thankful to God. And I was thinking about it, that we have an eldership in a church. Not only an eldership, but a plurality of elders. It’s not meant to be just for one person in one position. And I think scripture supports that. Acts 20, verse 17, we read this. From Miletus, he sent word to Ephesus and called himself the elders, plural, of the church. And so this is a group of people, a plurality of elders, a group of overseers who are doing noble work. And so we see that before we go into the characteristics of what these people should have.

Let’s look at verse 2. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching. And so at the very beginning, we see that they must be above reproach. This is an unconditional prerequisite. Above reproach means that the overseer’s life is free from sinful habits or behaviors that would impede his setting the highest Christian standard and model for the church to emulate. That’s not just for these people, but I think for all of us here, we can seek to be above reproach. That our lives are lived with such moral clarity that anyone sees it, sees that we’re living above a high standard, that we’re living at the highest possible standard. And this is the first thing that I said. This is something that’s not a negotiable. It’s not something that they may have. But they must be above reproach. The work for the church, as well as the interactions with others, are supposed to be of such moral clarity and such moral quality that they do not bring shame or any sort of disgrace to the body of Christ or the name of Jesus. I think, unfortunately for us, we’ve see always in the news stories of this pastor, this teacher, doing x, y, and z. And so that’s why it’s important that the number one standard, that at the beginning, at the very start, we start with, they must be at the highest standard, the highest moral quality.

Acts 20:28, it says, Be on guard for yourselves and for 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. Think about the cost of that. Jesus’ own blood is the cost for us to be saved. And so the overseer should be on guard for all of the flock to be at the highest standard. The next characteristic, it says, they should be the husband of one wife. One commentator said that the idea here is of a one woman man. It’s not that the leader must be married because Paul himself wasn’t married, Jesus wasn’t married, but that they should be faithful in what God has called them to in their marital status. Tragically, like I mentioned, in the news this past year especially, we’ve seen story after story of a pastor who was in an affair, who was breaking law by abusing people, and all of this comes to the root of being unfaithful in their marriage. And so in our lives, when we pray for our leaders, when we look for our leaders, we should look for men in our day of age, especially with the rise of technology, especially with how easily one can fall, we should look for people who are on guard, for people who are accountable to others, people who take steps to be faithful, to those who protect themselves. We’ve been learning in Sunday school through our study of Song of Solomon the importance of keeping oneself pure, the steps that need to be taken to keep ourselves pure. Because the habits that we create in our lives now are the ones that are going to follow us in the future. Whether you’re a high school student or you’re a college student, whether you’re waiting to be married, or even if you are married, the things that we allow or tolerate are the ones that create the habits and patterns in our life. And so in our lives, as well as the lives of our leaders, we should seek that they are faithful, that they are creating standards to be on guard, to be, as the scripture says, a husband of one wife.

The next thing is they should be temperate. Another word for that is sensible or sober-minded. First Timothy 3.11, it creates a contrast. It says, not malicious gossips, but temperate. The contrast is created there in how they should be. They’re someone that’s not given to extremes. They’re reliable and they’re trustworthy. You don’t have to worry about them having swings in their mood here and there, swings in their vision, swings in their actions. They are someone that is temperate. They’re someone that’s self-controlled, someone that’s prudent, someone that’s well-arranged, that they’re modest. They’re someone that’s respectable, modest in how they live, modest in how they operate and what they pursue. The idea of respectable there is the idea of orderly. It’s the same word that’s used that we read last week in 1 Timothy 2:9, that they should live an orderly life.

These are the characteristics that we began to see of what an elder should look like. They should be hospitable, generous to guests, generous to people that they may not know. These are people who are not selfish, but people who are willing to give and sacrifice to all, people that they are friends with and people they may not be friends with. And then they are skillful in teaching. Ironically, this is the only gift that’s mentioned in these verses, the gift of teaching. If a person doesn’t have the gift of teaching, they’re not qualified to be an elder of the church. Oftentimes, people get stuck on the first verse when it says that a man should be an overseer, and they think, oh man, only men are qualified. But not all men are qualified as the scripture teaches, only men who are skillful in teaching.

Now, one may ask, why does someone that’s behind the scenes most of the time, as we see most of our elders do in most churches, why must they be skillful in teaching? It’s because we need to have sound doctrine. One writer says, Paul’s criteria of the able to teach refers to the ability to communicate and apply the truth of scripture with clarity, coherence, and fruitfulness. The truth of the scripture, faithfulness to it to avoid any kind of confusion or heresy. They speak with clarity. They speak with coherence and fruitfulness. In Titus 1.9, we see another letter writing about the qualifications of an elder. And here it says, they are ones holding firmly to the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it. For elders in the church, with their role of navigating the church in the right direction, with their role of protecting the church from what comes against it, we must have elders who are able to teach sound doctrine. They’re the ones that see the problems coming ahead. They’re the ones that guide the church. They’re the ones that lead the church, but they also protect and guide us.

As Protestant believers, we believe in the sufficiency of scriptures as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. And the scriptures warn us of hypocritical teachers, false teachers, those who are in positions to benefit themselves or to benefit others. So what we need in our lives are teachers not to teach us what we want to hear, but what we need to hear. We need to hear the truths of God’s word to guide us, to convict us, to protect us, and to lead us. In our day-to-day lives and how we live our lives every single day, we need sound teaching from elders here to help us go in the right direction. In our lives, naturally, we rear off in the wrong way. When we drive our cars, we have an idea of where we’re going, but without an idea of where we’re going in a big picture, we might get lost. If we drove somewhere without Google Maps, which we’ve all become reliant on, as myself, it’s pretty easy to get stuck in traffic and that might keep you there for an hour. You may not take the most efficient route. You may even just get lost and not even know where you’re going. And so God has instituted elders in the church, people who oversee and protect, and calls for them to have that gift of sound teaching and sound doctrine to prepare the people, to connect to people and to lead the people in the right direction. And that is why that gift is one that is important for us and something that we’re very privileged to have here in our church.

Verse 3, dare to be not overindulging in wine, not a bully, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money. So verse 2, we see a list of characteristics along with the gift of teaching that they should have. And verse 3 illustrates characteristics or habits that they should not have. The first one being not overindulging in wine. Wine in biblical times, just to kind of get ahead of this here, wine in biblical times is much weaker than the wine that we kind of see or deal with today. Around that time, historians have found that the alcohol content was about five to 8%, or maybe around 3%. Today, the average amount of alcohol in wine is 12%. That’s, if you go to the 3% amount, that’s four times the amount of wine in today’s wine. Or what people today do in our world of taking shots of alcohol or what music teaches us, which shows encourage us, that has about 40% of alcohol by volume, which is a great difference. And so the scripture here is warning not to overindulge in wine in that time period because they knew how dangerous it was. How much more dangerous is it today?

And the reality is that alcohol abuse is one of the biggest dangers in our community. Unfortunately and sadly, it’s very prevalent, especially in our community. A lot of times when people go to college, they may go to their campus Bible studies, they may go to their worship nights, they may go to the outreach events, and then they may go to a friend’s birthday party, they may go to a special gathering, and one thing leads to another, and their lives become dependent on alcohol, and they begin abusing alcohol. There are many people who are extremely gifted, who are extremely talented, people who have extreme potential, and their desire to fit in with the crowd has led them to living lives that are extremely dependent on alcohol, extremely dependent on one party to the next, extremely dependent on every event needing to have alcohol. And tragically, their lives, at the end of it, deals with consequences of it. One study found that for college students, one out of five college students met the criteria for alcohol abuse disorder, which caused problems for them and their peers. One in four college students reported academic consequences from drinking, including missing classes, falling behind in class, doing poorly in exams, papers, and receiving lower grades. And if that doesn’t convince you enough, studies have shown that over 700,000 people between the ages of 18 to 24 are assaulted by someone who has been drinking. Alcohol abuse is something that’s very dangerous.

Now, I know that in our church, we don’t have to worry about our elders abusing alcohol, because it’s my understanding no one does. But I think for us here today, we have a wide range of people, and I can tell you from my experience, it is very dangerous if you are not careful. If you do not take the right steps in your life, you will affect your spiritual life. You don’t see the effects of it right now. Right now, it’s, hey, there’s a birthday party. Are y’all coming? We’re gonna have some drinks. Hey, can you pick up this drink? But two years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, those effects will be there. And if the scriptures are warning us in a time when alcohol was not as accessible, the concentration of alcohol was not as accessible, how much more dangerous is it for us now? How much more risky is it for us now if we are not careful?

The next characteristic, it says, there should not be a bully, but they should be gentle. In the early 2000s, one of the fastest growing churches in our country was located in Seattle, Washington. And this was a church that started as a Bible study in a living room that grew to 15 locations in four states. Their sermons would have over 200,000 streams a week. Their church was extremely influential in church planning networks, creating a global impact to group believers. But tragically, their story did not end in a positive note. In 2014, after a series of events, the church elders had an investigation of their lead teaching pastor. And they found that he had a pattern of persistent sinful behavior, but specifically bullying. The church elders, they created a plan to bring that pastor back into the fold to restore him. Instead, he decided to resign, did not want to submit to what was asked of him. And as a result, the church disbanded. And over the years, we’ve heard tragic stories of pain and sorrow and brokenness from that. We’ve heard of people who were active in the church, walked away from the church completely. We’ve heard of churches that made a global impact all of a sudden did not exist. All of this because one person in leadership chose to be a bully instead of being gentle, chose that abrasive leadership was their style, and thousands of lives were affected as a result of it.

And so we should look for people who are willing to be gentle. Elders oftentimes have to make all kinds of difficult choices. It can be very heated conversations. It could be passionate differences of opinion. But a person who’s more prone to being gentle versus humble means that they are willing to let go of their control, trusting in God and showing humility. And that is a characteristic that’s extremely important for us. A lack of humility in leadership leads to prideful thought. And as a church and as believers, we should be on guard in our lives, but also in the lives of the people that we put into leadership to ensure that we are encouraging gentleness, discouraging bullying, and creating accountability in that area of life as well.

They shouldn’t be contentious. They shouldn’t be people who are controversial. They should be avoiding fighting and disputes. I mean, we know people in our lives that really love the drama. If they’re not involved in the drama, they have to create drama. That is how they live. That is what gets them by. That gives them entertainment. That gives them encouragement. But Scripture warns that these people should not be controversial people. They should not be contentious. Instead, they should be gentle and they should be peaceful. One person said they should be peacemakers. They should be ones that go out of their way to ensure a smooth and peaceful relationship.

Lastly, they should be free from the love of money. Paul’s writing this to Timothy, who comes from a Jewish background through his grandmother. And for the Jewish people, their spiritual leaders at the time were Pharisees. And in one of many Jesus’ encounters with them, he calls them out because of their love of money. Luke 16, 14 reads, Now, the Pharisees who were lovers of money were listening to all these things and were ridiculing him. Ecclesiastes 5, 10 says, One who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor the ones who love abundance with its income. This too is futility. The danger of the love of money in an elder is that it affects the way they lead the church. I think that the root of prosperity gospel is not the desire for prosperity, instead it is the love of money. You find that most prosperity gospel preachers in America live some of the most affluent lives, some of the most wealthy lives, and they distort the gospel, emphasizing financial prosperity, financial well-being, financial blessings, rather than the blessed work of the blood of Jesus Christ. Instead, their focus becomes, what can the next paycheck get me? What can the next big thing get me? What can the next book deal get me? They are pursuing money, and their church is focused to become financial well-being. One of these well-known prosperity preachers is a man named Creflo Dollar. Yes, ironic, Dollar. He’s based out of Atlanta, and he, as you read here, the church gave him a 70 million jet. Ironically, 70 million is double the amount that former church that had 15 locations had completely in its assets, and this is not his first jet. This was the second one. The first one wasn’t well enough. In an interview, he said that he needed a private jet because the commercial airline’s schedule didn’t work with his schedule, and he had to fly to New York every single week to have his Saturday night Bible study there at Madison Square Garden. The love of money tragically affects him and everyone that he shepherds. The love of luxury, the love of financial prosperity, misleads so many people in the church. And if we have people who are in leadership, who love money, who do not have that idea of that God is their only focus, God is the primary focus, can lead to tragedies like this, tragedies that still happen today. So we should be on guard for that in our lives and what we pursue and what we seek and what we find our comfort in, what we find our security in, what we seek our pursuits in, but also we should pray for and hold for leaders who do not have that love for money, that they are free from that love of money.

3:4-5. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? One commentator said that the godly leader demonstrates his leadership ability first in his own home. And Paul recognizes that the home is where our Christianity is first demonstrated. Children are naturally rebellious. As a former teenager, I can attest to that. The desires that I had as a teenager is not necessarily the desires that my dad and mom had for me. What Paul is essentially saying here is, if you do have children, I don’t think he’s saying that you must have children to be an elder, but if you do have children, if you do have a household, how you manage that household can illustrate how you manage the church. If you have no control in your home, then how will you have any control in the church? Or if you do not manage your home with dignity, you would not manage the church with dignity.

Oftentimes, people may wonder what happens if the pastor, the elder children aren’t believers. And that can be a point of controversy or question as well. John Piper is one of the most revered and respected ministers in our day and age, and he unfortunately has, in his life, dealt with a child of his who isn’t a believer. I had read about this before, but preparing for this, I was watching one of the videos that he did talking about that. He talked about how in 2013, when his adult son was no longer a believer, he went to elders at the church and said, my son’s not a believer. According to the word, am I supposed to resign in the church? They studied it, they investigated what they should do on. And what they determined was is that the scripture says that their children must be managed well, but children aren’t born saved. When they come out of the womb, just because they are a pastor’s kid does not mean that they are automatically saved. Sorry, Elijah and Emily. But what it means is how they manage their home, how they lead them, how they teach them, how they guide them. And ultimately, for our blessing and for the blessing of that church there, they determined that John Piper didn’t have to resign. What this scripture teaches here is not that your children come out being exactly like you, but how you manage your household illustrates how you manage other things. Is it managed properly? Is it managed with dignity? Is it managed with honor? If he does not manage with dignity and honor, you would assume that the church would not be managed with dignity and honor as well.

Verse 6, and not a new convert, so that he would not become conceited and fall into condemnation incurred by the devil. The original language, the word for new convert, means novice, and it literally means newly planted. When someone first comes to Jesus, it’s not good to put that person into a place of leadership until they’ve been allowed to grow long enough to put some deep roots in. One person says, novices are not only bold and impetuous, but are puffed up with foolish self-confidence as though they could fly beyond the clouds. I think that was written before airplanes. But the idea here is that it’s so easy to get this idea of I’m going to do everything and anything, and before you know it, you give in to pride. Promoting a novice too quickly, another person says, gives occasion to give the greatest sin some room, which is what the devil did himself, which was pride. So we protect the church by ensuring we have mature believers with deep roots who are in leadership, not someone that is new to the faith, someone that is immature in the faith, but someone that has proven, someone that is seasoned, someone that is enriched with proper spiritual life, with proper spiritual maturity.

Verse 7, and he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil. These are not just internal characteristics that they have. It’s not just familial management, but it also should be a good reputation among outsiders. Now, why does it matter if they have a good reputation amongst outsiders? Because of their testimony, because of their witness. Who you are Monday through Friday matters. Who you are in front of your coworkers, in front of your classmates, in front of strangers, how you interact on the road with other people, all of those things matter. Your testimony matters. If a person comes to church and they fit all the characteristics, but at school there’s someone that acts ruly, arrogantly, pridefully, without self-control, lack of respectability, their testimony is not going to hold up. Or if there’s someone that comes and serves in the church and they go to work and they’re causing trauma, constantly gossiping, constantly complaining, not doing what they’re called to do, what is he doing? He’s just disgracing the name of God and the church. I mean, can you imagine if someone is considered a leader in the church, but at work, they’re the hardest person to work with, what does that tell anyone else at work that, I don’t want to be anyone near the church, if this is the guy or gal that’s in leadership and serving in the church. So the testimony of how you live your lives throughout the week, in school, in your classes, with your friends, when you’re playing sports, when you’re hanging out, all of those things matter. And it says, so that he would not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil. Snare meaning that a trap, a trap of the devil itself.

One commenter says that this list that we’ve read together and that we’ve studied, it’s not a rigid list, which demands perfection in all areas. They are both goals to reach for and the general criteria for selection. When looking for church leaders, we as body believers, we should look at these questions and ask ourselves, does that person in question desire all of these things that we read with their whole heart? Does that show up in their life? Are there others available who better fulfill the requirements of that list? That’s to be the criteria of it. We oftentimes look at a person’s giftings, their talents, their abilities to do X, Y, and Z as whether they are qualified to be in that position. We often look at their training, their background, how well they may speak, how charismatic they are to determine if they should be the leader of the church. But scripture warns us and teaches us that’s not what it is. That’s why the only gift that it teaches about is one to be able to teach sound doctrine. Everything else is about character and integrity. And all of these things matter in our lives as well. A lot of the things that we have read are admonitions and teachings that we read in other scriptures as well. All of these requirements are important to our lives. We shouldn’t sit in our seats and say, well, I’m not an elder and I’m never going to be one, so I can do whatever I want. I don’t have to do these things. Every single one of these requirements here, every single one of these characteristics here matter to how we live our lives in private and how we live our lives in public.

One person said, going to seminary doesn’t make one qualified for spiritual leadership. Being a good talker doesn’t make one qualified for spiritual leadership. Natural or spiritual gifts in themselves do not qualify one for spiritual leadership. I’ll add, talent to play music or sing does not mean that they are a person who should be in leadership. But what matters for leadership is their godly character and a godly character that meets this criteria. God has specific qualifications for the leader of the church because this is his church. They shouldn’t be chosen just at random, just because they volunteer, just because they donate well, just because they have positions or they have influence, but because of who they are at their core, because of who they are in their lives.

The songs that we’ve been singing tonight have been very encouraging and powerful songs, talking about the mercy of God, talking about the name of God being glorified, talking about how Jesus paid it all. And the reality is that the elders that are in the scripture are humans just like us. When I was a kid, I thought to myself that every pastor was perfect, superhuman, that there was no way in their lives that they could sin. There was no way in their lives they could do any kind of fault. There was no way in their lives that they had any kind of struggles that I did. But the reality is that the same blood of Jesus that saved us, the same blood of Jesus that has saved them. In their lives as well as our lives, we are prone to fall. All of the things that are written here are to believers. All of the instructions that are here in 1 Timothy and the letters that are written by Paul and the other letters in the New Testament are to people who have put their trust in Jesus. All of these things are to people who have been saved by the blood of Jesus. Yet all of these admonitions, all of these requirements, all of these calls are still to us because naturally we fail. Naturally we fall short. Naturally we are not respectable. Naturally we are not temperate. Naturally people are given over to drunkenness and given to wine. People are lovers of money. They are lovers of controversy. They are lovers of drama. They are lovers of being in control of their lives. They are lovers of their pursuit of their self. But the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to more. The blood of Jesus saved us for more. It calls us to live a life worthy of his calling.

One of the convictions I’ve had in my life, one of the struggles I’ve had in my life is how can I say that I love Jesus and yet still sin? And what I’ve learned and what I’m still learning and what I’m hoping that the Holy Spirit continues to teach me is that, as scripture says, those who love him will obey him. And that happens with surrendering to the Holy Spirit more and more. In my life, I believe I’ve grown a lot spiritually. Then I’m at a place where I’ve grown more in the last 10 years yet. I see that I’m still so broken. I’m still so lost. I’m still so helpless. And what does that teach me? I need more of Jesus. I need more of his spirit. I need more of surrender. We all need more of his spirit. We all can sing the songs, but it is hard to live out the life. And we need the Holy Spirit to do that. We need the Holy Spirit every morning when we wake up. We need the Holy Spirit every single day when we’re going through our days. We need the Holy Spirit in the evenings when we come at home. We need the Holy Spirit when we’re relaxing and we’re having a good time. We need the Holy Spirit when we are stressed out and overwhelmed. We need the Holy Spirit when we are blessed beyond measure. And we need the Holy Spirit when we are overwhelmed and crushed by the struggles and the pains of this life.

And so even though today we’ve been studying about the qualifications of elders, I want our takeaway from this to be, one, we should hold that qualifications for elders. We need the eldership. We need strong leaders. We need to pray for our leaders. We need to intercede for our leaders. They are people who are at the front lines leading our church and they need our prayer. They need our support. They need our encouragement. And we should never compromise on that. We should never compromise for godly leadership for the sake of talent, of skill, of fame, of popularity, of riches. We should never compromise on leadership, on looks and status and quality. We should constantly look at God’s word for leadership, but also in our lives, we should strive to live these things out. We should strive to live lives above reproach. We should strive to live lives that are honorable and worthy of His call. And all of those things start with a surrender to God. Even if you are a believer who’s been here for, who’s been a follower of Jesus for 30, 40, 50 years, it does not matter. It requires a daily surrender to God, a daily surrender to His will, a daily surrender to His presence, a daily surrender to His word.

And so all of us can go home. All of us can take this in our week. Are we surrendering to God’s will? Are we striving to be above reproach? Are we seeking to live out the lives that He called us to live by the power of His spirit? And if we’re not, it’s not too late. It’s not too late to surrender to Him. Our bad decisions, our decisions of rejecting God’s word, our decisions of ignoring it, our decisions of not meeting these qualifications does not mean it’s over for us. If anyone here in their lives have made poor decisions, have made regrettable decisions, have pains and brokenness and sorrows made by our decisions, it’s not too late. It’s not too late to surrender to God because blood covers a multitude of sins. His blood saves us. His blood redeems us. His blood rescues us and His spirit gives us new life. And so I encourage you all, I encourage all of us together individually to seek to surrender to Him for His name’s sake because at the end of the day, it is a noble cause. It is a noble work. It is a noble thing that God calls us to.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for tonight, for another night just to come together, to be reminded of your love for us, Jesus. I thank you, God, that in your mercy and in your grace that you saved us, that we can say here, oh, but God, that we can say here, God, you saved us from the wreckage of our choices, that we can say here that, God, you rescued us by your blood, that you paid it all for us, that God, you still hear us. So God, tonight, if there’s anyone here tonight that has rejected God’s call, that is going through life, living the motions, that is going through life, doing the things well on the outside, but not living the life on the inside, that lives the life well in public, but not in private, tonight, Holy Spirit, would you convict and correct that your name may be glorified, that your name be magnified.

If there’s anyone here that is holding on to pain and brokenness due to the past, due to the effects of sin in the past, I pray that your spirit would allow them to surrender it all at your feet and find in you healing and restoration and new life. God, I pray for our elders in our church. I thank you, oh God, for our elders. I thank you, oh God, for allowing us to have godly elders. And I pray that you would hold them fast, hold them fast from the attacks of the evil one, hold them fast to your word, hold them fast to live lives above reproach, to live lives that are worthy of a calling, to live lives that are based on the instructions and the criteria in the scriptures of God. I pray that you would give them wisdom and discernment and blessings and guidance, Lord, to lead us in our church in this voyage of our life. And I pray that we as believers, we as believers in the body of Christ would continue to strengthen and encourage them to continue to intercede them, to continue to submit to their leadership, so that your name is glorified in this local church, oh God. God, we thank you, oh God, for all that you have done in our lives. And we thank you, God, for the work that you’re continuing to do. God, we pray that your name is glorified and magnified above all things. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.