The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'Elder Qualifications,' explores the criteria outlined in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 for church elders. Dohm emphasizes that elders are not super Christians but verifiable Christians with qualities all mature believers should aspire to. The key functions of elders include shepherding, prayer, and the ministry of the word. Elders must be blameless, temperate, sober-minded, hospitable, gentle, and not given to wine, violence, or greed. They must rule their households well and have a good testimony among outsiders. The sermon underscores the importance of being able to teach, highlighting that while qualifications focus on character, the ability to teach is crucial as it ensures the Word of God is effectively communicated. Dohm urges the congregation to understand that these qualities are not just for elders but for all Christians to grow into, stressing the ongoing process of sanctification.

1st Timothy chapter 3 and we'll read verses 1 through 7. That's a sermon text for today. This is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, apt 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, they 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." The title of the sermon today is very complex. It's elder qualifications Put a lot of thought into that But it is week number three On this subject What has brought us here is just carefully working our way section by section through 1st Peter. So we finally hit 1st Peter chapter 5 and in 1st Peter chapter 5 verses 1 through 4, Peter exhorts elders as a fellow elder.

So it was a good opportunity just to burrow down after spending the first week of the three in 1 Peter chapter 5. We spent last week in a New Testament survey of what is taught on the topic of eldership. And last week I defined eldership, I believe biblically, as local church government by a plurality of biblically qualified men. I believe that's what the New Testament teaches elders are, local church government by a plurality of biblically qualified men. And in that role, there are three key functions for elders.

Shepherding, which is really broad. It's everything a shepherd would do for sheep. But it's always for the good and the benefit and the blessing of the sheep. Shepherds are to take the sheep into the greenest pastures, by the stillest waters. Everything that the shepherd does in Psalm 23, elders are to do in the local church everything that Jesus says He does for his people as the good shepherd when he speaks of it in John 10 elders are tried to To try to do on a different scale to a different extent in the local church.

Always for the blessing and protection and feeding of the sheep. In that sense, they ought to be fat and happy sheep. Well fed sheep. Happy in God sheep. So under shepherding, there are two things that are non-negotiable, absolutely essential for shepherds, prayer and the ministry of the word.

Last week we spent time in Acts chapter 6. This is what Acts chapter 6 is about. It's appointing deacons so that the leadership of a church can focus in these two critical areas. And you cannot be a faithful shepherd without continually devoting yourself to prayer. Why prayer?

Because shepherds in the local church aren't the shepherd, they're under shepherds. Peter speaks of the chief Shepherd. So men in the local church are just under shepherds, so they better be praying. Because under shepherds have so many things they can't affect, they can't do, they don't have the strength, they don't have the wisdom, they don't have a sovereign hand. But the chief shepherd always has the strength, always has the wisdom, always has the sovereign hand so elders better be praying for God to do all the things that they can't do.

So you have prayer And then you have the ministry of the Word. Elders in the local church, as they are shepherding, ought to be continually devoted to prayer in the ministry of the Word. That's language directly from Acts chapter 6, the first verses there. So what the apostles said, they wanted to be continually devoted to, all the time devoted to, every day devoted to, praying to the chief shepherd who can do all the things that need to be done for the local church, and bringing the word of God to bear in life. Now why is that an important summary to set up elder qualifications?

Because the qualifications have everything to do with the business of local church leaders. In other words, these things are not disconnected at all. They are married. They are hand in glove. What a man must be like has everything to do with the function that he's given in leadership in the local church.

So this week We're going to spend all our time in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1. And these are Paul's two lists, extensive lists of qualifications, requirements of what a man must be to engage in the work of eldership, to be a leader in a local church. Meaning, what kind of a resume does a man have to have to be hired into eldership, so to speak? What ought to be on his resume? What does he need to be able to say about himself with a straight face that other people can affirm in order to be a shepherd of the Lord's people?

Here's my method for this morning. There are these two lists, 1st Timothy 3, Titus 1. I'm going to work primarily from 1st Timothy 3, the text that Ron read. And I'll be folding in Titus 1. So any variations and differences, I'll be trying to address that as I work through 1 Timothy 3.

Before we start, two comments. Number one, and this was said last week, elders are not super Christians. They're not space aliens. A different breed altogether. They are not super Christians.

They're verifiable Christians. They have at work in their life everything that mature Christians ought to have at work in their life in the area of the character qualifications. It would be so simple to take each one of the character requirements for an elder and say, Christian, you're called to that. Christian, you're called to that. Christian, you're called to that.

It is not a separate set. And so don't you dare listen to the sermon and say, well, that's interesting. He better be like that. You better be saying, Christians are called to this kind of life. I, as a Christian, man, woman, or child, am called to have these things growing in my life.

So I'm more like this picture this year than I was last year. And next year I need to be more like this picture than I am this year. We should all be growing in all these things. So this is not an academic sermon for you. Don't you dare allow this to be just a study in what I ought to be.

It is that, but it's not just that. All these things apply to you as well. So that's number one. Elders are not super Christians, they're verifiable Christians. Number two, the more a man grows in the faith, the more devastating this list is.

You don't get comfortable with this list. And the last thing you want in church leadership is a man who says, yeah, I mastered that stuff years ago. Yeah, I mastered it. You do not want the rich young ruler who thinks that he's kept all the commandments from his youth in church leadership. Disaster zone.

So number one, he's not a super Christian. Number two, the more he gets to know the list, the more humbled he is by the list. It's easy to get lost in the list because they're long lists. One of them has got 16 items on and one 15 items. They overlap to a certain degree.

But you're talking about big numbers in terms of the list. So it's easy to get lost in the list. But you have to know that behind the list is a man with God working in his life. If you get just lost in the list, you're going to think this is just a robot. This is cold, mechanical.

No. This is not cold. This is not mechanical. This is a man where God has been working in his life and producing fruit. He's actually been learning to love God with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength and he's been failing and he's been disciplined And he's been growing and he's been stretched.

And the Spirit of God has gone to work in this man's life and little by little has been producing fruit. So don't let the list, because of its length and because it can read very technical, Don't let it drag you down to something that's cold and technical. It's not that. The picture behind the list is a man who's learning to love God with all his heart. All right, we're gonna go to the list, but first let's pray.

Father, I thank you for your word. We'd be lost without it. We'd be left to our own thoughts without it. Thank you for saving us from that. By Revealing your mind on so many things help us to be faithful students of your word You prayed in Jesus name Amen number one number one keep the list rolling a bishop strike through overseer strike through the word bishop in your Bibles and write in overseer.

I did that this week actually. A bishop strike through overseer then must be blameless. If you don't know why I'm saying that, go back and listen to last week's sermon. I hate that translation. An overseer then must be blameless.

He must be. It is non-negotiable. If we go down to verse 10, which Ron didn't read down that far, but look down to 1st Timothy 3 verse 10, which says, but let these, now by this time, by verse 10, it's shifted to deacons, so the these has to do with deacons and the qualifications They're set forward for deacons. So that's that's the topic but let these deacons also Meaning like elders, like what came before it, but let these deacons also, like the elders, first be tested, then let them serve. So verse 10 actually speaks to process.

First you have the identification of men. Second you have that they're tested first. First things first. Testing against the lists first, then they serve. The NASB, then they serve.

The NASB regarding blameless, okay, must be blameless. Regarding blameless, the NASB and the ESV and the NIV all render it above reproach. They're both good translations. There's nothing to fault in either one of these translations. Blameless is good, above reproach is good.

Having them both rounds it out. Blameless, not perfect. If you translate in your brain blameless or above reproach to perfect, you're not going to have church leaders. Can we agree on that? That's obvious.

So what does blameless mean? Alexander Strouk puts it like this. And by the way, he calls blameless the master qualification. He says that it sets the bar for the other words. In other words, does a man get over the bar or doesn't he get over the bar?

Does he meet the standard or doesn't he meet the standard? Alexander Strout, I think rightly says that this sets the bar, blameless, above reproach, and it means would a significant charge stick? Could you prove it? Could you demonstrate it? If a significant charge in any one of these areas would stick, then a man's not above reproach and he's not ready yet to be an elder.

That by itself, friends, is not a crime. It's not a crime to be not ready to be an elder yet. Sanctification is progressive. We're all on the curve. Actually, there's a bunch of curves going on at once.

When I say curve, I mean your development. Right? We're not at the same place that we started. And in fact, we have a lot of different things going on in our lives. We have 15, 17, 19, depending on how you count them, different qualifications here.

And every one of those is a curve in a man's life. He's at some point in his development in a man's life. So Alexander Strout calls this the master qualification that sets the bar for the other qualifications and it is what a significant charge stick. Could you prove it? Number two.

Number one, we had blameless number two. The husband of one wife. The husband of one wife. Some people believe that this includes never divorced. And I can see how they believe that but I do not believe that.

A man on Monday morning at Men's Bible Studies said something that resonated with me, which is, this is a character quality. Never divorced is a state. These are character qualities. So I personally, I understand how people would say this includes never divorced, but the words themselves actually in the Greek are a one woman man. One woman man.

And so, Strouk argues, and by the way, I keep quoting Alexander Strauch, who's written an excellent book on New Testament eldership that I recommended last week, but This is who I'm quoting a fair amount today. Strauch argues that this is a man with a rock-solid marriage for a long time. People who love the Bible at a minimum affirm that. That This means a man with a rock solid marriage for a long time. He's faithful.

He's monogamous. He's not flirtatious. He's a one woman man. So his eyes aren't wandering, looking for beautiful women everywhere else. That's not the right kind of man for church leadership.

Not flirtatious, not wandering eyes, He's got a faithful marriage, a monogamous marriage. Why is this so critical? Ephesians 5, Paul drives it home in Ephesians 5. Marriage is a picture of the gospel. A Christian man is playing a role in his marriage.

It's the role of Jesus Christ who's always so faithful to his bride. Church leaders have to fit that profile because Christian marriages are to be a reflection of the gospel, to reflect the glory of Jesus claiming a bride to the broader world. And so men who lead in the church have to be an example of that. If we go back to 1 Peter chapter 5 where all this eldership talk started, says that elders aren't to lord it over people, but to be what? To be an example.

A Christian man has to be an example in marriage. That's one of the most key places in which he must be an example is in marriage. He has to walk out a faithful, godly marriage in front of the people of the church, which means he's trying his best every day to act like Jesus acts towards his bride in his marriage. Here's an interesting question. Does that mean marriage is required?

It is a qualification here. A one-woman man, the husband of one wife. I don't think you can make that mean a man must be married. I think that's a very unusual, unnatural use of language. If you make the Bible writers have to draw the boundaries around every phrase that tightly, then, then you're going to have to say he must have multiple children because we're coming to the qualification that says his children act like this.

Well, it can't be a child then. It's gotta be multiple children. So it wouldn't, if, if you say he has to be married because this is in the qualification list, then to play by those rules using language that way, you'd say it cannot be a man who's married with one child because that's not children. We don't use language that way. So I don't think it requires that a man be married.

Although most men marry. Most elders will be married. I think that's good for the church because most people marry in time and it's good for examples to be before the church for marriage and child raising. Number three, temperate. Temperate.

Here's the definition that I've come across that I like. Free from debilitating excesses. Have You ever had any debilitating excesses in your life? Things that, passions that enslaved you to food or lust or, or, or, or, debilitating excesses. Slavery to passions.

That is not a temperate man. He's not a man who is temperate, is not a slave, and he's not given to wild swings. He's quite stable. Can anyone imagine how this could be important in the life of a local church? Temperate, not given to wild swings.

Now You've known young, zealous Christians who are wonderful and so refreshing to be around. If you make them leaders in the church, your church will be having the wildest swings. Churches need stability of people who aren't swinging wildly from one day to the other and who are not slaves to their passions. Number four, sober minded. Sober minded.

The ESV and the NIV render this self-controlled And in Titus 1 verse 8, the other list, self-controlled is actually a separate qualification. So self-controlled is definitely there no matter which renderings you go for. Sober-minded. The opposite, so sober in a very technical sense means not drunk, right? Not drunk.

So the opposite of sober-minded would be drunk-minded. What would that be? That would be you've lost your inhibitions. You're not in your right mind. You're not thinking soundly.

Sober-minded is the opposite of what you observe in people and their thought processes when they're intoxicated. And it ain't pretty. And that's not welcome in the local church. That kind of thinking that's on display when people are intoxicated is not welcome in leadership in the local church. This is sound-mindedness.

This is serious about serious things. This is an important element of sober-mindedness, serious about serious things. And This is a struggle for me because everything's a joke to me. Everything leads to a punch line in order to be funny. And I have to restrain that.

And I need to do a better job of restraining that and to be serious about serious things. There are people you would never go to talk to about something serious just because they're always joking all the time. Elders cannot be that guy. They're fun to hang around but they're not who you want leading the local church. Men who are in leadership in the local church need to be sober minded.

Not everything can be funny all the time. They need to be serious, dead serious about things that are dead serious. Number five, number five, of good behavior, of good behavior, NASB, ESB, NIV all render this respectable, both good translations of this Greek word, respectable or of good behavior. The thing I like about the rendering respectable is that you can break it down. Able to be respected, okay, respectable.

You can respect someone because of how they carry themselves, how they conduct themselves. Their behavior is good. Their behavior is worthy of respect. Elders should be that way. Because elders are to be an example to repeat what I've already said.

Number six, hospitable. King James renders it given to hospitality. Elders are hospitable. Elders share their life and their food. Elders have people in their house all the time because they're to be an example.

And because church relationships are family relationships. Family relationships flourish around the table, flourish when we're together in each other's homes. So that's how we conduct our church business at the kitchen table, often. Number seven, able to teach. Number seven, able to teach.

The Greek literally means apt and skillful in teaching. That means there's a tendency to teach, there's an appetite to teach, there's a leaning towards teaching and bringing the Word of God to bear soundly to any discussion. Really familiar with the Word of God, a man who knows his Bible and can apply it to life and can articulate that in his friendships within the scope of his friendships. So he has a tendency to teach, he's apt to teach, he's looking to bring the Word of God to bear and he has the ability. He's skillful in doing it.

It makes sense when he tries to bring the Bible to bear on the circumstances of life. This is the only qualification that is more about what you do than what you're like. That should hit you like a hammer. Of all these qualifications, they're overwhelmingly about what you're like. Who you are when no one else is around.

This is the one that is about what you do. Why is that? Because the people of God need the Word of God more than anything else. The people of God desperately need the Word of God. So leaders in the local church have to be able to bring the Word of God to bear, to feed them, to bring them into the greenest pastures.

The Word of God is the greenest pastures. This is not just pulpit ministry. We talked about this last week. This is not just me preaching. In Acts 20 verse 20, when Paul is exhorting elders, Acts 20 verse 20, Paul says, how I kept back nothing that was helpful.

Now he's talking about the life that he lived in the Ephesian church for over two years. So he's describing how he lived among these elders so that he can say, do like that. That's the whole thrust of Acts 20. Paul says, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house. Paul's teaching ministry was not just a pulpit ministry He taught publicly And he taught house to house and he didn't keep back one single thing that was Helpful elders need to be like that That's why when Paul is exhorting the Ephesian elders He is exhorting them with all his heart and soul to be like that teach publicly the Word of God teach House to house the Word of God don't keep that one single thing that would be helpful.

And then a few verses later in Acts 20 verse 27, Paul is still exhorting these elders, he says, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God." So what's Paul teaching publicly and from house to house when he's saying these things that would be helpful? The whole counsel of God Genesis to Revelation. He's speaking into the circumstances of life, not out of his own thoughts, but out of the Word of God. Titus 1.9, this is our other list of elder qualifications. Paul says, holding fast the faithful word.

An elder is one who holds 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. That definitely gives you the sense that it's more than just a public ministry. He can stand his ground and defend sound doctrine against those who contradict sound doctrine. And he can exhort them and he can convict them if necessary by holding on to the faithful word, that sound doctrine. Number eight, Number eight, not given to wine.

And ASV renders it not addicted to wine. ESV renders it not a drunkard. NIV renders it not given to drunkenness. You get the point. All of those are good renderings.

It's not the prohibition of use. It's the prohibition of abuse. Not given to one, not addicted to one. There may be many good reasons for total abstinence. This is not advocating total abstinence.

It may be wise to always abstain, but this is not requiring total abstinence. Number nine, not violent. Not violent. A violent man is a man who is looking for a fight. Now the violence here does not have to be physical violence.

The Greek word also has this sense, contentious. So it could be physically violent. That's certainly part of the scope of the word, but that's not all of the scope of the word. It also has the sense of contentious. An elder must not be a contentious man.

Titus 1-7, our other list, Titus 1-7, has not quick tempered. I think these are tightly related. I think one is essentially a synonym of the other. Not violent, not quick-tempered. A man who's fit for leadership in the local church has a slow fuse.

You know what a fuse is? What you light that eventually makes its way down to the thing that's going to blow up, explode. The longer the fuse, the longer the time is until the explosion. A leader in the local church has to have a long fuse so that it takes a lot to get them to explode. The guys who are fit for the work, you've probably never seen explode.

They have long fuses. A volatile man is the wrong man for the job given the nature of the job. There are many, many tense situations, difficult conversations. A man is looking for a fight, is going to find a fight. There's going to be a fight.

And then there's going to be reproach on the name of Christ. It's not the right kind of work for a volatile man. If you're an elder, the people in the church who don't hold to sound doctrine are going to have a problem with you. So a contentious man is not the right man. There has to be a place for patient, gentle conversations.

Number ten, not greedy for money. Not greedy for money. I think there are two parts to this. The first part is that in 1 Timothy chapter 6, Paul makes it so clear, this is just a couple chapters later, come to think of it, we're in 1 Timothy 3, a couple chapters later in chapter 6, Paul makes it clear that the love of money is a gateway sin. He says it's the root of all kinds of evil.

It opens the door for all sorts of other sins that are lined up at that door to march right through. Okay, it's the root, the love of money, the desire to be rich is the root of all kinds of evil. So that's part of this, why it's so important that a man in eldership not be greedy for money. The second thing is he's going to hold the purse strings of the church. He's going to direct the finances of the church.

So he's in a position where that could be a temptation. Number 11, Gentle. Gentle. I hope we're not at the point in the list where you're saying, wow, where can we find a guy like that? Gentle.

This is not a man who's storming around, speaking sharply to everyone with whom he disagrees, steamrolling everyone in his path, who's viewed as an obstruction and an obstacle. It's the exact opposite of that guy. You've worked with a person like that before. Who snaps at everybody and who, if he thinks you're in his way, is going to roll right over the top of you. Elders are not those kind of men.

They cannot be. They must be gentle. In Titus 1 verse 7, this other list we're trying to fold in, Titus 1 verse 7, Paul says, not self-willed. I think that fits in very nicely with gentle. The self-willed man must have what he wants when he wants it.

It has to be my way and it has to be right now. Not a shepherd. Not a shepherd. Here's what Alexander Strauch says. God fully expects his under shepherds to shepherd His people in the same way He does.

He will not let His people be driven, beaten, condemned, or divided. Thus the shepherd must be patient, gracious, and understanding with the airing and at times exasperating sheep. Number 12, not quarrelsome. Not quarrelsome. The NASB renders this peaceable.

Good job. Not quarrelsome, peaceable. Elders will be dealing with immaturity in the local church and not just their own. Again, elders are not men with no room for growth. Far be it from anyone in their right minds to say that.

Elders probably know better than anybody else how much room for growth they actually have or they should. You'll be dealing with immaturity if you're an elder in the local church in both life and doctrine. So you better not be a quarrelsome man. This goes right back to not violent or not quick tempered. That is not a condemnation of anyone who has immaturity in their life or their doctrine because sanctification is progressive.

And we all have immaturity flare up from time to time and need to be gently corrected for it. It's an elder's job to do that. Number 13, not covetous. Not covetous. The NASB, the ESV, the NIV all render this not a lover of money.

Can't love money. You don't want your church leaders to be grasping for what God has not given them. If anyone in the world should be satisfied with what God has given them and love the life that God has given them, it should be your church leaders. The last thing you want as an example to everybody in the church is somebody who's grasping for what God has not given them. Number 14.

Number 14. Number 14, rules his own house well. Or some translations, manages his household well. Well. And then it goes right on the heels of that to say, having his children in submission with all reverence.

So this is part of ruling the household well. This goes under household management. Having his children in submission with all reverence. So that explains ruling his own household well. There are two elements here.

There's in submission with all reverence. This is very important because this goes to obedience and honor. It is possible to have an external obedience with no honor in the heart. And so Paul isn't satisfied by just saying a man is fit to be in church leadership if he's bigger than his children and can muster up some sort of external obedience in his children. Dads are normally, at least for a while, big enough to do that.

To inspire the right amount of fear in little kids to get them to not act up too bad in public. That's not what Paul's talking about. That might be in submission, but that's not with all reverence. The children of elders love their dad and they'll follow their dad. They're in submission with all reverence.

They don't just obey externally their father, but there's honor behind the obedience. They understand that they must honor their father and their mother, that it might be well with them, that their days might be long. Here's Paul's argument. He goes on to make an argument in 1 Timothy 3. If a man can't rule his house, he can't care for the church.

Why? Because the church is like your house, only bigger with more people and less authority. Okay? So if you can't handle the small crowd with more authority, we're not promoting you to handle the large crowd with less authority. No way.

Everybody understand why it would be insane to do that? We've given you a few here. You've got a lot of authority. That's out of control. You don't get promoted to more people with less authority.

Titus 1, our other list, Titus 1 verse 6, Paul says, Having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. So Paul is talking about the same things here, but I'm so glad we've got this second list because it just sheds more light. So compare those two things. In 1 Timothy 3 he said having children in submission with all reverence, obedience and honor. In Titus 1 verse 6 he says having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.

They can't be accused, his children can't be accused of being wild and unmanageable. Now, NASB, ESV, NIV, render Now, NASB, ESV, NIV, render it having children who believe, not accused of. I don't think that's a good translation. Now it can mean that. It can be translated that way.

From a strictly linguistic standpoint, that is not an irresponsible translation. But it does not have to be translated that way. In fact, the primary meaning is trusty, faithful. Okay, so we're talking about should it be, should his children be faithful or should his children be believing? You have to make a translational choice.

You got pick there, which is it? The primary meaning is trustee faithful of persons who show themselves faithful in the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of duty. I think you can require that of an elder, that his children be faithful in that sense, like a good employee, a person you can count on to discharge his duties or her duties. I don't think you can require of an elder that his children believe because God elects, because God chooses, Because God draws. God does the things in salvation that a father can never do.

Now, the children of elders ought to be drowning in the means of grace. They ought to be drowning in sound Bible teaching, the normal faithful shepherding care that's supposed to happen in a home. By the way, shepherding is not just for local churches. It is for homes, men and wives too. You're shepherding your children.

You're supposed to bring them to the greenest pastures and by the stillest waters, just like elders in a local church are. So children should be the recipients of all the means of grace. They should be drowning in those means of grace. That never saved a single soul. It's a miracle when a person gets born again.

They're raised from the dead. Do you understand that? The means of grace will not save you. God has to raise you from the dead. God has to grant you repentance or you will never repent.

Secondly, if you make it believing, if you make it so that his children have to be in the faith? First of all, how would you know that? Do you know beyond any doubt that I'm in the faith? I'm your elder. Now we're going to apply this standard to children.

That doesn't make sense. But if you make it believing, then a man is disqualified every time the family welcomes a new baby. How can that not be true? Are your children born regenerate? Mine were not.

Mine were not born believing. They were born in sin. They were unregenerate. Number 15. Not a novice.

Not a novice. The NASB, the ESV, the NIV render this not a new convert or not a recent convert. They didn't just become a Christian. Why not? Lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

It is no sin to be a new convert. I've been one. Have you been one? If you're a convert, you've been a new convert. You shouldn't be rebuked for being a new convert.

We should praise God for you. But a new convert should not be an elder. Because if you make a new convert an elder, there is a grave risk that They'll be puffed up with pride and fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Listen to 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12, therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. The longer you've been in the faith, the more you get that verse.

The longer you've walked with the Lord, the more that verse makes sense to you. Because you thought you've stood many times, and because you were not in your overconfidence, because you were not clinging to Jesus in your overconfidence, you fell flat on your face and it happened to you a bunch of times. And now that verse makes total sense to you. There are cycles in the Christian life and you better have been through those cycles a few times before the Lord brings you into the position of shepherding other sheep. Number 16.

Having a good testimony among those who are outside, Having a good testimony among those who are outside the church and outside the faith. Alexander Strouck makes this point and he's dead right. Oftentimes, people outside the church and even unregenerate people, maybe even especially unregenerate people, have a more objective view of a man's character. This is why it's important. Who does he work with?

A man faces pressures at work that are nothing like his cushy little friendships at church. Are you with me? A man faces pressures and opposition and hardships and slander and, and and that would tend to bring to the surface all of your volatility And none of those things happen typically in your church relationship. Sometimes it does. Often though, they have a better window into what you're like under pressure and how you really are than we who come and are happy together on Sundays.

There's nothing wrong with coming together to be happy on Sundays, but it can be very superficial. It can be. So the people who work with you for 40 hours a week might have a good window into that. I was having lunch with a brother one time and he said they were in the process in their church of doing this. I've never really done this, I don't think, in a qualification process to the right degree.

But they were going, they were checking with people in his workplace to see how he was, even unregenerate people. I think that's appropriate. A few others from Titus 1 verse 8. There were three that I didn't know where to put them as I worked through the list in 1 Timothy 3. So there's three leftovers from Titus 1 verse 8.

Let's talk about them now. The first one is, a lover of what is good. In that second list, Paul says something that he doesn't say directly in 1 Timothy 3. A lover of what is good. This is not just a technically correct person who is well behaved and hyper disciplined.

It goes beyond that. It's not just a hyper disciplined person. It's someone who loves what's good. They're doing what they're doing because they've learned to love what God loves. God loves what's good.

They've learned to love what's good. Listen to Galatians 6 verse 9 and 10. Galatians 6 Verse 9 and 10, Paul says, and let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith, elders are leading the charge in that.

They better be the least likely to grow weary in doing good. They might encounter a discouragement or two in their work. It's possible. No elders I know have ever encountered any discouragements, but I hear that they're out there. Another one from Titus 1.8, just.

Just. An elder is just, Meaning he's upright and especially he's not partial. Dealing with all sorts of people in the local church. Some you're closer friends with than others. Some you're wired to be naturally attracted to than others.

In terms of who your personality just normally fits with. Better not be partial based on those things. An elder cannot be partial. Just because your personality is different than theirs, you better not be treating them differently. Just, upright, not partial.

Finally, holy. Holy. Sometimes the word holy is used for separated, separated out for God's purposes, God's glory. This particular word is more used as undefiled by sin, free from wickedness. Undefiled by sin, free from wickedness.

They lead lives that demonstrate that they love God by keeping His commandments. Okay, now we're not talking about self-righteousness here. We're not talking about law keeping to earn the favor of God. We're talking about a heart that loves God, and so what God says to do they want to do. In conclusion.

In conclusion, there are three categories. If you had to take all the big number of qualifications and put them into buckets so that you were summarizing categories, I think you would have three buckets. The first is character qualities. What is a man like when no one is watching? Character qualities.

And especially here, he must be above reproach. A significant charge cannot stick to him in these areas of what he's like when no one's around. Second category is household management. You have marriage, you have parenting in that bucket, in that category. And it means the world.

Is he ready to show the gospel to the world through how he treats his wife? Do his children not just obey him externally but has he secured their honor? So children are commanded to honor their parents, but did you know that means that that gives parents an obligation to secure that honor? You have to help them. They have sinful tendencies that if you let those sinful tendencies run, they will never honor you.

You should view it as your job to help them and go secure that honor. And Elder has done that. He has not just secured external obedience in his children, but they love him and they'll follow him. They honor him. So household management With what he's been given are those people flourishing.

You can look at his wife, look at his children and say, wow look at that garden, healthy plants. Then you say, he's ready in this category. Finally able to teach the people of God more than anything else need the Word of God. A church can have all manner of faults, and every church has many faults. Our church has many faults and shortcomings and sins.

God is dealing with us and will continue to deal with us. There will never be a time when I can't stand in the pulpit and say that with a straight face. That's the deal for local churches. You're never done. You're always reforming if you care about what God has said in His Word.

But a church, with all its faults, if it has teaching, sound teaching, authoritative teaching, passionate teaching with urgent appeals from the Word of God will be okay. It will be okay. The people of God need the Word of God more than anything because it tells us how we ought to be saved and then it tells us what we ought to do when we are saved. It helps us to learn to love God with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our strength. So a man who leads the church has to be able to bring the word of God to bear that way.

So brothers and sisters, live with a man for a good long time. How long is that? I don't know, a long time. Long enough to see, long enough not to be hasty, long enough to know what he's really like and consistently see God working in his life, giving him progress in the faith, consistently see the fruits of the Spirit growing in his life. More love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Against such things there is no law. Find a man, live with him for a long time, see that growing in his life, and then let him shepherd. Let him shepherd. May the Lord increase this tribe among us. May God raise up so many elders from the men here, from the boys here, wives and mothers.

You play such a crucial role in this. These men don't pop out of the ground. They don't fall out of the sky. They're raised on the knees of faithful mothers. I'm so thankful for the mothers we have in this church.

I think we have a bumper crop of faithful mothers who are taking their children, their sons and their daughters on their knees and raising them for the glory of God with all their heart. I think we will have a bumper crop of elders come out of this fellowship. I pray that it's true. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word.

I pray that you would press these truths home to our hearts. And God, I pray that you would raise up many men for many various things, not just for eldership, but make us useful for your kingdom, oh God. May our lives be lived to your glory, no matter where you place us, no matter where you plant us. May we live to your honor. You have redeemed us, O God.

We want to live such thankful lives before you. Help us, O God, in Jesus' name, amen.