Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 3
Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. A handful of the brothers here have already heard this. We're going to just deal with verse 1, the man's desire for eldership or basically a call to the ministry. I'm going to lean on Albert N.
Martin in his Pastoral Theology to present this material this evening. And if I say the word aspirant, that's not aspirin. It's not for headaches. Aspirant is a man who aspires to the Christian ministry.
Unless you think I'm fixated or lest you think I'm fixated on aspirins, it is aspirin. So I want to read 1 Timothy chapter 3. We'll pray and then we'll look specifically at 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 houses 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. These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly. But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this, your day. We thank you for the blessed privilege that is ours to gather in the house of God and to call upon your great name. We pray that your name would be hallowed as we gather together. We pray for your kingdom of grace and glory to come.
We pray as well for your will to be done by all of us as individuals and in our families and in this local church. And may you provide those things that we stand in need of. And even now, Lord God, cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wash us and purify our hearts by faith as well.
We pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, and lead us as we consider Paul's instructions here concerning qualifications for elders. And we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well last week we looked at the prohibition from the Apostle Paul concerning women in chapter 2 at verse 12. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man but to be in silence. And then we turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and we see it's not just any man. In fact, last week I mentioned that some men are susceptible to deception because they are dumb.
Dumb was probably not the best word to use. I could have used uneducated, but there are still educated dummies. And so it may not necessarily be the worst word. I don't think being dumb is necessarily sin.
I'm dumb when it comes to a whole lot of things. However, it is important for our study here because people don't usually make dumb people doctors. for the most part, there are obvious exceptions, but a lot of churches pick dumb men to pastor them. Therefore, the qualifications given in verses 1 to 7 are most necessary. We need to take these things seriously, we need to make sure we apply them, and we need to make sure that we scrutinize and survey men and examine men with reference to Paul's instructions here in 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Now the New Testament authors use the words elder, overseer, and pastor synonymously. In other words, they are interchangeable. All three terms apply to the one office that has as its primary emphasis government in the church and teaching. It's government by teaching.
It's a ministerial function. And so elder, overseer, pastor, as I said, are used synonymously. When we look here at verse 1, if a man desires the position of a bishop or overseer, episkopos is the Greek word. This is synonymous with elders.
Now, when we come to this list of qualifications, just to kind of give you a map as to where we're going to go, we're going to look first and tonight at the man's desire for eldership in verse 1. Secondly, we'll notice the man's personal holiness in verses 2 and 3. Third, the man's domestic faithfulness in verses 4 and 5. Fourth, the man's experience in the faith, verse 6, the man's testimony toward outsiders in verse 7, and then the man's ability to teach in verse 2.
We'll end our study on that note because that is what separates or distinguishes the elder from the deacon in the context and then from other men in the life of Christ's church. So when we come to verse 1, notice he says, this is a faithful saying. There are several faithful sayings of the apostle in 1st and 2nd Timothy and in the book of Titus. They appear in 1st Timothy 1.15, 1st Timothy 3.1 here, 1st Timothy 4.9, 2nd Timothy 2.11, and Titus chapter 3. and verse 8, foundational truth, truth received, truth that we must not depart from or deviate from.
In other words, these are settled things and they must not be up for grabs. And then when we look at the content of his statement, he says, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. So as I said, I want to deal with the man's desire for eldership or basically elements involved in a call to the ministry. Pastor Albert N.
Martin, in his Pastoral Theology, I think sets forth four good points relative to a man's call to the ministry. First, the desire of the man must be born of right motives. Secondly, the graces of the man indicate genuine Christian experience. The gifts of the man, thirdly, indicate divine provision.
And then fourthly, opportunity for the man, which indicates providential opening. So basically we have the desire of the man, the graces of the man, the gifts of the man, and the opportunity for the man, and that's where we're going tonight.
The Desire of the Man
So note first with me, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. There is this internal desire on the part of a man within the context of Christchurch where he wants to function in the eldership. And he has to examine that call and he has to make sure that that call is legit because there's some proper and improper motivations to pursue Christian ministry. So the desire must be a proper desire.
Notice that Paul says he desires a good work. Elsewhere, Paul refers to the pastoral ministry as a stewardship. He refers to pastors as ambassadors. In the book of Revelation, the apostle John refers to the messengers of the churches, the pastors or bishops in the churches, as angels.
Angels is simply messenger, so those aren't disembodied spirits that are floating around the church in Ephesus and preaching gospel. Rather, the pastors are known as the angels of the church. So the desire must as well be confirmed by the qualifications met. As we pursue or proceed through this section, there's a lot of must-bes.
He must be this, he must be that, he must be this, he must be that, and he must be able to teach. So he has to meet those qualifications. If he has a desire, but he doesn't meet the qualifications, then that desire is illegitimate. That desire, at least at that time, is illegitimate.
He ought to work on cultivating those things and then perhaps reorient his mind with reference to a desire for the Christian ministry. So the desire must be confirmed by the qualifications, but it must also be confirmed by the church. The church must examine, the church must test, the church must validate, and the church must see that in fact the man does meet the qualifications for Christian ministry. In 2nd London Confession, chapter 26, paragraph 9, we read, The way appointed by Christ for the calling of any person, fitted and gifted by the Holy Spirit, unto the office of bishop or elder in a church, is that he be chosen thereunto by the common suffrage of the church itself, and solemnly set apart by fasting and prayer, with imposition of hands of the eldership of the church, if there be any before constituted therein, and of a deacon, that he be chosen by the like suffrage, and set apart by prayer, and the like imposition of hands." How does the church come to that place where in common suffrage they vote on a particular man?
Because they examine the man in light of 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 7, if he's pursuing eldership. If he's pursuing the diaconate, they examine him in light of 1 Timothy 3, verses 8 to 13. This isn't rocket science. It's not brain surgery.
And as I said, it's not up for negotiation. These things must be in place. The church must take these things seriously. Eldership is not simply a popularity contest.
It's not simply a contest of who's most successful outside in the world. They ought to be good then at the eldership. I'm not saying if they're successful in the world, they won't be successful in the eldership, but it's not a direct one-to-one correlation. They must be what we find in this particular passage.
So the desire must be a proper one. The desire, as I mentioned, can be misinformed. Your Aunt Bessie told you at age five that you ought to be a pastor. And every time she sees you at Christmas, she reiterates that.
I've always thought, I've always known, in fact, I had a vision that you're going to be a pastor. Well, Aunt Bessie doesn't get to call the shots with reference to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would suggest another sort of a bad motivation is finding one's identity in the pastoral ministry. finding one's identity in the pastoral ministry. A pastor, if he dies, a pastor if he resigns, a pastor if he retires, does not inhibit the progress of the kingdom of God.
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ continued on after C. H. Spurgeon died. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ continued on after Martin Luther died, after John Calvin died, after Athanasius died.
God uses means. We sang Psalm 68. The apostle invokes that in Ephesians 4 to tell us that Christ ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and He gave gifts to men. He gives pastors to the church to serve in their particular capacity, but not as if the church depended on them.
It's a means, it's useful, it's helpful. Sometimes men see their identity tied up in being a pastor. If I'm not a pastor, then I'm just nothing. That's a terrible mindset.
It's a horrible mindset and it's quite burdensome and onerous to put on the people of God. I would suggest as well there is a direct line approach to God. God gave me a text. God laid this impression on my heart.
Therefore, I am called to the Christian ministry. Well, that's all good and fine. But what if you don't meet the qualifications and somebody has the guts to tell you don't meet the qualifications? Guess what happens?
The one who tells them they don't meet the qualifications is now questioning God. It's a tough position to be put into. That's a hard predicament. If you come to me and say, I was called to the ministry.
The Lord gave me a text. It's in Ezekiel 34. Our brother cited that earlier about shepherds. That's my text.
I know. And I've also got the validation from Aunt Bessie. I know because my identity is tied up in this. Those are all bad things and red flags.
The reality is, is that the inner subjective call must be verified and confirmed by the common suffrage of the church. In other words, there's a subjective element. A man desires to be in the eldership. It has to be checked by objectivity.
It has to be examined. It has to be interrogated. It has to be vetted. It has to be validated in order for the man to proceed.
We have to have both elements. You have to have the desire. Paul says it, if any man has that desire, It's a good thing that he desires, but it has to be checkable. It has to be falsifiable.
The Internal Call and External Confirmation
It has to be verifiable, and that's where the church comes in, and common suffrage. And so an overemphasis on the subjective nature of what we call the internal call is oftentimes invoked as the trump card as to why the man must be in the ministry. Well the man that has that inner call is going to be submissive to the means that Christ has ordained vis-a-vis the local church, her present elders, the body as a whole, again examining, vetting, asking questions and those sorts of things. I would suggest as well the desire can be misinformed, obviously when a man is after money.
I think it was Spurgeon, or at least I saw it ascribed to Spurgeon at one point. He said, if a man wants to get rich, he shouldn't choose the Baptist ministry. But there are some men that are obviously in it for money. In fact, turn over to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5, the Apostle Peter condemns this as well.
Notice in 5.1, the elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed, shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, Paul's desire in 1 Timothy 3.1, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. 1 Timothy chapter 6, the apostle addresses that mindset as well. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. And then notice Paul's instruction, from such withdraw yourself.
They suppose that this is a means for gain. We would as well see it being misinformed if somebody was driven by a desire for fame, a desire for popularity, a desire for prestige, a desire for celebrity status. Those are not good motives. I want to make my mark on the world.
I want the entirety of North America to herald me as the Spurgeon of our generation. That's not a good thing. And as well, some might just see it as an easy job. Pastors are like trash men.
My trash man only comes on Wednesday. He's got the rest of the week off. Pastors only preach on Sunday. They've got the rest of the week off.
Notice what Paul says in 1 Timothy 5.17, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those, notice, who labor in the word and doctrine. Or Colossians chapter 2, you can turn there, I'm sorry, 1, Colossians chapter 1, specifically at verse 28. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily." So back to 1 Timothy chapter 3, we need to make sure, with reference to the man who desires the eldership, that his desire is born out of right motives, to lean again on Pastor Martin.
And before leaving this hat, I would say the desire must be weighed against the solemn warning of James 3.1. James 3.1 is every bit as much in the Bible as is 1 Timothy 3 verse 1. And James 3.1 is very clear. He says specifically, My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
That should hopefully add a measure of sobriety, a measure of calculatedness, a measure of balance with reference to a call or a desire for Christian ministry. Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. So the internal call If he desires it, it's a good thing, but it must be checked by external means. He must fulfill or he must rather meet the qualifications stipulated in verses 1 to 7.
And he must as well be recognized by the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not just, you know, London Confession, chapter 26. It's also the book of Acts. In other words, the church functions externally to check the internal desires of a man to make sure and ensure that they are consistent, that they are biblical, and that they're righteously motivated.
It is a desire born of right motives.
The Graces of the Man
Secondly, the graces of the man that indicate genuine Christian experience. We're going to look at those in detail when we consider the man's personal holiness, his domestic faithfulness, his experience in the faith, his testimony toward outsiders. But just as an overarching head here, grace is indicating that he knows Jesus. He may have a desire because he wants money.
He may have a desire because he wants prestige. He may have the desire to lord things over Christ's flock, which Peter prohibits in 1 Peter 5. Paul exemplifies, we don't have dominion over your faith, he says, but we are rather workers with you for your joy. It's not a tyrannical rule.
It's not, I want to build my kingdom sort of a rule. But a man might have the desire, but he might not have a new heart. He might not be born again. We have to determine and we have to make sure.
And again, we can't see infallibly into the heart of man. You know, that's where the Paedo-Baptists get us. All right, we got your zinger. You don't really know the heart, so how can you take their testimony of faith?
Yeah, you're right. We don't know their heart, but in the judgment of charity, we accept their profession of faith. You got us. There's the chink in the armor.
Yeah, we're condemned because we're not infallible? We're condemned because we're not omniscient? I mean, come on. Well, here as well, we don't know absolutely certainly that the man is humble and he's righteous and he's holy, but we see that manifested in his life.
We see that in his personal holiness. We see that in his domestic faithfulness. We see that in his experience in the faith. We see that in his testimony toward outsiders.
Intriguing that Paul envisages checking perhaps with the man's work associates. Huh, is he an okay guy? No, he's the laziest one in the shop. He never shuts up.
He blathers on, he's always late, and he dawdles all the time. I'm sorry, that's not going to win me over to his side. I mean, I'd verify that. Maybe that guy just hates that guy.
But Paul's like, listen, church, the guys that are going to teach and preach, Paul understood, let not many of you become teachers because we shall receive a stricter judgment. And so he lays down the gauntlet. Not for negotiations, not for, well, we're going to massage this. Well, we're going to relax this.
Well, we're going to, you know, just kind of, you know, wink at these. No, we need to make sure that the man is born again. Again, we can't see that the stony heart's been removed and a fleshly heart has been placed there, but fruit demonstrates, fruit evidences, fruit bears forth. an emblem of what's gone on in the heart. I would suggest as well the grace of the man.
He must not only be born again, he must maintain communion with the triune God. He must read his Bible. Okay, we're in for some radical things here tonight. The guy that should lead the church or be one of the leaders in the church, yeah, he should read his Bible regularly.
Yes, he should be a man of prayer. Yes, he should show up at the means of grace. I always tell people, if they're not faithful church men, why would you put them as elders? If they miss three out of four services, again, I'm not saying they're demons.
I'm not saying they're reprobate. I'm not saying the wrath of God abides upon. No, I'm not saying that at all. But why would you put a man into leadership that hasn't shown himself faithful in the little things?
If he can't faithfully attend the church, if he can't come to a workday, and you know, don't think that I missed this last one. That rules me out. Nobody's keeping a list. I don't have a document.
Guys who didn't show up at the workday. But you get the logic, right? Jesus said if you're faithful in little, you'll be faithful in much. If you're not faithful as a church man, then why would you be an elder?
You should work on faithfulness as a church man. I would suggest as well the graces of the man. He must be able to deal with hardship. He must be able to deal with affliction.
He must be able to deal with difficulty. He must be able to deal with criticism. He must, as Spurgeon says, have one blind eye and one deaf ear. He's got to be able to navigate and operate in a situation where it's not always the case that it's roses and joy and honey.
There's some tough things that the man has to deal with. And if he's not given evidence or demonstrable faithfulness in the midst of any degree of hardship, again, I'm not saying the guy will never be an elder, but you know, go thou and learn.
The Gifts of the Man
And then moving on, the gifts of the man. And this indicates divine provision. You could have this. You could have a situation where a guy is gifted to preach and teach, But he may not desire to be an elder.
He could be gifted to teach and preach, but he's struggling in a particular area. But if he's going to be an elder, the thing that is markedly clear is in verse 2. He must be able to teach. There has to be a degree of competency in his ability to both assimilate truth and then articulate that truth back.
Assimilation is when we read the Bible, when we read the Confession, when we read good theology, when we read commentaries, when we read biography, when we read Christian books, we assimilate the truth. In other words, it goes through our heads, it lands in our hearts, it warms our soul, it feeds our brain, and it helps us. Assimilation of truth. A man must be able to do that, but as well, he must be able to articulate that truth to others.
See, both are absolutely crucial. A man may assimilate. He may be like a sponge. He may be a genius.
He may have memorized the second London. He may be able to recite large swaths of Athanasius. But if he doesn't have the ability to articulate that truth to others, he shouldn't be an elder. Conversely, there's a lot of guys out there that are good speakers.
They can articulate. They're clear. They enunciate. They're very gifted in terms of oratory.
But if they haven't assimilated the truth, you've got big problems. You see what the emphasis is here? You've got to be able to take in the truth, and you've got to be able to put out the truth. Again, I hope no one's going, man, this is just amazingly revolutionary.
It's right in the text. So the man must be able to teach, and that necessitates mental ability. I'm not saying he has to be a genius. I'm not saying he has to be the smartest guy in every room.
I'm not saying that at all. Again, I'm dumb in a whole host of ways. Everybody's dumb in a whole host of ways, but mentally he must be apt to take in the data of scripture and he must be able to communicate that data to others to some profit. He doesn't have to be Spurgeon.
He doesn't have to be Chrysostom. He doesn't have to be the silver tongue or the golden tongue preacher, but he has to be able to explain what the scriptures say privately when he's in a home, privately when he's in a counseling session, privately when he's asked questions in the back of the church, privately when he gets emails, privately when he gets taxed, privately when... Those things occur, but publicly as well. He's got to be able to preach the truth in such a way that people get it, that people understand it.
Again, if Spurgeon fell out of heaven and we had his golden tongue, but we couldn't understand a word that he was saying and it was not profitable or beneficial for our souls, go back to heaven, brother. You got to be able to pick up what the preacher's putting down. Again, I don't think this is a revolutionary concept. So the man must be able to preach, or teach rather, which necessitates mental ability.
This next one might be a little bit more controversial, but I'll let Spurgeon defend. The man must be able to teach which necessitates physical ability. The man must be able to teach which necessitates physical ability. Spurgeon, in lectures to my students, says, God certainly has not created behemoth to fly.
And should Leviathan have a strong desire to ascend with the lark, it would evidently be an unwise aspiration, since he is not furnished with wings. If a man be called to preach, I don't know how many times I've read this, and every time I read it, I laugh. And the next one's even more of a knee slapper, but just bear with me here. If a man be called to preach, he will be endowed with the degree of speaking ability, which he will cultivate and increase.
If the gift of utterance be not there in a measure at the first, it is not likely that it will ever be developed." Again, it's foundational. It's basic. It's fundamental. Able to teach means he's got it mentally.
And then physically, the way that God fit him, the way that God made him, the way that God created him, he's able then to pass that information along to others. Spurgeon deals with the issue of physical infirmities with reference to men and ministry. Now remember, Spurgeon is operating at the level of a pastor's college. So he's making the decision as to whether or not a person can be admitted to his college.
It's not a board of guys that listen to a man's story or testimony and say, no, we conclude that you're not called to the ministry. Maybe he's not. But maybe he is, and the guys were wrong. There's always that potential or possibility.
So I want you to understand that. Spurgeon's not telling guys that come to his pastor's college, oh, I don't see any legitimacy whatsoever in your desire for ministry. No, in terms of an admission to the pastor's college. So just keep that in mind.
And as well, when he deals with physical infirmities, remember that God does as well. Not for new covenant pastors, but for old covenant priests. In Leviticus chapter 21, verses 16 to 24, we see that there were certain persons barred from serving as priests at the altar based on physical deformities. Listen to Spurgeon.
Physical infirmities raise a question about the call of some excellent men. I would not, like Eusthenes, judge men by their features, but their general physique is no small criterion. That narrow chest does not indicate a man formed for public speech. You may think it odd, but still I feel very well assured that when a man has a contracted chest with no distance between his shoulders, the All-Wise Creator did not intend him habitually to preach.
If He had meant him to speak, He would have given him in some measure breadth of chest sufficient to yield a reasonable amount of lung force. When the Lord means a creature to run, He gives it nimble legs. And if He means another creature to preach, He will give it suitable lungs. A brother who has to pause in the middle of a sentence and work his air pump should ask himself whether there is not some occupation for which he is better adapted.
A man who can scarcely get through a sentence without pain can hardly be called to cry aloud and spare not. There may be exceptions, but is there not weight in the general rule? Brethren with defective mouths and imperfect articulation are not usually called to preach the gospel. The same applies to brethren with no palate or an imperfect one.
Application was received some short time ago from a young man who had a sort of rotary action of his jaw of the most painful sort to the beholder. His pastor commended him as a very holy young man who had been the means of bringing some to Christ, and he expressed the hope that I would receive him, but I could not see the propriety of it. I could not have looked at him while preaching without laughter if all the gold of Tarshish had been my reward, and in all probability nine out of ten of his hearers would have been more sensitive than myself. a man with a big tongue, which filled up his mouth and caused indistinctness, another without teeth, another who stammered, another who could not pronounce all the alphabet. I have had the pain of declining on the ground that God had not given them those physical appliances which are, as the prayer book would put it, generally necessary." Again, you might think, that's odd, that's mean.
How could he tell somebody with a defective mouth that they couldn't be a pastor? Again, admission to his college. And while it may sound a bit extreme, it may sound a bit over the top, isn't there something to that? Isn't there something that resonates in that?
The preacher's not up there to call attention to himself, for good or ill, but to make Christ known. So that's in his call to the ministry lecture, in lectures to my students, when he deals with on the voice, You know what his counsel there is? He says, gentlemen with narrow chests are advised to use the dumbbells every morning, or better still, those clubs which the college has provided for you. You need broad chests and must do your best to get them.
That's great. That's great. Use the means. Cultivate the voice.
We wouldn't look at a carpenter and say, man, I think you spend way too much time perfecting how to swing that hammer. We don't look at surgeons and say, you know, you spend way too much time on working with a steady hand. You don't go to your auto mechanic and say, you know, you do so much research. It's, you know, you don't need to do all that.
Why is it different in the Christian ministry? Why shouldn't we expect men to let their progress be made known to all, as Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 4? I don't think that just means growth in mental things. It doesn't mean just bigger chests.
But it means in ministerial Service, preaching, developing, growing, getting better, hopefully. I always use the illustration of plumbing. You know, when a guy first learns to plumb, he learns usually on how to fix a toilet or install a toilet or whatever. He goes on from there.
That's usually not his life's work as a plumber. I mean, he may include it down the road, but he advances and he moves forward such that his progress is evident to all. Now he's doing, you know, massive projects. He's laying lots of pipe.
He's intricately weaving it all together. Why is the expectation for pastors almost null and void? There ought to be growth. There ought to be development.
There ought to be getting better at the whole task involved. So the man must be able to teach which necessitates mental ability, he must be able to teach which necessitates physical ability, and the man must be able to teach which necessitates spiritual experience. He can't preach what he doesn't know. He can't preach as a servant of the Most High, the very mysteries of God, as a steward, as an ambassador for his Lord, if he himself has not felt experientially what it is to be born again, what it is to maintain communion with the triune God, what it is to be able to deal with the hardships and the afflictions and the difficulties associated with life in this present evil age.
There must be spiritual maturity, there must be spiritual stability, there must be and that's built into the qualifications. As we get to the qualifications, God willing in a couple of weeks, His personal holiness, his domestic faithfulness, his experience in the faith, his testimony toward outsiders. None of that at all is strictly applicable to the elder. I hope as we move through the list, you don't read that, you know, he must not be given a much wine and you say, well, I'm not an elder, so therefore I can be given to a whole lot of wine.
No, these are things that every Christian should be pursuing. These are things that every Christian should have a modicum of. But with reference to the elders, they must be demonstrated, they must be there, there must be a maturity. And again, not perfection, not wholly harmless and undefiled, but at least having met the qualifications and seeking to be faithful in light of the qualifications, and then growing in one's usefulness in the ministerial task.
The Opportunity of the Man
And then fourthly and finally, the opportunity for the man, which indicates providential opening. Proverbs 18.16 is very clear. It says, a man's gift makes room for him. A man's gift makes room for him.
Notice what it doesn't say. A man makes room for his gift. A man forces himself on the church. A man meets the elders in the back of the church after the first time he visits, and he tells the elders, you really need me here because I can teach a mean Sunday school.
You really need me here because I can preach a mean sermon. Mean meaning good, as the kids would say in my generation. Brethren, I'm going to tell you right off the bat, that guy goes to the bottom of the list because a man's gift makes room for him. He doesn't make room for his gift.
You need me. We might very well need you, but presently, there doesn't seem to be any vacancies. Spurgeon tells of another man that made application to the college, and in the interview, Spurgeon asked the questions that he would ask, and the man was just amazing. Every question, bang on.
Every response, that's how I always am. Everything was absolutely jot and tittle in place. Spurgeon denied him access to the college. The man was curious.
Why did you say no? Because you already know everything. We're going to be of no help to you in the college. Nobody knows it all.
Nobody has it all down. Nobody's all that. Nobody's got it, you know, 10 out of 10. And the guy that shows up at the church and says, you all need me, yeah, let's just put that on the back burner for a bit.
So in terms of opportunity, the desire for eldership demands an understanding of the conditional nature of the desire. For you brothers who have aspiration, bless God, praise God, we pray for you. But realize it's conditional. It's conditional on you meeting those qualifications and it's conditional upon the church verifying that you in fact meet those qualifications.
The way appointed by Christ for the calling of any person fitted and gifted by the Holy Spirit under the office of bishop or elder in a church is that he be chosen thereunto by the common suffrage of the church itself. Just having the desire does not open the door to the pulpit. The desire must be checked, the internal call that is subjective in nature must be checked by external objective criteria vis-a-vis the present elders along with the church assessing and determining whether or not the man fits or meets rather the qualifications.
Patience and Providence in the Call
So I would suggest secondly the desire for eldership demands patience, patience. I know that's a tough one. I met with the brothers who have aspirations, the aspirants, in January 2026, and I shared with them that I asked chat GPT, how long does a surgeon need to go to a school prior to performing surgery? Now, when I, you know, compare surgeons and pastors, that's not some aggrandizement.
Oh, I think my value and worth is that of a surgeon. Not at all. But hey, we've got to get in the ballpark. Surgeons don't just fly into operating rooms and pick up scalpels and start wielding tools.
So ChatGPT says, short answer, a long time. Smiley face, wink. That was ChatGPT. They're pretty personable.
Longer, clearer answer, using the U.S. as the typical example. Typical path to becoming a surgeon in the U.S. A bachelor's degree, four years. Any major is fine as long as med school prerequisites are met.
Medical school, four years. First two years, classroom and labs. Last two years, clinical rotations, including surgery. Surgical residency, five to seven years.
Depends on specialty. This is when they actually perform surgery, first under close supervision, then more independently over time. Optional fellowship, one to three plus years. For highly specialized fields, pediatric surgery, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery.
Total time before independent practice, minimum 13 years after high school, more commonly 14 to 16 years. And nobody bats an eye. And what you have, and I hope it doesn't happen in Reformed churches, but sort of in the broader evangelical world, a guy gets converted, he's got a bit of clarity in his speech, he doesn't have the big thick tongue, he's got his palate, he doesn't have the odd rotating jaw, and in six months he's in ministry. That's not right, brethren.
Let not many of you become teachers. Why? We shall receive a stricter judgment. And I say that not only to protect the church, but to protect the guy.
You know, Paul cautions against pride that's associated with the devil. You take a young man and you elevate that young man and you plug him into ministry before he's ready. I cannot but think that is a disaster waiting to happen. It is a miserable course for a church to pursue with reference to, but we have needs to shove a man in that's not mature, that's not proven, that hasn't demonstrated, that hasn't been faithful.
You're not only hurting the church, you're hurting him. And that's not good. And I would just make another parallel connection between pastors and surgeons. Let's jump into year eight in the surgeon's life of schooling.
He goes out, he commits a grievous sin. Does the surgical school say, you know, you've committed a grievous sin. You're no longer going to be a surgeon. Probably not, unless he robbed a bank or he used his new surgical skills to open somebody up on the street.
If he did something criminal in nature, that would certainly sidetrack his ability to pursue his dream that Aunt Bessie told him, you're going to be a surgeon. But with eldership, there's a component there, brethren, that ain't there for the plumber, that ain't there for the surgeon, that ain't there for the auto mechanic. The man sins, and again, outside the boundaries of what I call the normal and ordinary, and that doesn't mean to rationalize or justify it. But if he does sin, that has the potential, in all likelihood, to sidetrack him from that pursuit in the immediate and perhaps forever.
So you see the difference. It's not just, you know, I did my degree and therefore. It would be easier for an existing eldership in church if, you know, we had one of those two models. Well, he's got his degree.
He should preach. He should be a pastor. Or the one that says, nah, we don't think you should be here. Out, yes, we think you should be here.
In. Those are sort of easier models, to be honest. If you had a handful of men that were able to just say, no, we don't think you're called, go. Go back to your surgeon, your surgery.
That's kind of easier. And so is the guy that just brings his MDiv or whatever and says, you know what, I'm ready to go. OK. I think this one really demands church involvement.
This one really demands a lot of prayerfulness. This one really demands a lot of openness and a lot of being candid with one another. It demands that we take seriously Paul's admonition here in 1 Timothy chapter 3. And I would end on this in terms of the desire for eldership under the head, the opportunity for the man, demands ultimately submission to divine providence.
Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, what are God's works of providence? God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions. Wherever we're at, we're there because of God. I'm not suggesting fatalism.
I'm not suggesting hyper-Calvinism. I'm not suggesting that at all. But what I am suggesting is a current contentment with whatever your lot is in life. In fact, Ursinus commenting on the Heidelberg Catechism with reference to providence says, in short, the ends of the doctrine of divine providence are the glory of God, patience and adversity, thankfulness and prosperity, and hope in regard to future things.
That's good. That's excellent. No shortcuts. No, you know, we're going to just bypass these particular things.
No, we're going to do what God calls us to do as the church. And that leads me to the final sort of concluding statements. With reference to men who desire eldership, the desire is good. Paul tells that.
Paul says that. He commends that in 1 Timothy 3.1. But again, that desire for eldership is subjective. It's based on an internal desire.
And if you're wise, you should seek court and invite external check. The man who says, nope, I know I'm ready to preach, doesn't matter what that pastor says, doesn't matter, and pastors can be wrong. I'm not suggesting that they're always right. That's why it's good to have a few elders and then ultimately a church and it's by common suffrage of the church that that internal call is validated and verified and those qualifications are exemplified and thus we lay hands on the man and employ him in the gospel ministry.
The Church's Prayer for Laborers
So then secondly, the prayer of the church with reference to eldership. You know, when Cam was reading Scripture this morning, he alluded to Ezekiel 34, Christ and the Good Shepherd passage there in John chapter 10. Listen to our Good Shepherd, or about our Good Shepherd, and then him. Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Pray, brethren, for the men that you know that have aspirations.
Pray, brethren, to fill the vacancies that we have in our church. Pray for the two men that were announced recently via email to the members, Andy and Derek, with reference to the diaconate. We need to pray for these brothers. We need to beseech the Most High God with reference to these matters.
We've got to have a succession plan. We've got to have a vision. We've got to have a church here in another 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 100 years, 200 years. I've got grandkids and they need a faithful church.
You've got kids and grandkids and they need a faithful church. And faithful churches are fought for, faithful churches are worked for, faithful churches are prayed for, and faithful churches are worth having.
The Church's Practice Regarding Eldership
And then ending, I would say, the practice of the church with reference to eldership. And I've already brought this up. We must know the qualifications, hence sermons like these. We must apply the qualifications consistently and across the board.
We can't let emotions run roughshod over objectivity. He's such a good guy. And not being an elder doesn't make him a bad guy. I wish I could, you know, insert this in every man's head that desires the ministry, especially the brothers that see their identity tied up in it.
It's not a sin to not be an elder. It's just not. It's not a sin to not desire to be an elder, not a sin to be not a deacon, not a sin to not want to be a deacon. That's okay.
It's perfectly acceptable. I pronounce peace upon you. It really isn't a harm or foul in God's church or God's kingdom. We got to take it seriously.
We must insist that the qualifications be met and we must ultimately take the process seriously and prayerfully as we move forward, hopefully in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And I just want to end by saying. In 2.4, when Paul is arguing that the church is to pray for kings and all who are in authority, he says in verse 4, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. I've explained, I don't want to duplicate that here, but it means all kinds of men.
Not all men without exception, but all men without distinction. It doesn't matter if you're a black man. It doesn't matter if you're a white man. It doesn't matter if you're a Jewish man or a Gentile man.
It doesn't matter if you're from Asia, if you're from Africa, or you're from, you know, even America. It doesn't matter. He desires the salvation of all kinds of men. To that end, what does he do?
He furnishes the church with ambassadors. He furnishes the church with stewards of the mysteries of God. He furnishes churches with angels or messengers for that soul, well, not soul, but one of its main tasks is to call sinners to faith and repentance. We are surrounded, I think, in our community by a theology that at times is very defective, at least at the practical level.
God's absolute sovereignty, oh, amen, we confess that, we herald that, we praise God for that. Man's total depravity, of course, we acknowledge it. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? We don't take those and say, well, then don't come to the cross.
No, God's sovereign, man's sinful, come to the cross. God has put ambassadors in this present evil age to call sinners like you to come to the cross. I think as we look at 1 Timothy 3, 1 to 7, it doesn't rehearse the specificity of the gospel. Christ lived, Christ died, Christ was raised again.
So some would say, how can you preach the gospel from 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 7? Simply because God instituted an office in the church which has as its primary calling to preach the gospel. Christ lived, Christ died, Christ was raised again such that whoever comes to him in faith will have everlasting life. So if you're an unbeliever here tonight, some of this might be confusing.
Who's used the knees? What's the Spurgeon guy? What's a rotating jaw? All that may have gone right over your head, and that's perfectly fine.
But understand this, that God is serious about the salvation of sinners. In fact, he desires all kinds of men to be saved. So much so, that he has instituted within the context of his church a class of men who function as ambassadors, as stewards, and as angels to proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ so that you may be saved. Don't resist, and don't reject, and don't rationalize God's sovereign.
I haven't seen the fireworks, so I'm not going to come. Just come to the Lord Jesus Christ, believe in him, and you will be saved. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word, the simplicity and the clarity of Paul's instructions here in 1 Timothy 3.1. Pray that you would open up our minds and hearts to receive the truth as we proceed in these verses following, both with reference to elders and deacons. We pray for our church, We thank you that Christ has ascended on high, that he has given gifts to his church, and we pray that you'd raise up more men, for certainly the harvest is plentiful, but laborers are few, and we pray, Lord of the harvest, to do that which you are engaged in, that you are about, that does further your determination to save all kinds of men. We thank you for your grace and for your mercy and for a wonderful day in your courts, and we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.