Sovereign Grace Bible Church
These are the sermons and teachings of Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Biggsville, Illinois. We exist to fulfill the Great Commission through the Great Commandment within Gospel Community.
Sovereign Grace Bible Church
Beyond Titles: The Sacred Trust of Biblical Elders & Deacons
Every corporation, family, or church rises or falls to the level of its leadership. In this illuminating examination of biblical church governance, we uncover why the roles of elders and deacons matter profoundly—not just for those who hold these offices, but for every person in the congregation.
The American church is experiencing an unprecedented leadership crisis. With a shocking 47% of pastors leaving their positions annually, thousands of churches closing their doors forever, and 80% of seminary graduates abandoning ministry within five years, something has clearly gone wrong with how we develop and support church leaders.
At the root of this crisis lies our departure from God's design for church leadership. We've traded biblical qualifications for business models, character requirements for charisma, and spiritual maturity for organizational skills. The consequences have been devastating for congregations and leaders alike.
Scripture provides crystal-clear qualifications for elders (also called pastors or overseers) and deacons. These qualifications overwhelmingly focus on character rather than competence, with particular emphasis on how well a man manages his own household. As Paul writes, "If someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?" This connection between family leadership and church leadership isn't incidental—it's foundational.
While most Christians will never formally hold the title of elder or deacon, every believer should aspire to the godly character these positions require. Men especially should be developing elder-quality maturity whether they ever serve in that capacity or not. Meanwhile, women play crucial roles both through their own service and through supporting and praying for the development of godly leadership.
The health of your church family depends directly on the biblical faithfulness of its leadership. When leaders embody Christ-like character and shepherd with gentle authority rather than domination, the entire congregation flourishes. Join us in pursuing and supporting biblical church leadership that honors God and builds communities where people genuinely love each other and grow together in faith.
This morning we'll be speaking about the role of biblical elders and deacons, and most of you will probably not become an elder or a deacon, so you might think, okay, from a marketing perspective, here we're limiting our audience, but actually that's not true. As any statistic will tell you, every corporation, organization, rises and falls to the level of leadership that it has, whether that's the C-suite of a Fortune 500 company or a small family being led by a father. However the family, the unit, the corporation is led, is how everyone else will act. The culture is set by leadership in all areas, and culture is, very simply, whatever a leader creates and whatever a leader allows. We can think of the opposite, we can think of like it's just whatever I'm doing. And no, we all know that culture is almost more made by what is allowed, what is allowed to slide by, and so, when it comes to the biblical church, the role of elders and deacons is eminently important, because they are the only offices given to the church, and so you might sit there and wonder, okay, well, what does this have to do with me? It has everything to do with you, in the same way that a godly husband and father has everything to do with the mom, the wife, the children and the church. Just as much, if not more, there is this necessity of biblical leadership, and if that is missing, then we get to what the current dynamic of the American church is. You don't have this slide on your pages, but I'll give you some statistics that'll kind of set the stage here.
Speaker 1:This year there are nearly 3,000 pastoral jobs that are available in the US and pastoral jobs that are available in the US. According to the US Bureau of Labor, the average turnover in pastoral positions this year is 47.1%. I want you to think about that. Selling your kids on going to college, like this, is an industry that's growing and every year there's a 50% chance you'll get fired or leave or retire or die. Those are your options. There's a 50% chance. Who's joining that? Right, you go to war? Right, they're like soldier. There's a 50% chance you're going to die. You're like what is this D-Day? I'm so confused. Why is a massacre out there? And yet people don't know this. This is government statistic, right here 47.1% of pastors this year will quit, retire or be fired. That is a shocking statistic, especially considering there's 3,000 open jobs currently. Okay, this year the US is projected to have between 4,500 and 15,000 churches close their doors for the last time.
Speaker 1:Every year, thousands and thousands of churches are closing their doors and you might say, but we're planting churches like this one, like we're making a difference. Approximately 3,000 churches will be planted this year, so we're not making up the gap and that's okay, but there's still a substantial difference here. But the sad statistic is that at least 35% of all church plants that are planted this year won't make it past their first few years. 80% of the graduates from seminary that are trained for pastoral ministry will leave the ministry within their first five years and not go back Again. I want you to think of a job like going and being a carpenter, being a tradesman, getting to journeyman and then being like I'll be here for three years, maybe four, and then I'll never be a carpenter again. That's traumatic. That is a shocking statistic. 80% of people that go to school to be a pastor will not be one five years after leaving their schooling. Approximately 75% of churches in the US are declining in attendance and giving and serving.
Speaker 1:It's a morbid reality of life that we like to pretend doesn't happen. We really like our bubbles, and social media and your phone have made it really easy to be in a bubble that you like, that gives you only the information that you enjoy and you feel like you need. And yet this is reality. The church is hurting the in many ways is dying around us. So when Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not stand against it, how do we reconcile that with these statistics?
Speaker 1:Well, it comes down to job description and job qualifications. You see, if you had a heart surgeon tomorrow that was working on your heart and you said, hey, can I just ask, are you qualified to do your job? The person said don't worry, I've been told I have a steady hand and I am YouTube educated. And said don't worry, I've been told I have a steady hand and I am YouTube educated. You might say I don't care how talented you are or how natural you are at this thing, don't touch me. If you had a lawyer that had to stand in the gap for you and they said I will take care of this, don't worry about it. And you say, okay, perfect, what makes you qualified to be my lawyer? And they said don't worry, I've watched every episode of Law and Order. You might say me too, but I ain't representing me, so we got to work on something here.
Speaker 1:What qualifies a man to be a pastor? You see, in our day and age, most of the churches I've served at, let's see he needs to be a good leader. He needs to be very organized, influential, perhaps charismatic, has to be good at pleasing people and making sure that peace is kept with everyone. And we look at the church like it's a not-for-profit business, that the bottom line is more important than the people and the process is more important than the principles that God has set forth. We need to go back to the manual. We need to go back to what God's word has to say. So read with me God's holy word 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 1 through 13. It says the saying is trustworthy.
Speaker 1:If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach. Not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into aation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. Deacons likewise, must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience and let them also be tested first. Then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well, for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. So we have the two roles laid out for us very clearly here.
Speaker 1:Paul is writing to a pastor named Timothy and is saying you must make sure these people look like this. He begins with saying if anyone aspires to the office of overseer. So we see that the first necessary component of being a pastor, an overseer, an elder, a bishop that's all the same word in the Bible. The first requirement of a pastor is to aspire, is to desire the role, to seek it, because, trust me, if you were me for a couple of weeks you wouldn't want to be me anymore. It is a calling, not a career. It is something that is required of someone, gifted and called to it and called to it, not an option. So someone must aspire to this office, but when they do, they desire a noble task.
Speaker 1:Two here we get to all these qualifications and if you're like me, the first time I saw these I was like that is a giant list. I don't know anyone that's gonna make it through all that. We're not gonna make it. So what we're gonna do is in a little bit we'll summarize all of these, but I want you to realize that all of these have to do with primarily a man's character. He is to be a mature Christian. He is to be someone that, when you see, under pressure, under suffering, under persecution, is able to lead the way and using self-control, sacrificial love to encourage and edify others, even when he is in the process of being wronged or in pain. Not only that. Verse four, we'll skip ahead. So all those are character qualifications. We get to a separate one here. So all those are character qualifications, we get to a separate one here. He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.
Speaker 1:Now you might say, okay, wait a second. Being a pastor has nothing to do with being a dad, right, has nothing to do with being a husband or anything like that, and you would be so far from the truth. It's not even funny. When I was growing up there was this really funny. It seemed funny at the time. Term like, oh, that's a PK, it's a pastor's kid. And pastor's kids were like, notorious for being secretly rebellious. Right, they felt obligated to do the right things and as soon as they couldn't, they would rebel. And the older they got, the more rebellious it became. And it was almost like this hypocritical joke of the church yeah, the pastor's kid, he's rough. That became normal to us. And yet a man who has children who are actively, consistently rebelling against him is not qualified to be a pastor.
Speaker 1:In fact, we would say one of the most important aspects that shows character is a man who is, first and foremost, a very good husband and a very good father, and you might say again, I have no idea what that has to do with the church. It's because you and I have been raised with this mindset of the pastor is the CEO of the church, the deacons are like the board of trustees, and then there's committees and organization after that. And we've missed the point that the church is very much not like a business. There are business aspects. It's very much not like a business. It's not like a corporation. It is almost exactly like a family, because God said so.
Speaker 1:Look at the next part, verse 5. The reason why must he manage his own household? Well, verse 5. For if someone doesn't know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? Again, an argument from the lesser of the greater. What is more important? What is a bigger looking diamond? Well, the church, right, there's dozens, if not hundreds of people at the church and there's just a handful of us at home. That seems more prestigious, more prominent. That seems more prestigious, more prominent. And yet, if you cannot be a good steward of a little, how could you be trusted with a lot?
Speaker 1:And one of the things you learn as a shepherd over the years is that you are not a dictator, nor are you even a commander. You're not chief in charge. You are, as Dan was pointing out from Jesus's example, lead servant. Your job is to die to yourself. You know what I hate doing is having hard conversations. You know what I have to do all the time is have hard conversations. I am aggressively introverted to where speaking with people is always draining to me, and so I find it ironic that God made me that way and yet he also called me to be a pastor. It is a living, dying sacrifice just to breathe and be a human every day, and yet I would have it no other way, because as I continually die to myself, much like working out a muscle, it gets stronger and stronger over time. The greater resistance I have, the greater my strength is once I've come through, and there is a joy that is only prevalent in Christianity, where we sacrifice for each other and and as I give up everything for you and see you succeed, that fulfills me more than building my own self up and putting myself on a pedestal.
Speaker 1:Verse six gives us another interesting idea here. He must not be a recent convert. I love the Greek in that the Greek is. He must not be newly planted, right? It's this idea of like the baby seed, right? You think about this tiny little seedling that's coming up. If you start putting weight on that, it's going to get crushed, it's going to die and no one's going to live. So, instead of that, what do we do? We wait for the seed to grow, to mature and to have stability of its own before we require things of it. And that's very important because you and I, we can get very excited when someone's like a new Christian and they're like a strong leader, naturally, or they're very capable of communicating.
Speaker 1:That was me, by the way. I was barely converted and I was told you are now in charge of the middle school boys at this giant church. Go get them, tiger. I didn't know the Bible and I was responsible for training these young men in God's truth. Why did they put me in that position? Because I was responsible and showed up to church every week and I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and they were like qualified. Go lead them, tiger. And it shows you the epidemic of how emaciated, how exhausted and starving for leadership. The church is exhausted and starving for leadership. The church is that old bucko off the block that barely got out of booze and everything out of college. They say you are now, mr Pastor, man we believe in you. Go get him, tiger. It's a sad state that the church is in today, so why is it necessary that he not be newly planted? Well, it's very easy when you're a young Christian to be proud.
Speaker 1:I think the first couple of years after I was saved I thought I was the most holy ever, like I. It was like I had gotten rid of this sin and that sin and I was like I am like the man, like this Christianity thing I'm doing pretty good, like other guys that are 21,. They're struggling Me. I killed that sin, I'm good, and it's very easy at that moment to feel all puffed up. And I'm here to tell you over a decade later. I know that statistically I am much better than I was a decade ago, but I don't feel a whole lot better Because as you and I kill more sin in our life, we become more holy, which means now we're more sensitive to sin.
Speaker 1:It's like sugar. You ever gone on a sugar-free diet? It's the worst. Don't do it. You live in America. Move to another country if you want to do sugar-free, because you'll go back eventually and it's bad for you. So here's the issue you do sugar-free and you lose all this weight and you're doing good. You're like man, an apple is sweet. I forgot apples were sweet. This is so cool, and that happened because you trained your taste buds and you no longer want all this junky food. You now can appreciate how beautiful and crisp an apple is. In a similar sense, you and I, as we grow in christlikeness, we're able to taste these natural things in life. We're like oh, it's so sweet. This is wonderful, but it also makes us more sensitive to the negative, and sins that seemed small back then begin to loom like dark shadows behind us.
Speaker 1:When you're first converted, when you're young in the faith, it is very easy to be puffed up with pride, which is why anyone who leads a church needs to not be a newcomer, because the temptation to be proud in any position of leadership is always there, and humility is the cornerstone characteristic of a Christian leader Verse seven. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace. This is just the simple idea of. You may not have a pastor who is in the holy huddle or a church leader who is one way at church and another way somewhere else, because the community looks in. I mean, some of you are like new converts or not even Christians, and you would agree with me. You see some people at church and you're like that's not you, that's I don't know who this is. That's pretty, I'm glad you're pretty, but that's not you, that's I don't know who this is. That's pretty, I'm glad you're pretty, but that's not you. And what does that do? Well, it feeds the narrative. Those church people, they're all hypocrites. They do one thing here and the other thing there. They look down on all of us. You and I have to make sure that our leadership, at the very least, is leading in a way where outsiders look in and say those men say what they mean, mean what they say and live according to it. And if they can't do that, you and I need to work together towards that end. So we have elders, work together towards that end. So we have elders.
Speaker 1:Quick question Can an elder be a woman? First Timothy, chapter two, verse 12. Paul very clearly says I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. That does not mean that women aren't allowed to talk in church. It doesn't mean like you go through those doors and it's like what that is implying here.
Speaker 1:Is that again the negative here? The teaching or exercising authority over a man? That there is this organization that God has created in the family. That is good, it complements and that goes exactly against what the world is telling you today. The world's like no, no, no, no, don't listen to that. You go, girl, you can do everything he can do. And if you would have seen me carrying some heavy furniture up the stairs yesterday and looked at my wife and said you can do it too, she might have kicked you in the shin. She's pregnant and hot, okay. So we have to recognize that God has made this difference for a reason, and it's a good thing, and to embrace it In the church.
Speaker 1:Women are not allowed to be an elder because the entire role is teaching and authority. That's the entirety of the elder's role is to teach and preach God's word and to rule or to oversee God's people. Now, on the other side, we have deacons, which is a position that's been very confused over the last who knows how many decades. Deacons have no inherent authority. They have no built-in authority of any kind, and it's very important for us to clarify here Deacons actually that word is transliterated, which means that it's just kind of replicating the letters in the Greek, and the letters in the Greek spell the word servant. So the role deacon literally just means servant. That's it. That is your entirety of your role, and it explains the role well as well. Deacons, their job is to serve the church. They have no teaching roles, no authoritative roles, it is merely to serve.
Speaker 1:I think I read a book once that said it very well that deacons are the shock absorbers of the church, that they protect the elders and the congregation from being overly stimulated by each other, and so they create this pathway where when you have this problem or that problem, they take care of it, as opposed to you having to bring everything to the elders. Now, as we go through this, one thing that's very clear too is that people will make a stagger and they'll say an elder's qualifications is up here, it's like a 9 out of 10. And a deacon is like 6 out of 10. Still good, 7 out of 10 maybe, but not as much as an elder. And they are completely wrong If you compare the character qualifications of a deacon and an elder. They pretty much match up exactly. Here's the point. A deacon, just like an elder, has to have mature character, mature Christian character, where everyone in the church can look at that person and no one's surprised, no one's like oh, that person, whoa, didn't see that coming, like you should expect. Oh yeah, no, that makes sense. That person would be a lead servant in the church.
Speaker 1:In verse 11, though, here we see this term, their wives likewise, depending on your translation, that could be woman as well, or women. This word can be translated as wives or women. It depends on the context. And so at our church, very simply, here's how we say it Women can be deacons or deaconesses, however you want to call it, I don't care, we'll do, we can do both. But with that they have the exact same qualifications as men. So, for instance, when it says let them be the husband of one wife, we would say similarly, a woman must be committed to one husband alone. So, with all of these qualifications, the women are the exact same in what is expected of them.
Speaker 1:And why are women allowed to serve as deacons? Well, number one, we see examples of deacons. So, like Romans, chapter 16, you see, phoebe is listed as a deacon from a church, so we have this role. Number two, we see that the role itself doesn't actually encroach on the authoritative teaching role of elders, so there's no biblical issues there. So the only hangup we have is when we get a little too far in, like the male, female roles, and we're like nope, that's an official role of the church, so you may not do that. It's like nope, that's an official role of the church, so you may not do that. It's like dude, she just wants to set up and tear down stuff and clean, like it'll be okay. Like she just wants to be the person that makes cookies and cards and helps sick people, it'll be okay. And so we have to create this, this, this, this separation in our minds of what we may have experienced in the past, what we may think now, and just allow the Bible to speak freely. So there are plenty of biblical people that have a different view of that.
Speaker 1:At this church, women will be allowed to be, after they are tested, deacons just like any man. Now, that being said, I would argue and this will be our stance here as a church that the healthiest form of deacon is actually a couple. So one of the things you will recognize slowly over time, over the years, as deacons do serve, is that being a deacon is exhausting, because you work a full-time job, have a full-time family and now you are lead servant numero uno for the church. Somebody's car broke down. Guess who they're calling first. It's not Dan and Dan, because we can't fix a car. It's going to be somebody else. Okay, but that's good, because you don't want us fixing your car. It probably wouldn't go well for any of us We'd be willing but unable. Wouldn't go well for any of us. We'd be willing but unable.
Speaker 1:What happens with deacons is that their lives are entwined with the church's life to such a degree that it makes complete, coherent sense for them to be a couple serving. Not only that, there are specific situations where it is a huge blessing to have a wife with you or to have a husband with you, right? Can you imagine we have a deaconess and we're like hey, the Martins got stuck in the side of the road with a flat tire, can you go get them? It's like well, some women can do that, some can't. You don't want to be like as a requirement of being a deaconess at our church you have to be able to lift 50 pounds Like we're not going to have that job description. So having this plethora of people, but also this pairing of people, is beautiful. Where they serve together, their life is entwined with their serving.
Speaker 1:In 1 Peter, chapter 5, verses 1 through 4, we see another example of communication to elders. Peter is writing now. He says so. I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder notice he did not say the Pope as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.
Speaker 1:Shepherd, the flock of God that is among. That's the job. I've heard it well said that the job of a pastor can be very well said as feeding and leading, and that's it. That is the whole job description. It is to take sheep and to feed them God's word, that's what they need ultimately and then to lead them. Sometimes that means that we pull this way and say that's word, that's what they need ultimately, and then to lead them. Sometimes that means that we pull this way and say that's bad, don't go there, you will hurt yourself and everyone else. No Other times it's lead this way, it will go a lot better for you and you'll be blessed if you go this way and so on and so forth. Shepherd, the flock of God that is among you. In that too we see that shepherds themselves are sheep.
Speaker 1:It's a very ironic kind of moment where you see that the lead shepherd of the church, under shepherd of the church, is just like you, like I got to repent to my kids. I feel like daily almost, repent to my wife, seemingly daily sometimes. I am just like you. I'm no better. No, I'm not this prestigious man who's spotless. I am a sinful man in need of a mighty savior and I've never seen that more than I do today.
Speaker 1:Now, what do the elders do? They exercise oversight. This is this overseeing. Making sure we get from point A to point B is the primary kind of word picture they're having here. It's like having sheep in one spot and you need to get to that field over there and there's a wise way to get there and a foolish way to get there. Oversight says we're going to go this way.
Speaker 1:Now we have a negative qualification, not under compulsion. What does this mean? It means that there is oftentimes where a pastor feels forced into a position. It's the opposite of aspiration. We began the beginning of aspiring to a role desiring this sacrificial shepherding role, and other people will feel forced into it. All right, chuck, we got nobody else. If you don't do this we're going to die. We need you to do it. And so the man gets forced into the position and doesn't actually desire it and if that happens, bitterness will come in resentment. There will not be a pastoral heart of care. There will be no sacrificing of time. A shepherd must shepherd willingly, as God would have you, but also not for shameful gain. This is for honor, reputation and money. It's easy to also try to get into a public role to try and gain those things.
Speaker 1:Verse three also gives us a negative Not domineering over those in your charge. Why is that in there? Again, if you have any dads in the room, it is very easy to. I call it other room parenting. Anyone ever do that Other room parenting Like you should get up, walk to the other room and say Juju, you may not do that, sit down, say you're sorry to your brother and go do something else. That's what should happen. But you and I especially, especially me we love other room parenting, right? You hear? You hear a bang. Hey, turn it off, stop it. Don't yell at each other. Sit down and be quiet and be nice to each other. And that's how we parent. What have I done there? Have I won my children? Are my children like looking at me and just being like, wow, that's so loving? He's just really helping us to choose the wise path.
Speaker 1:The pastor once said your child will never think that you're compassionately loving them when you're correcting them. When there's a vein in your face. You and I so easily get into this military-esque mode, especially me. I grew up in the military, I grew up with sports. It was very easy just to command Thou shalt, what was it? Ted Tripp said it. I know we're supposed to say God, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, but I want my will done on earth as it is in heaven, but I want my will done on earth as it is in my mind. I need you all to do that and that's how we parent, that's how we organize, that's how we communicate. Why is this in the Bible? Because we all have a temptation to domineer, to force my will to be done to grab you and go, to yell, to intimidate, to freak. Done to grab you and go to yell, to intimidate, to freak out, to use whatever I can to manipulate the situation.
Speaker 1:Shepherds as the examples of the flock right, but being examples of the flock as the chief example have to turn from this and choose to gently and lovingly teach. And choose to gently and lovingly teach, encourage, correct and rebuke. And you might say correcting and rebuking doesn't sound gentle at all, and yet there are oftentimes where that's the most loving thing to do. We speak the truth in love. We don't love so much we don't speak the truth. We have to speak the truth in love, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. There is a reward for those who serve the church. Not only that, we have some qualifications in 1 Timothy 5 that help us to learn how we're going to communicate with, how we're supposed to treat elders. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor. That is actually speaking of both honor, but also of like money. And so it's the idea that those who, especially those who, labor in preaching and teaching according to the Bible, are worthy of being paid in order to do their job.
Speaker 1:Why Verse 18.? For the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. That's the idea of when an ox is running around treading out grain for you making flour. You don't put a muzzle on it so that the little droppings that come out it can't eat that while it's working. You don't muzzle it, you let it eat those little droppings. It'll be okay if it stops for a second, grabs a nibble and keeps going. And the laborer deserves his wages and the idea being that this is a profession that is worthy of a wage.
Speaker 1:Verse 19 gives us another example of things to do with elders. Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Why is this necessary? Well, because even just in Hebrew culture, this was the dignity that was given to the average individual. Someone brought a charge to you. This person broke my vase, Okay. Did anyone else see it? No, okay. Well, if we don't have any other evidence for this, we're going to let them go, so that we don't become the people that every time someone throws something up, we're just nailing people Like, oh, someone else said something bad about you, it looks like you're on the whipping post again.
Speaker 1:We don't want to allow that, but especially with those who lead the church, because the number one person who desires for the church to fail will attack primarily the leadership, and that is Satan, the enemy of our soul, sin within us, the primary target. You know who's the easiest person to get angry with in this room, other than your spouse or your children. It's me. I will eventually make a decision you hate. I will eventually say something that offends you. I will eventually say something that hurts you or choose to go this direction, and you thought we should go the opposite direction. You will think that the words I'm saying are unloving, and don't get me wrong. There are gonna be times where that's true and I need to repent, I need to bring something to me. But there also be plenty of times where we have to disagree, to disagree, and there has to be either love that covers that or a separation for the good of God's people in his church. This is a normal aspect of church life is that you and I live in a world where our leaders and the followers are sinners.
Speaker 1:Charges will come. We don't have a charge against an elder unless there is surmounting evidence. Effectively, now, verse 20 says except for this one, as for those who persist in sin. This is the idea that someone brought something to the elders and said Pastor Dan is yelling at Pam all the time. He went in on Tuesday and he yelled at her and it was this terrible thing and I saw it and Joe Schmo saw it. You need to talk to him. Elders talk to me and say, okay, brother, you got multiple witnesses here. There's a video, it's on Facebook. It's really bad. Like you need to go and make this right. And I say, no, I don't want to. Like it was a slip of the tongue, but it's fine, I'm gonna just, we're just gonna move forward, it's gonna be okay. I try to do the man thing and sweep it under the rug and act like there's nothing under the rug.
Speaker 1:If an elder persists in sin, they refuse to repent, to say they're sorry for their sin. They are to be rebuked in the presence of all. Why? So? That the rest may stand in fear. And the idea is that there should be this holy awe in the church where no one is above the law, that I, most of all, am under the law with you, and not like actual law and gospel here, but the idea of the rules and regulations of the bible that you and I are to live this, and I'm just as accountable as you are. Verse 21 in the presence of god and of christ, jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging.
Speaker 1:Do nothing from partiality. This is the, the idea that again we could be like but he's really nice, he's a really good preacher, he's done a really good job. It's just this one thing. I know he's not repenting, but the other things kind of make up for it. Right? The answer is no. In the world's economy, we could say well, this person is worth the pain of their sin because they're doing these performances for the company, not in the church. In the church, holiness is much more important than performance. And so we say, with no prejudice, no partiality. Everyone's held to the same standard.
Speaker 1:Verse 22,. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. The idea being here. Again, it's easy to see a man who's talented and is saved and is able and willing and he's been like, he's just been out of this junk for six months and we're just like all right, let's start working on being an elder and we lay hands on someone too quickly and say you are ready, and as soon as the elders say you are ready to a man and he's not, the sins of that man taint the other men as well and the congregation, rightfully, can look at the elders who ordained that man and say you are responsible for giving us this poor leader and this sin. So at the end here we have a summary of elders and deacons. You can look over this in your own time, but effectively we'll go over the qualifications real quick.
Speaker 1:An elder is to have mature character, which is called above reproach, and the way I coined that is that you should never be, as a man of God, in a situation where your worst enemy could come in and take a picture of whatever you're doing and then lie about you and it'd be believable to those who love you. That's above reproach Is to be able to live your life so on display that if someone caught you at the exact wrongest moment possible, people could look at it and say, ah, I don't know, that's how you're supposed to live. The elder must desire the role he must be able to teach God's word. Not everyone is apt to teach. Must be able to teach God's word. Not everyone is apt to teach. As this capacity to teach God's word in a way that changes lives, he must be able to correct false teaching. So when people say wrong things, he must be able to recognize that and correct that for his people. He must have a well shepherd at home, must not serve under compulsion and he must be a man. That is the qualifications of an elder summarized.
Speaker 1:Now, most of you might have looked at all this and said, okay, well, none of that applies to me. So glad to know about all those people. That's good. Here's my challenge to you. Number one in this church, every man will be trained to be elder qualified. Most men will not be elders, but every man will be trained to be elder qualified, because an elder is primarily just a mature man in Christ who shepherds his home well and, as you know, in this house we focus on the home, we focus on the family. Number two you're a lady and you're looking at this and saying, okay, well, yeah, that's not me, though. I ain't shepherding no home, I'm not even eldering my own family.
Speaker 1:Two things, number one you are still aspiring to a mature Christian character. The most important shepherd in our family when I'm gone is my wife, and actually one of the things that the world agrees with us on is that the best father figure, psychologically, statistically speaking, is first and foremost a fantastic husband. They've done lots of research on this in the world. It is crazy. If a father spends very little time with his children but spends much time with his wife and loves her and counsels her and trains her in the truth, that will go better than trying to be a fantastic dad and being a terrible husband. We get the priority mixed up very easily, because children are usually more lovable than our spouses. Sometimes they're cute and tiny and we're like they're innocent. You, on the other hand, know better. That is how we live, as a rule of thumb. So, number one, we need that family shepherd the husband, but we also need the wife to shepherd the children, to care for the home.
Speaker 1:And number two, my challenge, always when I preach on elders, is to look at the ladies of the church and to say how often do you pray for your husband to be elder qualified? How often do you pray for our church to have godly men risen up able to serve this congregation? You see, without your support, your love, your prayers, your accountability. We're like a two-pegged stool. There is a need for the entirety of Christ's body to support this work is a need for the entirety of Christ's body to support this work. So, whether you're an elder or a deacon and remember, a deacon can be a man or a woman we prefer married couples when possible. We are all growing in Christ-likeness and we are forming our church with this authority structure and these offices in mind, so that, when the world looks in, they don't see this incongruency, they don't see this mismatch of well, you guys don't do what the Bible says, though, and we don't have to qualify. You don't have to be like yeah, I know that he's a deacon, but like it's okay that he does this at church and then, over there, swears like a sailor and is known as this guy who loves money more than anything else. That's okay. And we say no, it's not okay. It's not okay.
Speaker 1:For the good of our families, for the good of our future, for the good of our God and our community, we will strive to be this community, led by elders and deacons slowly but surely stumbling forward in sanctification together. Let us pray, father. We come before you and we see this seemingly mountaintop experience of elders and deacons that most of us will never attain to, most of us will not end up being that, most of us will never attain to, most of us will not end up being that. And yet, lord, we know that your word goes forth and it does not return void, that the gospel changes our lives from the inside out and makes us desire to live lives in accordance with what you have said.
Speaker 1:Lord, help us to be a church that is organized and operates in a way that glorifies you. Help us to be a community that is above reproach, where, when people look at Sovereign Grace Bible Church, they will say those people truly love each other, they are honest with each other, they respect each other, they are willing to overlook offenses and to communicate in love. Those are some of the best families, because the fathers and the mothers sacrifice willingly for each other and for their children. Help us to make a difference, not by having the most popular programs or procedures, but by having a priority on the family, on leadership as you have designed it. In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
