The Qualifications of an Elder | Titus 1:5-9

Dr. Grant Castleberry preaches "The Qualifications of an Elder" from Titus 1:5-9 at The Lord's Day Service at The King's Chapel, Sunday, May 3, 2026.



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Transcript

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Would you bow your heads with me? Heavenly Father, Lord, may your word live. May your Holy Spirit work in our hearts, renew our minds in your truth. I pray, Lord, that you'd speak through me in the power of your Holy Spirit in Christ's name. Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles to Titus chapter 1. We've been studying the book of Titus. And last week we began studying this section on the offices of the church, specifically the office of elder, also called overseer. The situation in Crete, this is where Paul had traveled after he'd been released from his first Roman imprisonment, was in need of organization. He had gone there, he had preached the gospel, people had responded to the good news of what Christ had done, they had believed. Churches had been planted in various villages. And if you look at verse 5, Paul tells Titus, this is why I left you in Crete. Titus, may I remind you, so that you may put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. So, like everything else that you encounter in this world, the success of any organization or business or endeavor hinges on leadership, having sound leaders. And it's also true in the church. You need biblical, godly leaders for any church to be successful. And so Paul tells Titus, I left you in Crete so that you would appoint elders in every church. Notice that it's elders plural. We miss that so often. It's multiple elders. Elders speaks to their qualification. These are older, wise men. But notice in verse 7, they are called overseers, episcopas, those who oversee the church, and this speaks to their function, that they are to shepherd the church. And we looked at this last week that the elder is called to lead the sheep, feed the sheep, and protect the sheep. This is the responsibility of elders. You ask, why are we spending so much time covering this? Why is this so important? Well, it's important because you, as a Christian first, you need to understand what constitutes a healthy church. Who knows if you will stay here indefinitely? You might move to a different city, a different town. You need to understand how a healthy church is to function. Now, I would say the first mark of a healthy church or a church that is becoming more healthy is a strong gospel preaching pulpit. Spurgeon called the pulpit the thermopylae of Christendom. Because if you have a conservative evangelical pulpit, you can reform any church. But after the pulpit, what's most important is godly, sound, qualified leadership. So very important that you understand that wherever you go, that you have sound, godly elders. And then, second, is that in looking at the qualifications of elders, when you look at this list of character qualities, one of the things that you notice is how unremarkable they are. And that's because the elders are to serve as an example to the flock. In other words, these are qualities that we're going to look at that every single Christian should display by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. So these qualities are not exclusive to the office of elder. So in that sense, it's very unremarkable. You don't see the demand for super extraordinary things, exotic things. There's no demand for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There's no demand to memorize the entire Bible. There's no demand to perform miracles, nothing like that. It's simple, godly character, which is expected of the elder. And by the way, that is expected of all of us by the grace of God. But elders have to lead by example, do they not? They need to be the ones out in front saying, follow me. When I was a second lieutenant at Camp Barrett at the Marine Officers Basic School, there was a statue out in front of the headquarters building. And the statue was nine feet tall. I mean, you couldn't miss it. Every time you walked in and out, you were walking by the statue. I'll never forget it. And it was a it was a statue of a fellow by the name of Lieutenant Colonel Lefwich, who was killed in Vietnam. But the statue, what I remembered about it is he's he's holding his weapon and he's looking back and he's beckoning people to come after him. And I love that picture because that's the picture of a leader. The leader is always saying, follow me. He's not saying, go where I haven't been. The leader has to, the Latin word we used, ductus exemplo, lead by example. So that's the picture of an elder. There are men who lead by example. Now I want to introduce you to the key thesis of Paul's argument for the qualification of elders. You see it in verse six, first phrase. This is the main idea of the qualifications. You can sum it up in this one phrase. If anyone is above reproach, underline that prepositional phrase, above reproach. That is the headlining quality under which everything else follows. You see it emphasized again in verse 7. Skip down to verse seven. For an overseer, remember, same same office as elder, as God's steward, look at this, must be above reproach. There it is again. Paul uses the same terminology in the parallel passage in 1 Timothy 3. He says, Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach. The Greek word is anenklitos. I looked it up in the lexicon, it means blameless, irreproachable. J.B. Phillips in his paraphrase says this they were to be men of unquestioned integrity. To exercise spiritual oversight, a man must be unimpeachable in virtue. So it is a reference to his personal life and his teaching that are without scandal. Now, obviously, this doesn't mean that he's perfect. No one is perfect. John says that if we claim that we are without sin, we are a liar and the truth is not in us. The best of men are men at best. So this is not describing perfection, but it is describing a life that is without scandal. What he's saying is that there's not a disconnect between the man's life and the doctrine he claims to teach. There can't be incongruity. There has to be a marriage between the character of his life and the truth he professes. And any man or woman of God who is mightily used by God exhibits this reality. That they live what they teach. They live what they teach. If you're just a talking head who doesn't believe what you say, people can see through that in a moment. Great women of God like Corey Tinboom, great men of God like Charles Spurgeon, D.L. Moody, their lives reflected the truth that they believed. It's very simple. And so it is in the church. The elders have to have lives that reflect the truth. Now this idea of being above reproach is exhibited in three spheres. So if you look at this, verse six is the sphere of his home, his family. Second is the sphere of his character. You see this in verse seven and eight. And then third, the sphere of doctrine or orthodoxy, orthodox teaching. So you see three spheres in which the elder is called to be above reproach. So let's see how far we can get this morning. Let's look at the first sphere of leadership for the elder, the family. In verse 6. If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife. So he first looks at the elder's marriage. He literally says, a one woman man. That's the literal translation. I don't think this necessarily means that the elder is married, though it assumes that this is the normal pattern of elders. The text also doesn't demand two or more children. It does mention children in the plural, but this is speaking to a general pattern in the life of the elder. Certainly, it is a prohibition against polygamy. It is a prohibition against all forms of sexual immorality. Today we deal with what's called pornography. It's rampant. It's everywhere. It's in the church, it's in the culture. It's absolutely devastating, especially young people, everywhere. And it's accessible on your phone in an instant. This is rampant. And so an elder is someone who walks in purity. They're able to crucify the flesh and they're faithful to their spouse. It may prohibit men with certain types of divorces. Some people have said that if you're divorced, you can never serve in the office of elder. Ever. And I don't think that that is exactly what Paul is getting at here. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul says, if you're married to an unbelieving spouse and they choose to leave, he says, you're free. So there's instances where things happen, divorces happen, and a man is not necessarily at fault. What Paul's talking about is a man's current life. What does his current marriage look like? It also doesn't preclude single men from the eldership. We know this because Paul was single. Titus was single. Timothy was single. I had one person tell me once that if an elder's wife died, he would need to resign from being an elder because now he was no longer married. Well, that's an over-literal reading of what Paul is saying here. He's describing the pattern of a man's life. But I do think it's important that Paul says that the general picture is of a man who is faithfully married to his wife. That's the general picture. Is marriage a bad thing? Does marriage make you less spiritual? Absolutely not. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 5, he says, Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas Peter? You see, marriage, this is a gift from God. And the normal pattern is for elders to be married. And I emphasize that because one of the travesties of Rome, the Roman Catholic Church, is the burden of priestly celibacy that they have placed on so many. So many men who were never meant to live underneath that burden. And it's awful what it's done. I love the story of Martin Luther when he became a believer, when he understood the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He saw priestly celibacy for what it was, legalism, nowhere to be found in Scripture. And he went and he married a nun named Catherine von Bora. And he called her Katie. And it was an example. He almost did it as an example to say marriage is to be esteemed. Marriage is something that is wonderful, that it doesn't make you less spiritual to be married. Luther's favorite book was the book of Galatians, and he would teach the book of Galatians because Galatians lifted up the true gospel over in distinction against a gospel that is Christ plus works. And he nicknamed the book of Galatians My Katie because he loved that book so much. So you see here, Paul is saying marriage is a normal aspect of a leader's life. Second, he addresses an elder's children. Look at verse 6. His children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. Now, this is very important to understand because Paul here is forbidding something. These are not just platitudes. I think out of all the requirements, maybe this is the most overlooked requirement, one of them. Because oftentimes an elder's children are not even considered in the equation of whether the man should serve in the office of elder. Oftentimes a pastor's children are not considered in when a church calls a man to be the pastor, there's not an evaluation of what his children are like. But Paul says this is very important to consider. Now the question is, what are we called to consider about the elders' children? Now Paul uses this Greek word, it's an important word, pistus. And that's an important word because it's the word for faith. Now, it can also mean faithful. So the debate among expositors, and people have fallen on different lines on this through the centuries, is what does this word mean in the context of the passage? Does it mean that the children have to be Christians? Otherwise, the elder is immediately disqualified if a child is shown not to be a Christian? Or does it mean that the children in the home are faithful in their obedience to that man's leadership? That's the those are the two positions. Now I think it's the second position. And let me explain why. First, if what is required of the elder's children is faith, that they must be Christians, then technically, every time an elder had a new child, he would need to step down as an elder until that child became a Christian. Would he not? He would. Secondly, we understand salvation to be a work of God. It is not a work of man. Now, Charles Finney taught that. Charles Finney said that he could convince anyone to become a Christian, that we can coerce someone into the kingdom of God, that I can make you become a Christian if I say the right things. We don't believe that. For by grace you have been saved. Salvation is a work of the Lord, it's a work of the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus explained to Nicodemus. How can we be born again? He says, it's like the Spirit, it's like the wind. He blows where he will. So the elder, he does not have the power in and of himself to make his children Christians. He sows the seed. He does the best he can, but he does not have that power. And third reason why I think he's talking about being faithful is whenever we interpret scripture, we want to interpret scripture with scripture. That's the principle of Analogia scriptura, that scripture never contradicts itself. And when you look at the passage, Paul gives a clarification. Look at the end of verse 6. Look at what he says. Not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. What's he describing? He's describing the obedience of that child. He's saying that they're not rebellious. What does he say in the parallel passage? Well, turn over real quick to 1 Timothy 3. Real quickly. Look at verse 4. Because I think this helps explain this principle. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. So there it is. There's the statement from Paul that he's keeping his children submissive to his leadership. He's managing his own household well. And then look at this statement in verse 5. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? So what he's saying is there's a direct parallel to a man's leadership between his home and the church. How do you gauge how a man will lead in the church when you're looking at them? Well, you look at his home. You look at his wife, you look at his children. Because in the home, you will see both a man's strengths and his weaknesses on display. And it's true of everyone. It's true of me, it's true of any man. You look at their children, you see their strengths, and you see their weaknesses. And so listen, if you want to understand how a man leads, you look at his family. It's true again and again and again. So men, look in the mirror. I mean, you when you see your kids doing something that you don't like, look in the mirror. Because the responsibility for how the kids behave is ultimately on the parents and especially the father. That's Ephesians 6 4. Paul says, Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. The word discipline is the Greek word paidea. And it the idea in Greek culture was that you it's not just punitive discipline. The idea is that you create a culture of training, where it's it's a sphere in which that child operates. In all of their life. And so, in everything that they're doing, everything that they're seeing, everything that they're encountering in your home is meant to be molding them and shaping them towards this great endeavor that they would come to know Christ, that they would be godly, that they would encounter the gospel. All of it is supposed to bring that child to that point. So you remember the Spartans with your shield on it, and they would train the young warriors from the moment they were born. They would train them and teach them how to fight and how to be disciplined. It was this entire Spartan culture. The Athenians, not so much. They were into philosophy and all that. But that, you know, we we learn a lot from them too. But it was this culture that they would create. What does uh Moses write in Deuteronomy? Is you write the truth on your door on your doorpost. You you talk about the truth when you're when you have risen and when you're lying down. So it's this culture. And then he says there's to be instruction. So the father is to do this, and so therefore, when the child is rebellious to that leadership, there is a crack in the foundation. Notice that Paul says in Ephesians 6, 4, I read it to you. The first thing he says is, do not provoke your children to anger. That's important. Because a father can demand all the right things, but he can do it in a way that pushes the child away. You love Jesus, you don't disobey, you don't talk like that to your teachers, but they're mean to their kids. I saw this all the time growing up as a as a kid, whether it be in Boy Scouts or playing youth football or whatever, but you would see, you would see fathers just be flat out mean to their boys, and then they wonder why years later the the kid is disobeying. The father has to speak the truth in love and not be domineering over the children in such a way that they want to rebel. Now, what does rebellion look like? Look at the text, turn back to Titus, because Paul explains exactly what the rebellion looks like. Right at the end of verse six, he says they must not be open to the charge of debauchery. That's wild living. I think the NIV translates it dissipation. It's uh drunkenness, it's the party lifestyle. In Cretan culture, they many people worshiped the the Roman god Dionysus, and there would be all sorts of drinking parties and and that sort of thing. And so alcohol was not simply something that hindered your judgment, it was a mark of the pagan culture that was surrounding the church in Crete. So if it if a child is engaged in debauchery, it shows that they're rejecting Christianity. They're walking contrary to the truth. And then Paul clarifies it further when he when he says insubordination. Insubordination. That's a military term that means that you reject the orders of the commander in charge of you. Insubordination is when you do the opposite of what you are told. So in this way, a man's leadership can be tested. Are his children walking according to the way the Father has told them to walk? And if they're not, there's a problem there. And this is given in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the church because Christ is trying to protect his church from poor leadership. And so if there's a crack in the foundation, this is the first place to stop. Do not pass go. Do not put the man in leadership. The man, the, the, the, if there needs to be time for the children to be to be gotten in order, give it time. There's no reason to be pragmatic about any of this. Pragmatism is what's killing the church, isn't it? Well, we need people, we need warm bodies. Well, better to have no bodies than bad bodies. We want to be very careful about the type of man that enters the office of elder, and the family is the first place to start. The second sphere of leadership is his character, his godly character. Again, look at verse 7. An overseer, there's that word we we looked at last week. Episcopas, the bishop is the English translation, as God's steward. Peter calls himself an under-shepherd underneath the chief shepherd. But we are stewards of the flock. The elders do not own the church. Who does the church belong to? Any church? Jesus Christ. Right? This isn't my church. This isn't the elders' church. This is Christ's church. It belongs to him. So we're simply stewarding the leadership that Christ gives. How do elders steward, by the way? What authority do the elders have as stewards? The Word of God. That's the authority of the elders because it's Christ is the chief shepherd. Now, as those that represent Christ as his stewards, it's important, as we talked about, that the elders are able to set the example in character of what it looks like to be a spirit-filled man or woman. So Paul lays this out with eleven qualities. And I love what he does because he makes it crystal clear by doing a contrast. First, he gives five negatives. Sometimes when you want to clarify something, you don't just say what it is. You first say what it's not. It's not this, this, and this. A dog is not a cat, right? It's not a raccoon. It is man's best friend. So we clarify what it is sometimes by what it's not. So this is what he's going to do first. He's first going to say, this is what an elder is not. He's going to say five things. First, he says he is not arrogant. That's how it's translated. Or you could say prideful, but that's not exactly the precise meaning of the word. The precise meaning, the Legacy Standard Bible translates it, not self-willed. And what this refers to is a man who always wants his own way. He always demands for his way to be had because he believes he's always right. Jay Adams translated it. Dre, you know Jay Adams, the who started the biblical counseling movement? He did a translation himself of the entire New Testament. So I looked up with Jay Adams, how he translated it. He said, not one who wants his own way. So on a plurality of elders, there needs to be a willingness to listen to other viewpoints and other perspectives. There needs to be, what's the word, humility and meekness, that you're willing to listen. If somebody brings you a verse that contradicts what you think, you're willing to change your mind because you hold scripture to be more authoritative than your ideas. So you don't want somebody who leads by domination. That's the idea here, the picture. Last week, you remember I began, I was talking about Patton and General Patton and Steve Jobs, and how Steve Jobs he would get on an elevator and ask you what your job was, and if you couldn't tell him in 30 seconds, he would fire you. Well, I had read about this. Okay, so after the service, uh Damon Rando. Where are you? Is Damon? Are you here? Right up there. Okay, so Damon came up and he said, I used to work for Apple, and we called it getting Steved. And he said there you there would be a train of attorneys that would follow and just try to clean up the carnage of Steve Jobs firing people left and right. Just domination. And I said, Did he ever ask you what you did? He said, Well, one time I was setting up a kiosk at a convention, and Jobs came up and said, No, no, no, this is absolutely wrong. Do it this way. And he said, I was worried I was gonna get fired, but by God's grace, didn't get fired. So that's not the type of leadership we're looking for. And that leads to the second negation, the second negative, not quick-tempered. This is also listed in 1 Timothy 3. It's talking about somebody who's hot-headed, that they're easily set off, that their blood begins to boil quickly. For whatever reason, growing up playing football in Texas, I think football coaching, I think some guys think that it gives them license to be angry all the time. Was that just me? But uh I and I had some coaches that would quickly fly off the handle. Anger. And they led by a culture of fear. That's not what you want. Third, he says, not a drunkard. Remember, we talked about how alcohol was perceived in that culture. The Greek word means that you come alongside wine often, that you're that you're returning to the bottle again and again. Fourth, he says, not violent. That word means a fighter. A fighter, uh it doesn't just mean somebody who goes out and brawls with people. It means somebody that likes to engage in verbal sparring as well. They always are looking for a fight. They're always ready to throw down. Now, this needs to be caveated. We need to think carefully about what Paul is saying here. Are we not engaged in a great fight? The fight of faith, right? I have fought the fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. We are in a great fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And yet we're also reminded, Paul says in Ephesians 6, that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, rulers, principalities, powers. So, yes, are we called to fight for the truth? Absolutely. But yet we shouldn't always be prepared to go to battle against other people. Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers. So our desire is not to constantly be on the war path. Our desire is peace among men and to bring people, bring our enemies. We're to love our enemies. We're not to wage war against our enemies, but we're to love our enemies, and Lord willing, bring them into the kingdom through the proclamation of the gospel. We want to do everything we can to bring those who are alienated to Christ, to Christ. So we need to be careful that we're not always fighting. There was a famous pastor in Toronto about a hundred years ago at Jarvis Street Baptist Church named T.T. Shields. He was called the Spurgeon of Canada, marvelously gifted. And during the liberal takeover of the Baptist denomination in Canada, T.T. Shields stood valuently for truth. But what happened is that over time, every time he began to preach, he would talk about how the conservatives were right and the liberals were wrong, and how they were beating down the liberals and so on and so forth. And everything became about the fight. And he led the conservatives, the conservative Baptists to start their own denomination. And so, in some ways, he won the battle with the liberals. They started a Toronto Baptist seminary, but do you know what kept happening? Do you think he stopped fighting? Then he began to fight his own people. He began to fight the other conservatives. Because he was always about the fight. He was always about the battle. I read a book about a fundamentalist here in America named Carl McIntyre. Anyone remember that name, Carl McIntyre? You know what the book was titled? The Fighting Fundamentalist. He was just, you know, one of these sword of the Lord guys. Always has to be fighting. So, yes, we want to stand vulnerantly for the truth. But what you don't want is somebody where there, it's just everything is a fight. You kill everything with a hammer. That's not what you're looking for. And then finally, fifth prohibition, he says, not greedy for gain. Not somebody who's motivated by wealth in the ministry. Question. Should any Christian be greedy for gain? I mean, I mean, should any Christian be greedy for gain? What does Paul say right at the end of 1 Timothy? I mean, these are sobering words. This is 1 Timothy 6. He says, godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. So we're all called to be content with what we have. Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Notice he doesn't say money. He says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. So what you want is an elder who's willing to serve even if he were not to be paid. Now, Paul talks about paying elders who serve well. We looked at that last week, 1 Timothy 5.17. He says, especially those who labor in teaching and preaching the word, they're worthy of double honor. Yet, yet, the elder cannot be motivated by money. What happens if somebody's motivated by money? What happens? You can buy them off, right? At the end of the day, if somebody's motivated by money, what they're gonna do is they're gonna compromise the truth for the sake of the paycheck. You can buy off somebody who's motivated by money. The man must be motivated by the advance of the kingdom of God and his love for Christ. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Then feed my sheep. He doesn't say, Peter, do you want a big paycheck? Then feed my sheep. No, no, no. It's the love of Christ and the love to see the people grow. Love for the church. It can never be this desire to get rich. And yet, what do we see in this country? A gospel that has been imported all over the world that operates as a religious Ponzi scheme that makes the preacher wealthy. If you give more money to the church and sow a seed, God will bless you. You sow the seed and look at my life. Look at the jet plane I'm flying in. It's evidence that if you sow this seed, God's gonna bless you too. You're gonna have your private jet plane. No, it's all a lie. It's all a lie, and it's all for money. It's not true Christianity, it's false religion, and it begins with this motivation for wealth at the expense of God's people. Shame on them. Shame on them. You would promise that if you come to this ceremony, that someone will be healed. If they give money in faith, shame on them. Paul says they should not be greedy for gain. And then he says, what an elder is. Quickly. They are hospitable. Philo Xenos, literally a lover of strangers. Philo means love. Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Philo Ixinos means you love the stranger. That you're not just a clique. Ever been to a church that was a clique? It's not really a church, is it? I remember when I was in Pensacola, I went to this church called Providence Church. I'll tell you the name because it was a great church. And the first Sunday I came, the pastor had me over to his house for lunch. Very first Sunday. Just here I am talking about it 20 years later. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. We want to be welcoming to the outsider. So think about that. This is what we're all supposed to do. Be looking for the person that you don't recognize. Reach out to them, engage with them. A lover of good. Paul uses that the same prefix that he used in the previous word. The Greek word is Phil Agathos. You ever read Agatha Christie novels, those mysteries? You know, do y'all know what I'm talking about, Agatha Christie? Murder on the Nile? Agatha means good. We should use that name more often. I know it's kind of old-fashioned now. Phil Agatha, someone who loves what is good. They don't love what is evil, they love what is good. How do you know what somebody loves, by the way? What do they talk about? Jesus said, the mouth speaks what's in the heart. What do they talk about? What do they do? You can tell what someone loves. And these people love what is good. They do what is good. They're self-controlled. Sometimes this word is translated sensible or prudent. It's speaking to someone who doesn't make brash decisions. They don't easily fall into sin. If you notice, this is something that Paul emphasizes over and over and over again. If you look at chapter 2 in Titus, look at this. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled. Same word. Then look at the young women in verse 5. They are to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled. Same word. Keep going. Look at verse 6. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. So this is something that Paul's emphasizing in the church because this is really where the battleground of sanctification is fought. Can you say no to your flesh or can you not? Can you say no to your cravings or can you not? Self-control is this mark of the Christian. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. What does the unbeliever do? Whenever they have a craving, unless they've trained their flesh to say no, they're giving in. They're giving in. The mark of a Christian is they're able to exercise self-control. And so the elder must be able to exercise this self-control. And then he says, upright. It's the same root word where we get our the translation of the word righteousness. It means somebody who is just, they're not underhanded, they have a keen sense of justice. And then he says, holy. And this speaks to someone's transcendent mind. That they live corumdeo. They live in light of the reality of a holy God. They're a pious man. You can tell when a man is worldly and when a man is holy. There's a difference. Because the man who is holy is thinking about things that are above. They're thinking about the kingdom of God. And then finally, he uses this word disciplined. It's an important word. It speaks to self-mastery, controlling all passionate impulses, and keeping one's will loyal to the will of God. Turn with me once more to the left, to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Paul's talking about leadership, the Christian life. He says this. This is verse 24. He compares the Christian life to competing in the Isthmian Games, comparable to the Olympic Games, competing in an athletic contest. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. So the Christian life is like a race. You're competing. Then he says, every athlete exercises self-control in all things. Same word he uses here in Cratis. It means discipline. Every athlete disciplines themselves. If you want to compete, you got to be disciplined. You got to watch what you eat, you got to watch how you train, you got to watch how you sleep. You have to be disciplined if you're going to be successful. So he says, every true athlete is marked by saying no. They're disciplined. He says, in all things, he says, the athletes, though, they discipline themselves for a perishable wreath. They do it for a perishable prize. He says, but we discipline ourselves for an imperishable. He says, so I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air. Key phrase, but I discipline my body. Agonism I. I say no. I go through agony with my body. Look what he says. To keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. So the man of God, I think Paul ends here with these traits because the elder, in order to be above reproach, has to be disciplined in all these things. They have to exercise self-control in every facet of their lives. There has to be this degree of self-mastery where you are cognizant of sin, the world, the flesh, the devil, and you are on watch and that you're faithful. My desire above all, my desire is that one day on my deathbed, my kids will be there, and I can look them in the eye and say, I was faithful to the end. I just want to make it and not be disqualified. I want to make it. I want to say with Paul, I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I've kept the faith. I don't want to be disqualified. And when Paul's saying disqualified, he's not saying disqualified from being saved. Obviously, we know that lots of people are disqualified from ministry and they're still saved. But I'm talking about I want to be faithful and not be disqualified from ministry. I'll never forget at the 2019 Shepherd's Conference, MacArthur preached this passage on 1 Corinthians 9. And at the very end, it was just like the Lord was giving a special blessing to me. I know there was like 3,000 people in the room, but but I felt like it was for me. Is he said, I pray that none of the men in this room are disqualified. And that's that's my heart to make it. And that should be your heart. To not be disqualified from your ministry. Lord, we we want to make it. We thank you for grace that says, Lord, we thank you for how clear you are about the standard of leadership in the church. Lord, we want to have these qualities about us. We want to have godly character. Lord, we want to be hospitable to people. We want to love what is good. We want to be holy. We want to exercise self-control. We want to exercise discipline in all things. We want to display the fruit of the Spirit. Lord, make us holy like you are holy. By your grace, help us to do this. Lord, we know that we need your strength because if it were up to us, we would fall away. So, Lord, keep us in your grace, for from your fullness is grace upon grace. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, we didn't even get to the third sphere of leadership, did we? That's the commercial for next week. We're going to talk about next week the elder and doctrine. Okay, so we'll we'll pick it up next week. In the meantime, let's stand. We're gonna sing a final hymn and then the doxology.