1 Timothy 3:1

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. He must be 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 that are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Father, as we consider this passage of Scripture, we ask, I ask that you would open our hearts, our minds, and our understanding, that we would comprehend what it is that you're desiring to speak to each of us individually. God, I believe you've brought us here this morning, each individually, that you would be able to speak. And so we come before you with open hearts and, Lord, humble minds, awaiting your instruction by your Spirit.

We pray, God, that you'd continue to transform us by the renewing of our minds so that in our lives—Monday, Tuesday, throughout this week, throughout this month—we would be showing in our conduct what is your good and perfect will among our coworkers, our families, our neighbors, wherever you take us. So, Lord, we lift this time into your hands. We pray that you'd bless it. In Jesus' name. And all those that agree said, Amen. Amen. You can be seated.

I imagine that many of you, like me, probably have a memory going back to your childhood, a very specific memory from that time. Although it seems, sadly, that every single year that goes by, those memories tend to fall off the map, if you will, there is still this memory that is clear to me. It goes back to the time when I was about five or six years old, and it was the memory of what I wanted at that point—what I wanted to be and to do when I got older. How many of you can still remember being a child and thinking, "This is what I wanted to be when I got older?"

Now, for me, it was not very original.

I had a nice red jacket and a nice red hat, and I wanted to be a firefighter. That was my desire as a little five-year-old kid. I would make my dad take me down to the fire station to see the fire engine and all that sort of stuff. That was what I wanted to do and to be—a firefighter.

Interestingly, over time, desires change. We all have that experience where our desires evolve as time goes on. By the time I was about 14, I had moved from wanting to be a firefighter to wanting to be a pyrotechnician. If you don't know what that is, it's basically a complete opposite switch—from fighting fires and putting them out to wanting to blow things up and start explosions. Of course, I became neither of those things. The desires I had when I was younger were not fulfilled.

Some of you may have had the experience of actually becoming what you wanted to be as a kid. You started to pursue that path. But for me, that was not the case, because it is true that over time, our desires change. Not only does time have a way of changing our desires, but if you're a Christian today and have put your faith in Jesus, you may have experienced that when you become a Christian, God begins to transform your desires. He changes the things that we desire.

Three thousand years ago, a songwriter, known as a psalmist, named David, who was the king of Israel, wrote something that is a very important and interesting lyric. For some of you, it may even be a favorite verse from the Bible. It's found in Psalm 37, verse 4. There, this lyricist says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart."

That lyric or verse is a favorite of many people. Perhaps you have even committed it to memory and reflected on it before. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." On face value, it seems to be such an epic and awesome promise. In many ways, it is an epic and awesome promise.

Many people have taught, and maybe you've heard this teaching before. I know I've heard it on the radio and seen preachers on TV who have said that this promise means that if you delight yourself in the Lord—whatever that may mean, as there are different explanations about it—he will give you whatever your heart desires. Oh, man, that sounds good.

Because I don't know about you, but my heart is like a desire factory. All day long, every day, it is continually developing and building constant desire. We live in a culture that is created around drawing out our desires. I'll be driving around, and I'll see something go by, and I'll think, "Oh, I really want a Tesla Model S." That's what I really want. Then I'll see an advertisement, and I'll say, "Oh, I really want that." Sometimes I think that want and need can get mixed up. We say, "I need an iPhone 10."

As I'm going along, I find myself thinking, "I really want a caramel brulee latte," or "I really want an apple fritter." I also want my kids to obey. All of these constant desires are there; our hearts manufacture desire from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep.

When we read a verse or hear the common interpretation of that verse, "Delight yourself in God, and He will give you whatever your heart desires," people get really excited, thinking, "Oh, yeah, I'm going to get whatever I want." Sometimes we think of God as like the cashier at In-N-Out. We go there and say, "I want this, and I want this, and I want this, animal style." And He responds, "All right, cool, got it. You delight in God, and I'm going to do all those things."

Here's the problem: that interpretation, although common, doesn't fit with the proper interpretation of Scripture. It also doesn't align with our observations in our own lives and in the lives of others. A much better way to interpret that lyric, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart," is to understand it this way: as I begin to take delight in God, one of the transformations that happens when you become a follower of Jesus is that you start to delight in the good things of who God is and what He has done.

As you discover these things through the Bible and Bible teaching, you learn about all the amazing things God has done for you and is doing in you. You begin to delight in who God is and what He has done. Then, God gives you new desires in your heart. I would say that any Christian who has been walking with Jesus for any length of time has experienced this. As your delights begin to change, you find that God gives you new desires in your heart.

As I shift my delights, God shifts my desires. In another place in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote that it is God who is working in you, giving you desire. God works in His people, His followers, to give them new desires when we become followers of Christ.

Of Jesus. I would say this is one of the earliest evidences in the life of a person who is a Christian. When you put your faith in Jesus, you become a Christian. One of the earliest indications that you have been transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit is that your desires begin to change. You have new desires that have begun to be planted in your heart, which shows us point number one on your outline.

Point number one: God's saving power transforms our desires as well as our souls. The born-again Christian, transformed by the saving power of God, begins to experience God transforming their desires as well as their soul. He makes all things new. Part of the newness of the experience of the Christian is that God begins to transform our desires when we become followers of Jesus.

One of those things that happens is that when you are born again—that's the experience the Bible describes salvation as being—you become a new creation in Christ. Just like you had a desire when you were a child to be and do something with your life as you began to become an adult, when you are a new believer as a Christian, He gives you new desires to be and do something new with your life.

Paul speaks to that here in 1 Timothy 3, verse 1. It is my observation, having been walking with Jesus for many years and actually serving in a church for almost 18 or 19 years, that this is a natural shift that begins to happen in the life of the follower of Jesus as they begin to follow God. They have a new desire to serve God. They see all the things that God has done for them, and there is a desire that begins to well up within them. This is a natural and good thing for a Christian—to desire to serve God.

This brings up a challenging point. If today you would say, "I'm a Christian, I've put my faith in Jesus," and you don't have a desire to serve God, then it might be a good thing for you to take some time this afternoon to reflect on that.

Maybe this week, spend some time privately in prayer with God. Ask Him, "God, would you search my heart and see if my delights are out of order?" Perhaps you are focusing your attention, passion, and delights on things that have nothing to do with Him. As a result, your desires may be in the wrong place.

If you're a Christian today and have no desire to serve God, that might indicate that something is out of order or off course in your life. It is a good indication that you need to spend some time with the Lord in prayer. One of the things that God's Spirit does in the lives of His people is transform our desires. The desire that Paul describes in 1 Timothy 3:1 is, as I have observed, a universal desire developed inside the hearts of all Christians, both men and women. This desire to serve God and to be in a position of leading others within the church is a universally experienced shift in desire in the life of the Christian.

That is why many English translations of 1 Timothy 3:1 say, "This is a trustworthy statement. If anyone aspires or desires this, it is a good thing." Maybe you've had that desire. You might object and say, "I have no desire to be an overseer, a leader, or an elder in the church." That's fine, but hopefully, there is a growing desire in your life to serve. Just as God has done a good work of salvation in serving you, you should desire to have that service to the Lord in your life as well.

However, just because I, as a five-year-old, desired to be a firefighter does not mean that I would immediately become one. This leads to point number two: desire alone does not qualify for service. While desire is important and good, it is essential that if you are serving the Lord in some capacity in the church, there should be some sort of desire behind that service.

If every single week you wake up to serve in children's ministry, hospitality, or any other area within the church and think, "Oh goodness, I don't want to do this this morning," then perhaps you should reconsider. If you cannot do it cheerfully and joyfully, I'm not sure that God desires you to serve in that capacity. If it is not a joy for you to serve, then it may be time to reflect on your role.

One of the things I have seen in the transforming power of God is that many people over the years here at this church begin to serve in some area of ministry. Later, they come back to me and say, "You wouldn't believe this. I used to hate children, and now I'm serving in the third-grade classroom, and I love it. I don't know what happened." I'll tell you what happened: God, by His power, has transformed you from the inside out. He has transformed your desires, and it's a beautiful and wonderful thing that God begins to do in us.

However, desire alone does not qualify someone for service. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul gives us some qualifications for people who are serving within the church. There are two groups referred to as servants within the church. One group is referred to in this passage as bishops, while other translations call them elders. So, you have bishops or elders, or some translations say overseers. In the passage we will look at next week, verses 8 through 13, Paul talks about deacons. The word "deacon" simply means "servants." Therefore, you have those who are overseers or elders within the church, and then you have those who are deacons or servants.

Both groups are servants, but the elders have a specific and distinctive task in the church of overseeing. There are other distinctive qualities of the work they do, which we will discuss in this passage.

Our church was birthed out of a movement called the Calvary Chapel Movement of Churches. Many of you have a background with Calvary Chapel, while some of you do not. We are still connected with the Calvary Chapel Movement, but in recent years, we have also formed a partnership with the Southern Baptist Convention. In Calvary Chapels, we do not use the terms "elders" and "deacons" all that much. However, if you came to Cross Connection Church from a Southern Baptist background, you have heard about elders and deacons for a long time, as they have deacons and elders within the church.

We have those roles at our church; we just do not always call them that. Often, we refer to them as servants, volunteers, helpers, or leaders within the church. Every church has these roles, though they might call them different names. The basic point we see in 1 Timothy chapter 3 is that those who occupy these roles and perform these tasks need to be qualified leaders. They must be the kind of people who are qualified to do the work. They have a certain resume, if you will, with specific prerequisites attached to the work they do. However, the prerequisites and the resume do not include things like training or experience.

A degree in some sort of program may enable individuals to do this work. However, the enabling qualifications really have much more to do with the work of God at work in them. They are transformative characteristics that God has instilled in them. We should see these qualities in the lives of those who are serving as overseers, elders, and deacons within the church.

When we come to this passage, we must remind ourselves of the context. Why is Paul saying what he is saying about elders and deacons in this passage? The context is found in this same chapter, 1 Timothy chapter 3. Look at verse 14: "These things I write to you." Paul states that he is writing this whole letter for a very specific purpose. He continues, "Though I hope to come to you shortly, I write to you, 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 truth."

The context of this whole letter, which we have been studying through 1 Timothy chapters 1, 2, and 3, is how Timothy should set up the church at Ephesus. The church is made up of people; it is not a building. Paul is instructing Timothy on how the people that make up the church should conduct themselves.

When Paul arrived in the city of Ephesus, where Timothy was the pastor, he found a church that he had originally planted about a decade earlier. However, when he returned about ten years later, he discovered that they were off course. They were not functioning as they should be, which is why Timothy was left there. Paul had essentially drawn the short straw and told Timothy, "You're going to stay here, and you're going to make sure that they get back on course."

Now, Paul writes to Timothy to help him understand what he needs to focus on in that city and at that church. It appears that when Paul and Timothy arrived in Ephesus, they found a church that was off course due to a leadership problem. Many times, churches that are off course face similar issues stemming from leadership problems. This was likely the case at the church in Ephesus; they had a leadership problem. There are all kinds of different leadership problems, both in churches and organizations.

Outside of churches, one of the most common leadership problems I have observed in churches and other organizations is that there are people who are apparently the leaders. They are supposed to be the leaders, but they are not leading. Why did the church or the organization get off course? Because no one was standing at the helm, leading and making sure that it was staying the course, that it was going in the direction it was supposed to be going.

That is what Paul and Timothy found when they came to Ephesus. No one was standing at the helm, and so they were not being led. Timothy says, "You need to stay here, and I need you to lead."

Now, men, this is a really important value in this text. Last week, we talked about the role of women in the church and in ministry, and here we are discussing more of that as we continue through this text. Guys, listen: if you are not doing the work that God has called you to as a husband in the home, then you should expect to have a problem regarding the way the home is running, whether it is on course or off course. God has called you men to be leaders in the household.

As we go through the text of the Bible, both here in this passage and in other places, we see that in the home, God has created an order and a headship. He has called men to be responsible for that headship, and this is also found in the church. We see that in the text we examined last week. In both the church and the home, there is a calling according to God's created order for men to occupy this role.

However, when men drop the ball and are not fulfilling the work that God has called them to, you can be certain that a very capable wife will step in and start leading. What I have seen many times is that when this takes place, the wives are indeed very capable. This is not an issue of capability or incapability; women in the church are very capable of being leaders.

So, it is not an issue of capability or incapability. It is an issue of calling and created order. In the home and in the church, God has established a created order and a headship. He says, "Guys, you have a responsibility to be the leader in your home." If you are not seeking to lead in the way the Scriptures prescribe, one of the chief points of leadership that Jesus ordains in the Scriptures is what we call servant leadership. If you are not doing that, guys, expect to have problems in your home.

I would say that probably nine times out of ten, when we have a couple come into our church...

For biblical counseling and marriage counseling, couples often come in with conflict in their marriage. The husband might say, "She's not submitting. The Bible says submit." We respond by asking, "Hey, listen, husband, are you walking in the way that God has called you to walk as a husband? Husband, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. Are you doing that in the home?"

I would say that above 90% of the time, there’s a sheepish look from the husband, while the wife sits quietly, submissively, but internally she is saying, "No, no." So, guys, you need to take this seriously and consider it. There is a problem when the husband is not providing the proper leadership that the Bible calls him to give; in that case, the wife steps into that role. This leads to a breakdown of the order that God intended, resulting in conflict and issues.

God has established an order in His creation, calling men to take the lead in the home and in the church. However, this evidently was not happening at the church in Ephesus, which is why Paul addressed the issue he did in the previous passage regarding women in ministry. Clearly, there were women in the church at Ephesus who were saying, "None of the guys are stepping up and doing what they are called by God to do." As a result, very capable women were stepping up to fill that gap. Paul was saying that this needs to be addressed, and it should largely be addressed by men occupying the roles that God has called them to occupy.

He states that if anyone desires to be an overseer—this includes a bishop, an elder, or an overseer in the church of God—anyone may have that desire, both men and women. However, the first qualification is given to us in verse two: he desires a noble work. This is very clear, and this is the doctrinal position we hold here at Cross Connection Church. We believe that the role of an overseeing elder, as we will see through this passage, involves certain distinctive works and tasks that overseeing elders do in the church.

We believe that the work of an overseeing elder is a role designated for men within the church, not for women. If a man has this desire, it is a good thing for him to have. A quick side note: if you desire for your wife to follow you in the way that the Bible describes, you need to take the role of leader seriously that God has called you to, and you need to consider what the Scriptures say about how to walk that out.

If you say, "I don't know how to do that," come talk to us. We want to help you understand this and learn together. I'm not perfect at this, and none of the pastors are perfect at this, but we're seeking to have God's Word inform us on how we are to be husbands, how we are to be fathers, and how we are to be employees. The Bible speaks about all these things, and we need to understand them.

Paul says there are qualifications prescribed for those who will be overseers within the church. Here are the qualifications from verse 2 of 1 Timothy chapter 3: 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, and 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 a snare.

Point number three, hopefully you have it outlined by now: the good work of elders requires qualified good workers. There are quite a few things listed here as qualifications for the elders, the overseers within the church. After this, we will get into the issue of deacons, servants within the church, next week. We'll address that in the next section.

Though I could certainly spend two or three weeks breaking down every single one of these qualifications, parsing the language in Greek, and bringing up all kinds of different ideas and discussion points on everything listed here in this passage, I'm not going to do that. You are reasonable people, and the things in this passage are not all that difficult to interpret. If at first reading you find that there are some things you don't understand, then go and get one of the other ten different English translations that are freely available to you on the YouVersion Bible app and read it in another translation.

As you read it in the New Living Translation, the New International Version, the New King James Version, the English Standard Version, the Christian Standard Bible, or the New American Standard Bible, you will be able to figure this out. You will likely come to understand what it probably means. So when Paul says to Timothy that overseers in the church should be blameless, in the New King James Version, another version would say they need to be above reproach.

That means there's nothing in their life that could be rebuked. You're looking at their life, and they essentially have a good reputation. People who are leading within the church should have a good reputation. Others should look at them and say, "This is a person who seems to be walking according to the Scriptures."

When the Scriptures say that a person is temperate, another translation might say they have a good temper. How many of you have worked under a boss who just didn't have a good temper? Such individuals should not be elders in the church; they should not be leaders in the church. It should be well known that this person is temperate and has a good temper.

The Scriptures also say they should be sober. Another English translation will say they are of sound mind or not impulsive. Impulsive people do not make good leaders within the church or other organizations. They should be even-keeled and not impulsive. Additionally, they should exhibit good behavior. You don't need a master's in divinity to interpret good behavior; we can easily recognize good and bad behavior.

We don't need to go through every one of these qualifications in a heavy-handed way. Being hospitable means they are generous with their resources. A person who is a miser and not generous does not make a good overseer within the church of God. I won't spend a lot of time going through every single point, but I want to highlight four qualifications that seem to cause problems within churches. As you read through them, people often get stuck and wonder, "What does that mean?" or even disagree on the interpretation. You might go to one church and they see it one way, while another church interprets it differently.

So, let's look at these qualifications. First, before I get there, point number four is that qualified elders must display the fruit of the Spirit. That's the simple principle of this passage. Qualified elders must display the fruit of the Spirit. If you've never heard that phrase before, it comes from another New Testament book called Galatians, chapter five.

When you became a Christian, if you are a Christian today, the Spirit of God dwells inside of you. If you have the Spirit of God within you, certain things begin to be produced in your life—fruit that evidences the Spirit of God being in you. Love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and patience are all qualities that begin to be seen in the life of a person who is a Christian.

The Spirit of God is in them. Qualified elders must display the fruit of the Spirit. However, there are four qualifications that trip people up. The first one is found when we read that a bishop, or an elder, must be the husband of one wife. There has been some conflict within churches about what this means. The phrase "husband of one wife" does not mean that it is a requirement for elders in the church to be married. Rather, those who serve in the capacity of leaders, overseers, or elders in the church need to be one-woman men.

How do we know that marriage is not a requirement for leading as an overseer in the church? For one, the Apostle Paul was not married, and I think we all would agree he was an overseer, an elder within the church. Therefore, it is not a requirement for those in oversight positions within the church to be married. However, if an elder is married, that individual needs to be committed to the wife he is married to. One commentator noted that this means the biblical leader is not a playboy, not an adulterer or a flirt. He does not show romantic or sexual interest in other women, including depictions or images of women in pornography. The man who occupies the role of an overseer in the church needs to be committed to his bride. That is what is being taught in this passage, and it is an important value, a qualification for elders within the church.

Now, as we study this passage about elders, it becomes clear that this implies once again the value we hold that the role of the overseeing elder within the church is a role for men, as indicated by the phrase "husband of one wife." This is a role designated for male leadership within the church.

The second qualification, which sometimes causes confusion, is that a bishop or elder must be able to teach. This does not require that an elder be a spectacular preacher or orator. There has been a view that if you are not a spectacular preacher or orator, then you do not meet this qualification.

You cannot be an elder. Now, again, that would be a problem for the Apostle Paul because he tells us in some of his writings, most notably in 1 Corinthians 2:1, that he was not exactly a spectacular orator. He was really good at writing things; I mean, a third of the New Testament was written by the Apostle Paul. He's pretty good at that. But apparently, he was not a very good public speaker. Can anyone relate to the Apostle Paul on this one? Come on, some of you can.

So, he was not the best public speaker. How do we know? He said this: "I was with you in much fear and much trembling." Are there any public speakers here today? A few of you can identify with the Apostle Paul. He stated, "My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." So, Paul was not the greatest orator or public speaker.

What does it mean that the overseer or the elder within the church should be able to teach? One of the things that it informs us about is that one of the distinctive tasks of an overseeing elder is teaching. Deacons, as we're going to see next week, are not necessarily set apart for the work of preaching and teaching. But those who occupy the role of elder or overseer in the church do occupy this role of teaching.

Does that mean they need to be the most awesome, amazing public speakers? No. What does it mean? We are given more detail when Paul writes to Titus, one of the other pastoral epistles. He says this: "Elders must hold fast the faithful word as they have been taught, that they may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict."

What does this mean? It means that elders, overseers in the church, should know the Bible well enough to understand it soundly. When someone is out of order or off course as it relates to the Bible, they can bring conviction. They can convince them of the truth by the word of God. They can say, "No, this says right here that what you're doing is out of order." They need to know the Bible well enough that they can instruct other people in Scripture.

So, elders need to be the husband of one wife. They need to be able to teach. The third issue that challenges people is when we read this: "A bishop then must not be given to wine." Must not be given to wine.

This whole issue has divided entire churches and movements of churches. The Calvary Chapel movement, for example, has been in an ongoing split for the last two years. You may or may not know this if you've come from Calvary Chapel. One of the issues driving this split is the use of alcohol within the church.

Some people argue that alcohol is forbidden for Christians, or specifically for leaders, while others believe it is acceptable for people to drink. So where do we fit on this? The Scriptures say that an elder should not be given to wine. Does this mean that alcohol is forbidden within the church? How do we understand and interpret this?

First, we need to look at the text. When reading English translations, we should be grateful for the multiple translations that provide a more amplified understanding of what the Scriptures say. The New Living Translation renders this as "He must not be a heavy drinker." The New International Version states, "must not be given to drunkenness." The English Standard Version says, "not a drunkard." The Christian Standard Bible states, "not an excessive drinker," and the New American Standard Bible says, "not addicted to wine."

Is Paul forbidding alcohol and its usage within the church? Clearly, the text does not support that view. He is saying that a leader, overseer, or pastor within the church should not be addicted to alcohol, given to drunkenness, or a heavy drinker. Does he forbid alcohol and its use across the board? No. However, drunkenness is always forbidden in Scripture.

We know that Paul is not forbidding its use entirely because, in this very same book, two chapters later, he writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23. The author has not changed; Paul writes, "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities." If Paul were forbidding the use of alcohol, he would not prescribe the medicinal use of alcohol in this situation.

We'll talk about this when we get into 1 Timothy 5. Clearly, there were some implications about what he meant by this. If he is forbidding alcohol in its usage in chapter 2, he would not prescribe the leader overseer of the church to drink some alcohol in chapter 5. Logic supports the conclusion that Paul is not forbidding the use of alcohol within the church. Nowhere that I can think of in the scripture is wine or alcohol forbidden. However, drunkenness or excessive drinking is always forbidden. Therefore, if you cannot drink in moderation, you cannot drink. Let this be very clear: if you have a background before you were a Christian and you were addicted to alcohol, what our society calls an alcoholic, and you really struggled with that, you still have the concern in your conscience that if you drank one drink, you couldn't stop. If you cannot drink in moderation without drinking to drunkenness, you cannot drink.

We need to understand that we can't be legalistic in this matter. There are people in the church who do not struggle with drunkenness; it's not an issue for them. Is it okay for them to drink alcohol? According to the scriptures, yes, as long as they do not drink to excess and to drunkenness. That is our position at this church.

For years, I've had ongoing discussions with a number of pastors about their alcohol policies. When pastors ask, "What is your alcohol policy?" they mean, "How do you govern your staff, your elders, your leaders at your church?" I've talked to many pastors, and they often say, "We have a rule that none of our staff can drink," or "None of our elders can drink," or "None of our deacons can drink." My position on this is clear: I will not prescribe any rule that would disqualify Jesus or Paul from ministry.

Jesus drank. Did Jesus drink to excess, to drunkenness? I'm hesitant to say too much on this because people accused him of being a drunkard. So, apparently, he was more liberal than I would probably like. However, he obviously didn't drink to drunkenness, because the scriptures forbid drunkenness. Paul also drank alcohol, but not to drunkenness. Therefore, I would not prescribe any position that would disqualify Jesus from ministry.

If your church disqualifies Jesus from ministry, consider another requirement: elders must be married. Well, we have a problem there too. You would disqualify Jesus and Paul from ministry. That's an issue. If Jesus can't serve at your church, you might have gone a little too far with your requirements.

Right? Okay, moving on. I hope you got this.

Last one. Number four. What's the next one that challenges people? A bishop then must have his children in submission with all reverence. What does this mean? Well, it is not a requirement, number one, for an elder to have children. Some churches have said you cannot serve as an elder in our church unless you have a family. You're a family man; you have to have children because he has children. That's what the Scriptures say. Again, I would not prescribe any rule that would disqualify Jesus or Paul from church. They didn't have children, so obviously, that's not what it means.

Number two, this does not mean a requirement to have perfect children. Thank God. Because here's an important thing to consider about pastors' kids: I have four of them, and our family ministry's pastor has five kids. Our junior high youth pastor has his third kid on the way. So, there are some kids represented by the pastors.

Here's one of the difficulties for pastors and their kids. My kids think this place is an extension of their home. How many of you, when your kids were little, or if your kids are little now, found that your kids are perfect in every way at home where everything's calm? My kids come here, and this is just like home for them. So, we have to constantly remind them, "Hey, this isn't our house. Calm down, settle down." I have wild kids. Does this mean you cannot be an elder because your kids are wild and crazy? No, that's not what's being said. It does not mean that he has perfect children.

Thirdly, this does not mean that he even has children who are now adults who are walking in righteousness. Why do I say that? Well, because there have been some churches that have required their leadership to step down because their adult children are not walking in the faith. Now, hopefully, your kids, as they grow, would continue to walk in the faith. But we all understand that our children, as they grow and become adults, are free moral agents. They are going to make decisions that we don't always like or agree with. They may not even go to church; sadly, that sometimes happens.

So, what does this mean? Well, this is a qualification for overseers within the church. They should be seeking to be good overseeing fathers in the home as well as leaders within the church. There shouldn't be duplicity in the way that they lead at church or at home, and they should be seeking to govern their home in the way that the Scriptures prescribe.

Like Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 4, "And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." It is not a requirement that the elder has children, perfect children, or adult children who are walking in righteousness. What matters is that he is seeking to walk out what the Scriptures prescribe for fathers in the home. How can he lead the church of God if he is not leading his home well first?

There is a whole bunch more I could say about the other qualifications, but these are the four that tend to challenge people and become discussion points. Let me conclude with this, as I don't have a lot of time. If there are qualifications for someone to become an elder, we must understand and accept point number five: by their conduct or misconduct, elders can be disqualified. Sadly, there have been elders who have been disqualified, sometimes in very public ways.

We see it in the news; rarely does a year go by without a well-known elder or pastor in our nation being disqualified from the work of the ministry due to adultery. They have not done well in being a one-woman man or in exercising self-control. There are also issues of greed, where they have taken from the church, or simply being a jerk. Some pastors have been removed from ministry because they are not temperate or nice people; they are rude, obnoxious, and mean. They exhibit more of the works of the flesh than the fruit of the Spirit.

After a while, people begin to think, "Maybe you shouldn't be an elder because you have disqualified yourself from that work by your conduct or misconduct." This serves as a reminder to me as an overseeing elder and should remind us as a church with leaders and elders that the position of an overseeing elder is an honorable one that should be held in honor by those occupying it. If it is not, they should not be in that position. Just as there are qualifications for someone to enter that role, once they get there, they cannot simply cast everything off and say, "Hey, I have arrived." No, because they can be disqualified.

And so Paul, to the Corinthians, says, "I work so hard in my private life so that after I have preached to others, I would not be disqualified." The leaders of the church should seek to maintain this sort of conduct that is in line with the qualifications of elders because this is an honorable position to lead as an overseer, as an under-shepherd under the good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Amen? Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Amen.

As Paul would often do, God, would you compel our church body to be praying for the leaders of this church? We ask that we would lead well, in a way that exalts and honors your name and your church. Pour out your Spirit upon us as a church body, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.