The Call and Character of an Elder

Good morning. before we actually jump into the meat of the message, just a brief announcement. last week we were unable to bring your attention to this, so, Milton asked me to do it here today. Um-hum.

about 8 days ago on a Friday evening, we had a number of young people participate in the Ina quiz. And it was my first opportunity to participate in that in the sense that as a dad, I spent quite a bit of time with my son Andrew, making sure that he had his verses nailed, some 30 plus verses that he had to have memorized verbatim absolutely perfectly. In whatever version of the Bible it was, it was pretty unbelievable. And then to be at the event and to observe these kids, during the speed round of the competition, buzz in and then come up to the microphone and quote these verses perfectly, that was a pretty amazing experience.

I would commend the Awana program to anyone, to your parents. get your kids signed up with Ina because, it's a wonderful way to get them into the word of God to memorize the scriptures and if we believe in the power of God's word, if we believe it is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword, that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul and we believe that God will use it to bring about godliness in the life of a person, then what better thing to do than to get our kids to have God's word memorized and I was just really impressed with my son Andrew, who's 10 years old, he's just Way ahead, way ahead, light years ahead of where I was when I was 10 years old, and just what a blessing to know we had a number of young people participate in this competition.

of course, my son Andrew participated. He was on the team with Ruth Frash, Jake Riding participated.

Noah Ley and Noah Fresh, along with Brianna and Vincent and Hannah Boone, they all participated. Don't want to forget Joshua Berry, he participated in that. He helped, in, in the practice. and in the rehearsals and practice quizzes and stuff, so he was a real blessing too, seeking to get our, our kids prepared for this crazy competition., you got these kids coming up before like 3 or 400 plus adult people quoting God's word, just an awesome event.

one of our teams did place first and So we praise the Lord for that. As far as the helpers are concerned, Jenny Swenson, Julie Fresh, Matt Kaufman, and Donna Vincent, were some of the key helpers. And again, we appreciate all of your efforts, guys. Would you join with me in prayer as we get ourselves ready to hear God from His word.

dear gracious Heavenly Father, We have sung to you. And now we come to you wanting to listen. To you. We pray, Lord, that You would open the eyes of our understanding.

And help us to know what you are saying to us here. This morning We know, Lord, That you are the one who is speaking and you happen to use, A human instrument myself. I pray, Lord, that you would fill me with your spirit. And that you administer your words to your people.

And that as a result, we would be built up, we would be edified, equipped, challenged, exhorted, even admonished. We pray. For that special sense of your presence and an awareness, I pray, Lord, for anyone who's here that might not be saved. I pray, Lord, that, today would be the day of visitation.

That you would reveal yourself. And Father, we want to give ourselves in this time of worship, worshiping you and hearing you speak to us from your word to you in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. If you have your Bibles, which you should, I'm going to ask you to turn in it to First Timothy chapter three. 1 Timothy chapter 3.

For those of you who are visiting with us for the first time, I want you to know that the big dog is away. Pastor Milton Vincent is away, and so you get one of the runner-ups preaching in his stead. I want to encourage you to come back next week to hear him preach, but in the meantime, Lord willing, God will speak to you through his words this morning. We are in a verse by verse study, working our way through First Timothy.

We find ourselves in chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. This morning we are going to look at the forest. We will not be looking at the individual trees. We are going to do a bird's eye view of some passages here.

We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 7 and then verse 10, next week, we will come back to some of these verses and slow down and unpack them with some greater depth, but, so that you understand, we're, we're doing the bird's eye view right now. before we look at these verses, I want to jump ahead to verse 14. Please look at verse 14 of chapter 3 with me and I will read. Paul says, I am writing these things to you.

Hoping to come to you before long. I want to come. I want to be a blessing to you. I want to minister my gifts to you, hoping it is my desire to come to you before long, but in case I am delayed, I write, right now, I am writing so that you will know how one ought.

To conduct himself in the household of God. The apostle Paul is concerned that the Ephesian believers know how to behave in the household of God. He is concerned about this household of God which he says is the church of the living God, the church of the living God. Our God is alive and well.

Well, the pillar and support of the truth. You see, the apostle Paul, he envisions the church as being a church that upholds the truth, a church that is rooted and grounded and cemented in gospel truth and a church that experiences the gospel in all of its fullness so that through that church, those who don't know Christ Those who have yet to be born again would through the example of the church come to a place in which they knew the truth of the gospel. The apostle Paul has a big view of what the church is all about and so he writes this letter to Timothy being concerned about the Ephesian Church, wanting this church to be built up and to be all that God would call this church to be.

Now if we consider the history of this church, we know that the apostle Paul in the past had spent some 3 years ministering to this church.

He had been with this church for about 3 years, and then he had gone away and he came back and he visited the church once again, and he gathered the Ephesian elders together there. Acts chapter 2, and he gathered them together and he warned them about something. He warned them that savage wolves would come in not sparing the flocks. You see, he prophesized, if you will, that the day would come in which the Ephesian church would be under attack.

And so here we are right now. Timothy is the young pastor of this church. and this church has been on the receiving end of demonic and satanic attacks. There are false teachers who have risen up within this church and the apostle Paul is concerned.

It is meant to be the pillar and support of the truth, but we've got these false teachers that have come alongside and they are having a deadly influence. In chapter 1 verse 3, we read that they are teaching strange doctrines. Verse 4, they are focused on myths and endless genealogies. Verse 4, spending time in speculation.

Verse 6, they are deviating from the gospel in terms of its proclamation and its application to life. These false teachers and those who are being influenced by them in verses 7 to 8 are misusing. The law of God. Verse 19, they are rejecting the faith.

They are rejecting a good conscience. Again in verse 19, in chapter 2, verses 2 through 7, they are rejecting the fact that God loves all people and that it is his desire that none shall perish. They are rejecting the role distinctions between men and women as it relates to ministry. We see this in chapter 2, verses 9 to 15.

In chapter 4. In verse 1, they are paying attention and or allowing others to pay attention to deceitful spirits and to doctrines of demons. He describes them in chapter 4, verse 2 as being hypocritical, chapter 4, verse 3, they are forbidding marriage, and in chapter 6, verses 3 through 10, the apostle Paul says that they are advocating a different doctrine. They are advocating something apart from the gospel.

They are advocating false doctrine that ultimately results in bad fruit, the bad fruit of godlessness, conceit, disputes over words, envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and even materialism. And so no doubt there are these false teachers who have sprung up within this church, and the apostle Paul as he catches wind of what is going on in the Ephesian church, is very, very concerned about this. And so what Paul is needing to do as he is wanting the church to serve as that pillar and support of the truth, he understands that it is extremely important to go after the issue of leadership.

Paul knows that no church will go beyond where the leaders are at.

The apostle Paul knows that in order for a church to function in the way in which God wants that church to function, it is imperative. that there are qualified leaders in place and in our passage this morning, we're going to be focusing in on the office of overseer, the office of pastor, if you will. We will use overseer, pastor, shepherd, bishop. These are synonymous words.

We use them interchangeably and so we've got the, this office of elder that is going to be addressed. See, the apostle Paul knows. That there is a strong need for biblically qualified elders, men who will serve as models for what all believers are to be, men who will proclaim the gospel and gospel-related truth. And she will draw out gospel applications to the end that God's people are sanctified and motivated and equipped to advance the gospel in both word and deed.

And so for our purposes this morning, we're going to seek to answer the question. How do we identify elders? How do we identify elders? What are the marks of an elder?

What are the qualifications of an elder? That's, that's what we are seeking to address right now. Some of you are, are perhaps sitting there thinking, well, I'm not an elder. I'm not called to be an elder.

I'm not really all that interested in the issue of elders to begin with. Well, let me, Admit to you that there is a very strong relevance to this church as we talk about the topic of elders, a strong relevance. What, what relevance does this have for Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church? I submit to you 6 answers to the question.

What is the relevance of this for us? Well, number one, this is a challenge to us who Who are already elders. And so this is a direct challenge to anyone in this church who is an elder right now. There are 7 of us who are actively serving as elders, and as we take a look at this passage, we are struck by the sobriety of what it means to be an elder, an overseer, a pastor.

number 2, this is a challenge to those aspiring to be elders, and I trust that God is working in the hearts of men in this church, that God is raising up men in this church who will at some point in the future, serve in the office of overseer, serve as pastors of this church, because the day will come when Pastor Milton won't be here anymore. The day will come when the Pastor Mike isn't going to be called home to be with the Lord. The day will come when I will No longer be alive.

And so the question is, is who is going to, to, to take the baton?

To whom does the baton get passed on to? And so this is a challenge to anyone aspiring to be elders. We trust and we pray that God would be raising up men who would serve in this capacity. Who knows, perhaps some 7 year old kid in the congregation right now will 25, 30 years from now be at this church serving as an elder in this church, Used by God as an instrument of His blessing to build up the people of God so that you and I can be all that God wants us to be.

Thirdly, I would say that this passage helps us as a church to better identify those being called into ministry. And by the way, it is not just the job of the pastors or the elders to identify those being called into ministry. This is a function of the church. The church is supposed To recognize those upon whom God is placing a call and the church is to gather around those folks and support them in that call and, and, and affirm them in that call.

This is a responsibility, brothers and sisters that every single one of us as a member of this church has to be able to be used by God in the identification of these folks who might be being called to serve in the office of elder. Fourthly, this passage helps us to know the standard The standard of character that we are all called to. The standard of character, especially as we see it in verses 2 through 7, is a standard that is not reserved only for elders. It is the standard that all of the people of God are to aspire to.

It is just that the elders are being called by God to serve as the model of that standard so that you have people that you can point to and say, I want to follow him as he is following the Lord. This This passage, I believe, ought to motivate us to pray for our elders, to pray for our elders. When we realize what God expects of these men, we should seek to pray for these men. In our private prayer closets and in our times of family worship and what have you, we need to be lifting these men up before God's throne of grace that he would be building them up so that the growth of the elders would be evident to all.

And then since this passage, it should, ought to produce thankfulness in our hearts to the Lord. For those whom he has raised up to serve as overseers. And please don't get me wrong. I, I don't want you to think, oh, I, I hear what Pastor Carlos is saying.

he's, he's basically telling me that he is one of God's gifts to this church. I don't mean it in the arrogant, proud sense of the word, but the fact of the matter is, Is that when God places the call of eldership upon a person, God is giving to the church a gift, and the people of God ought to recognize that and to appreciate what it is that God is doing for us. God gives to the church pastors and Teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the building up of the body of Christ so that we can all become mature in the faith.

And so there's a very real sense in which we ought to appreciate those who minister over us and we ought to pray for those ministering over us.

And so, is there a relevance to us from this passage? I would have to conclude, yes. Again, what are the marks of biblical eldership? Well, number one, The man occupying the office of elder must be called by God.

The man occupying the office of elder must be called of God. This is something that man does not drum up within himself. This is something, this is a work of God. This is a work in which God by the Spirit puts inside the heart of a man a strong passion to serve in the office of overseer for the purpose of building up the body.

Of Christ, ministering the word to the body of Christ. Again, the men occupying the office of elder must be called by God to serve in that capacity. There are men here, no doubt, to think that perhaps the Lord is calling them into ministry. There are men, no doubt, who, though he's not calling you now, the day may come at some point yet.

The future in which that call comes and when that call comes, I submit to you that it is important for us to have a sense of the facets of that call. We need to know what the aspects or the facets of that call are. Well, here are some things about the call. Number one, it is an important call.

It is an important call. We see this in, verse one. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do, directing your attention to it is a trustworthy statement.

We see that expression being used in chapter 1 verse 15 where Paul says, it is a trustworthy statement, and he adds, deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of whom I am the foremost of all. You see, whenever Paul uses, it is a trustworthy statement. What he is essentially saying is that what I am about to say is important.

What I am about to say is almost creed-like. What I am about to say is the stuff that all people of God in all churches need to wrap their. Finds around and affirm. It is a trustworthy statement.

If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. And so as he is talking about this call of God, this call of God in which he is putting inside man this desire for the office of overseer, he is saying it is an important call. Here at Cornerstone, we want to take God's call upon individual men into leadership seriously. Here at Cornerstone, we want to know if God is calling men in this body into eldership and we want to be able to come alongside and to equip and to train and help to build them up.

We want to know what it is that God is doing in our midst as it relates to the building up of the body of Christ and especially as it relates to the issue of eldership. So, it is an important call. Number two, it is a limited call. It is a limited call.

He says it is a trustworthy statement if any man, literally in the Greek it is any anyone, but read on, aspires to the office of overseer. The word here is in the masculine. And so therefore, the overseer is understood as being a man and earlier in the passage, the previous chapter, the apostle Paul says, suffer not a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, and so that we know that the overseer who teaches and exercises authority cannot be a woman because women are not called to do that in the midst assembly.

This is a limited call.

It is limited to men. I remember one pastor responding to my question because I was asking about the role of women in ministry and this pastor says, how can a, how can a, a guy be the husband of a wife and yet a woman? And that's one of the qualifications, isn't it, as we go on to read about it. And so, again, it is a limited call.

It's limited to men, but it is limited to certain qualified men. You see these qualified men, these men who are qualified must have that inward call. They must have the godly character and they must be tested. We're going to see this as we continue in the passage.

It is a limited call. Number 3, it is an observable call. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires, aspires.

The Greek word for aspires here is oregatai, and it carries the idea of to extend, to stretch out, to reach forward, to, to desire earnestly. To long after, to indulge in and to be devoted to. The, the word that he uses for desire a little bit later when he says it is a fine work he desires to do, that is a different word from this word aspires and the desire there refers to that. The inward call of the spirit of God inside the heart of a man, leading him to the desire, leading him to the place where he wants to serve in the office of overseer, but this word aspires speaks more of that which can be seen.

And so it is an observable call. When God is calling men to serve as elders, it can be observed by others looking in. It can be observed by those in your care group if the Lord is calling you into this office. It can be observed by those within your family as God is calling you into this office.

It can be observed by the elders, by the leaders of the church. It is an observable call. Fourthly, it is a responsible call. It is a responsible call.

This is implied by the fact that he calls it the office of overseer. The overseer is looking at the people of God that have been entrusted to him and he is seeking to, to build them up and, and to strengthen them and to infuse gospel truth into their life and to be used by God as an instrument of His grace in their lives so that the people of God can be mature and complete, lacking nothing. The overseer is concerned about the spiritual well-being and health of the people that he is, is overseeing.

This is a responsible call.

He is responsible to lead the flock, which involves governing, overseeing, and administration over the flock. He is responsible for teaching, for shepherding the flock. He has to feed the flock. He is to protect the flock from false teachers from without and guard against schismatics within the flock.

He has to pray for the flock to go after the flock. If a lost sheep goes astray, then he has to go after that person and seek to bring them back into the fold. And the overseer is ever mindful of the fact that the day will come, in which he will stand before the Lord and he will have to give an account to the Lord for his ministry, for, for the way in which he served in the office of overseer. And so you see, this is a responsible call and those of you perhaps being called by the Lord into the ministry need to keep these facets of the call in mind.

Number 5, it is a worthy call. He says it is a fine work. It is a fine work he desires to do. The word here is coloss, speaking of that which is beautiful and good.

As such, it is to be appreciated and admired. It speaks of something that is pleasing to the eye. And so when the Lord calls a person into the office of overseer, it is a fine thing that he has done. it is a call of God upon the life of the person that is a worthy call.

Sixthly, it is a demanding call. It is a demanding call. This is implied by his use of the word work. Paul describes the office of overseer as an office which is a work.

this is an office that demands, output of energy. Output of effort and resources. It is not for those who are lazy, but it is for those who are willing. To work hard.

And Jesus says that if any man wants to come after me, he must deny himself, pick up the cross and follow me. You consider the example of the apostle Paul and the Thessalonians. He says, how I was when I was among you. I was working very hard, night and day so as not to be a burden to any one of you.

And you look at the example of the apostle Paul and you see the tireless work of this man of God seeking to build up the kingdom of God. Again, work. And then, lastly, number 7, it is a compelling cough. It is a compelling call.

I want us to wrap our minds around this. It is a compelling call. He says it is a fine work he desires to do. Desire here is epithemi or epithemi.

It has with it the idea to set the heart upon, to desire, to long for, to have earnest desire for. In other passages this word is used to speak of lusting after. In this passage, it is being used in a positive sense. But he says that the, the man aspiring to the office of overseer, it is a fine work that he desires to do.

This desire is the spirit of God infused desire inside the man that just compels him to want to do this work of ministry. Typically, when the call of God enters into the life of a man. To serve him into the ministry. He cannot imagine doing anything else.

I remember, Years ago when I was considering going to seminary and whatnot and moving my life in the direction of ministry, I remember, touching base with Pastor Milton and I had some questions for him, and he shared with me that one of the reasons he entered into ministry is he said to me, he says, what, I feel that if I couldn't do ministry, if I couldn't serve as an elder, as a pastor, I feel as if I would die. Therein is the call of God upon a man. Into The office of overseer.

And I remember a few years back touching base with our brother, fellow elder, Carlos Cuellar, and I can remember just, all he could ever seem to think about was I want to just get out of flying airplanes and I want to get into the ministry.

And I can remember just like week after week, month after month, it was almost like the same conversation. He was consumed with the desire and at the same time he was concerned that it was idolatry. And, and, it was just so obvious to men like myself and to others that, what, the Lord is just calling this man into ministry. He's got this passion for it.

He's got this desire for it. He can't get his mind off of it. He's willing to, to drop his job, which is probably, would have earned him more money than being a pastor would, but he says, because this is what I want to do with my life. I want to minister the gospel.

I want to proclaim the gospel. I want to apply the gospel. And so you see this call of God, it is an important call. It is a limited call.

It is observable, responsible, it is a worthy call. It is a demanding call, and it is a compelling call, a compelling call in which God the Spirit works inside of this man, the passion to do this work of ministry to where he is aspiring, therefore, to the office of overseer. The text does not say it's a bad desire. It's a good desire.

It's a worthy desire. And so the man occupying the office of overseer first and foremost must be called by God. He cannot be calling himself into the office. This has to be a call that comes from God, where God is the one saying that I want you to lay down your life as a minister for the gospel.

This inner call must be accompanied by observable character qualities, and so we move on to number 2. The man occupying the office of elder must be above reproach. He must be above reproach. Above reproach means free from any offensive or disgraceful blight of character or conduct.

The man who is above reproach is one in whom people look at his life and they don't find any reason for accusation. This is a man who lives his life in such a way that the Lord Jesus Christ is honored in all that he does, and all that he says, and all that he thinks. He's got to be above reproach. This speaks of others looking in on his life and, and making an evaluation, and that evaluation and the estimation of others is that this is a man of God.

This is a man who's after God's own heart. This is a man who is above reproach. And the apostle Paul goes on to talk about 4 areas of life in which the man occupying the office of elder must be above reproach. 4 areas of life.

In verse two and three, He speaks of Morality, personal morality. In verses 4 through 5, he's going to get into the issue of family life. In verse 6, he's going to speak to the topic of maturity as evidenced by humility. And then in verse 7, he's going to speak to the topic of his reputation among the nonbelievers.

These are 4 areas in the life of the elder. That must be above reproach. Let us just take a little bit of time. Again, we're looking at the forest.

We're not, nailing the details of the tree right now, but, what does it mean to be above reproach concerning morality? Well, look at verse two and three. An overseer then must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, literally this is a one woman man.

This is a man who has a desire for his wife and his wife alone. This does not mean to say that a single man can't be an elder. A single man can be an elder. The apostle Paul was single and he served as a leader.

but what this is saying is that for the man who is married, he needs to be a one woman man. We'll get more into this in the following weeks, but, below the surface here is the fact that he is not a man given over to sexual fantasies and lusts. And people in the body, Know this man. To be a man Who has not given over to last.

There's no reason for accusation. OK. So, the husband of one wife, temperate. This speaks of being alert, watchful, and perceptive.

In terms of his moral character, the elder must be a man who is temperate. He is sober minded, if you will. He is alert. He is watchful.

He is keeping watch over his own soul, keeping watch over the souls of those around him, keeping watch over the souls of the people that God has entrusted to him. He's perceptive. He has a sense of, of what God is up to. He has a sense of when Satan seems to be on the attack.

He's mindful of these things. the man of God must be prudent. This is another area of personal morality, prudence. This speaks of well disciplined in mind and therefore controlled over pleasures and passions.

He must be respectable. The Greek word is cosmion from which we get the word cosmos, and this speaks of a life that has a sense of order to it. It is a life that is well ordered, a life so ordered that there is much productivity that flows from it. Another moral quality of the elder, in which he needs to be above reproach is that of being hospitable, despics of a love of strangers, and, the elder must be a man who has a love for strangers.

It's easy to love those who love you, but it's a totally different story to love the unlovely and to love the stranger, and this is exactly what the Lord is calling the, Elders to do to practice hospitality, to open up the doors of their home to those who are strangers and to entertain them and to seek to minister to their needs. He is able to teach now this is the only one that pertains to what one does functionally, but mind you that in Roman society it was assumed that one what one taught was.

Backed up by how he lives his life, that there has to be agreement between what he's teaching and how he lives his life. What one teaches should, should, should, be reflected by how he lives his life and so implicit in this is, yes, he is able to teach, but his life is backing up that what he is teaching.

He is not addicted to wine. The overseer, therefore must steer clear of any substance that would serve to hinder his sound judgment, alcohol and drugs and even prescription drugs and whatnot. He is not controlled by those other things. He is not pugnacious.

This is given over to anger and violence. he is not a giver of blows. That's what it means to be not pugnacious. He is gentle, and this is a fruit of the spirit, and we might assume that the elder must be one who walks by the power of the spirit, a man who, Manifest the fruit of the spirit, one of those fruits being gentle, but the other fruits, I think, should be included in the list.

The man of God, the, the overseer, the elder must be marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He is to be uncontentious. This means not quarrelsome, not given over to arguments. You don't want elders who are argumentative by nature.

he does not look for opportunities to strive with others, and then finally, he is free from the love of money. And so the elder must be above reproach concerning areas of personal morality, and this list is a list of those areas in which he needs to be above reproach. Secondly, the elder must be above reproach concerning family life. Look at verse 4 with me, please.

1 Timothy 3 verse 4, it says, he must be one who manages his own household well. Keeping his children under control with all dignity. And then he asked the rhetorical question, but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how in the world will he take care of the Church of God? And so, you see, In order for one to qualify as an elder, he must be above reproach.

He must be above reproach concerning his family life. He is a manager of his household. He serves as a steward of his household. He recognizes the fact that God wants to use him in the lives of his family members to build them up in the most holy faith, and he seeks to do those things that would cause the members of his family to be what God would want them to be.

He manages his household in the spiritual sense. He is ministering the gospel. He seeks to lead his family in worship. He seeks to minister God's word in practical and applicational ways to them.

He wants to love his wife as Christ loved the church, ministering to her through the, through the, through the word of God. And he's wanting to minister, too, in a similar way, to his children. Thirdly, he is above reproach concerning maturity, concerning maturity as evidenced by humility. Look at verse 6 with me.

It says, I'm not a new convert. To the Ephesian Church, the apostle Paul says to Timothy concerning the Ephesian Church, he cannot be a new convert. He cannot be a neophyte. He cannot be a babe in Christ.

Why, well, lest he become conceited, lest he slip in the direction of pride and arrogance. And so implicit in this is the fact that God's elders are to be men of humility and maturity. Lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And then fourthly, he must be above reproach concerning reputation with the unsafe.

Look at verse 7. He must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he may not fall into reproach and the snare of. The devil, he must have a good reputation with those outside of the church. The unsaved people must look into the life of the elder and identify absolutely nothing that would cause that man to be unqualified for his role as an elder of a church.

The elder must model even for the unsaved, the beauty of living to the glory of God, the beauty of living for the Lord Jesus Christ. The elder must live in such a way to where even though the neighbor doesn't necessarily agree with his beliefs, the neighbor would have to say that his beliefs are backed by how. He lives his life. His beliefs are backed by his attitude of heart.

I see in this man something that is special. I see in this man, something of a passion for the Lord Jesus Christ, and he serves the Lord wholeheartedly. I don't see any reason why I should point a finger at him and accuse him of being a bad guy. The man occupying the office of elder then must be above reproach.

and let us move into the third point. Number three, the third mark. Of an elder, The third qualification, if you will, the man occupying the office of elder must be tested. He must be tested.

They examined And approved. If we jump ahead a few verses to verse 10, it says, and let these also first be tested. You see, he says, let these, the deacons, also, the deacons, as well as the elders, let these also first be tested. Let them be tested.

Then let them serve. Here he's speaking specifically to the deacons, but you can imply that he's speaking about elders as well. Let them serve after they have been first tested. It is important For any man serving in the office of elder.

To have demonstrated his commitment to Christ against the backdrop of some testing. We don't want elders who serve as elders who, when things get tough, they bail. When things don't go the way in which they want, they throw in the towel and they say, forget it. We want men of God who come hell or high water, they will follow the Lord despite what the consequences might mean.

We want men of God who have by God's grace been given tests. of life and at the end of the day, they have come forth as gold. They have come forth as faithful to Christ. We want men of God too, if the Lord pulls out the rug from underneath their feet, they will stand on the short, solid foundation rock of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Irregardless of what God and His sovereignty might allow to come their way, there has to be a testing that comes into the life of the elder, and I think the the, the leadership of the church as well needs to, needs to create some testing for this man in order to see a season of testing in order to see if this man is indeed fit to serve as an elder. OK, so, how do we identify elders? How do we know when a man should serve in this capacity? What are the marks, what are the marks of biblical eldership?

Number one, he must be called inwardly by God. Number two, he must be above reproach. This speaks of godly character. Above reproach concerning personal morality, family life, maturity as evidenced by humility and reputation with outsiders, and he must be tested, which speaks of being examined and approved.

He is a man who must be tested. These are the men. whom God ordains To serve as overseers. And my, my hope My prayer, my confidence is this.

That God is at work in the body of Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church, that God is pressing upon the hearts of men. If not now, he will at some point in the future. Men whom he is calling into the office of elder, men whom he is qualifying to be elders, and men whom he is going to present a test, and through the testing, it will be proven. That you are fit to serve as an elder.

You see, the church will not go any further than the elders of this church. And the apostle Paul knows that. And that's why he addresses the issue of elders. The issue of overseers.

If this church is going to be the pillar and support of the truth, it's got to have leadership in place to make sure that the church is functioning in the way that God wants. I want to take a moment now to direct our attention, pragmatically speaking to leadership development here at Cornerstone. So, we've got some principles in place. We just looked at them.

they're derived right from the word of God. But pragmatically, what are some of the things that we have in place concerning leadership development here at Cornerstone? Now, this is where we're at now. This is open to some refinement, but, this, this is, this represents our thinking right now.

I want you to consider each step, that I'm going to present to you. There's 8 steps, but consider each step as an aspect of testing in which one's calling is being revealed and its character refined. OK, these are important steps. Number one, You will demonstrate effective leadership in your family.

Again, if you're called to be an elder here at Cornerstone, we would expect that you demonstrate effective leadership in your family if you are married and then if you have children, that you are seeking to lead them in the nurture and admonition of Christ. Number two, you will demonstrate effective leadership in the functions of care group. meaning that when the care group leader asks you to lead the discussion time or say the care group leader might ask you to, to lead in communion, you seize those opportunities and you do so in such a way that others observe that, wow, this is a man who is being a blessing.

He leads well the discussion.

He leads well the communion time., you'll, you'll want to give others the opportunity to observe God's call upon you. Number three, you will participate in the leadership class, and we've got the second class session coming up this Thursday. We meet once a month. And we're going to be meeting for, about 1011, 12 sessions over the course of a year.

But we would want our people to be listening to these sermons and to be reading the books that we're presenting to them so as to challenge them in the areas of leadership. This is a general class on leadership, but we would want our people, especially those aspiring to the office of elder, to be equipped in this manner. Number 4, you will likely serve as a, leader or a helper of a care group, likely. the care group is an awesome place in which a person can demonstrate God's call upon him to serve as a pastor.

The care group leaders are an extension of the pastoral ministry here. The care group leaders are men whom we see as being used by God to be building up these people. They're caring for them. They're ministering to them.

They're serving them. They're touching base with them, calling them up, making sure that they're doing OK. and, and this is the heart that we want our elders to have, a heart that says, I want to serve, I want to help. If someone's going through difficult times, I want to pick up the phone and call them, and I want to do whatever I can, whatever is in my, whatever is within my power to help them out.

Number 5, you will participate in a biblical eldership class led by Pastor Milton. We want all of our future elders to have read Strat's book on biblical eldership and Pastor Milton is, currently, I believe, leading a couple of guys through that book, but even down the road, the opportunity to have him lead you through that book will be there. And so we would want you to participate, in that. Number 6, For those whom the Lord may be calling into eldership, you will be invited to attend and eventually participate in the monthly elders meetings.

you would attend, serve as a fly on the wall for a few months and just get a sense of what happens at elders meetings and then in due time, you will be asked to participate, even though you're not an elder. We want to know how you function within the context of an elder meeting. We want to know what you're able to bring to the table, in order to help us make decisions as it relates to the leading of the people of God here at Cornerstone. Number 7, you will be nominated by congregation, chosen by elders and affirmed by the congregation to serve as an elder.

And then finally, number 8, you will be commissioned by the elders to serve as an elder within the body of Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church. I trust That there are men here who are not elders. whom the Lord would be calling into that office. At some point in the future.

I trust and I pray. That when the day comes and the present elders are no longer in existence, the baton has effectively been passed on to other men of God who can, who can build upon the foundation that has been established here at Cornerstone over the last 20 or so years. Let me end with just a few applicational thoughts. I'll be quick with this.

Be what the elders are called to be. Paul says, follow me as I follow the Lord. And what? This list verses 2 through 7, yeah, this is what the elders are to be like, but this is, this is the standard that all of God's people are called to.

So, read through that and look at it and know that God wants you, to, To, to live according to that standard by His grace and through the cross of Christ. Number two, pray for the current elders. Please pray for us. I, I would think that this, this would motivate you to pray for us.

Much could be said there, but moving on, number three, pray for future elders. And then number 4, this is for any of you, this is for anyone who might sense God's call upon him to serve as an elder. Number 4, bring your personal sense of a call to the attention of the elders and take the necessary steps toward being qualified to serve as an elder. Well, guys, with that being said, let's, Look to the Lord in prayer.

I'm going to have to do the best I can to rush us out of here. So, let's look to the Lord in prayer. As the, ushers come forward, please. Heavenly Father, we just pray that you would be raising up from within this body, Lord, men who would serve in the office of overseer.

And I pray, Lord, that you would just help us who are pastors, Lord, to grow in our model and example to become more and more the men of God you want us to be. Help us, Lord, to lead by example. And to effectively serve your people, to minister to them the word of God and to be used by you to build them up, Lord. Lord, we just thank you for the time we've had here.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's seeing how from a foundation.