The New Testament reflects an elder based church government. Three interchangeable terms are used to describe the position of elder-leadership in the church. “Elder” (Presubteros πρεσβυτερος) describes spiritual maturity, “Pastor” (Poimen ποιμην) describes shepherding, feeding, guardianship and protection, while “Overseer” (Episkopos επισκοπος) describes authority, oversight and leadership. The general title of the leadership appears to be the elder and the general picture of leadership in the church is that of a plurality of elders who are responsible to guide and care for the church.

On the flip side, the church also has responsibilities to her elders. The church must properly provide for, protect the reputation and holiness of elders and select her elders properly.

How Should The Church Choose Her Elders?

Instantly we have to ask the question, “How should the church choose her Elders?” The answer to that question is the purpose of our text today. Please turn to 1 Timothy 5:22-25. While you're turning there I'll remind you of some of the background.

Early on in the church the Apostles (Acts 14:23) then the apostolic delegates (Titus 1:5) and finally the elders in the churches (1 Tim 4:14) were responsible for the actual ordination of elders in the church. The selection of Deacons, we can see in Acts 6 was done by the entire body of believers and their acceptance and subsequent ordination was performed by the Apostles.

When it comes to the care and feeding of that elusive creature: The Elder – the church has some specific responsibilities. The first is to provide which we covered last week. The second is to protect.

In 1 Timothy 5:19-21 we have a few simple guidelines for protecting the reputation and holiness of an elder. Church discipline is never a fun topic – but it is a necessary one.

The principles of Church discipline are laid out in Matthew 18:15-20. Let's read that text again for a refresher. <read it> The quick principles then are:

1. Go talk to a sinning believer in private to urge them to repent.

2. If he refuses to listen, take one or two witnesses with you for another private meeting.

3. If he refuses to heed all three of you, inform the entire church.

4. If he refuses to heed the church – have nothing to do with him until he repents.

I feel the need for a brief rabbit trail here to motion to Matthew 18:19-20 there and ask you to pay attention to this church discipline context. This is not a gang up on God and you'll get what you want prayer formula. This is a confirmation that in the midst of the distress of church discipline the Lord is there to confirm his word of holiness.

The question of our text in Timothy is whether or not the procedures are somehow different for an elder. The answer to that is “NO”. The principles of Matthew 18 are brought to bear on the pastor/elder as well as any Christian. The focus on this passage however looks at the first aspect with a desire to protect an elder's public integrity.

I have said before that there is nothing whatsoever that you or I can do to make God love us more. That is the truth. He already loved you enough to send his son to die in your place. But that does not rule out the amount of pleasure God takes in us. Certainly God is pleased with faithfulness and disappointed with faithlessness. If your own children stray into error you do not cease to love them but you are grieved by them. When your own children walk in obedience and wisdom you do not love them more but you are certainly brought joy by them. The question before us then is, "What can I do to bring God Joy because of me?" The answer is: "walk in obedience." As John writes in third John, "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." (3 John 1:4)

As you open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 3:13 we come to the conclusion of this passage on deacons. It won't be the last mention in Timothy concerning proper church polity but it does close the requirements for the office with a great encouragement for those in the position of deacon to be diligent and faithful in their execution of the office.

"The third chapter began with a word of encouragement for anyone aspiring to the office of [overseer]. The section for the deacons ends..."¹ with a similar encouragement for deacons. The remaining serves as an incentive for deacons to do a good job at their given post.

It is easy to perceive why an incentive might be needed. Being a servant in any capacity is often perceived as a thankless task. But being able to look forward to the coming reward is

Last week during the Sunday School hour, most of us had an opportunity to hear a very impassioned and very biblical message on the Centrality of the home from Voddie Baucham. In many ways it was a direct application of what we have been learning already regarding the centrality of the home in determining the eligibility of both Elders and Deacons. Note for just a moment that I did not just say deaconesses - there is a reason for that exclusion.

Do yourself a favor and open either your own Bible or a pew Bible (page ###) to 1 Timothy 3:10-12. This portion comes in a specific context concerning the proper selection of both deacons and deaconesses. For the sake of Context, I would like to read together with you the first 13 verses of the chapter. {Read 1 Timothy 3:1-13}

If we continue to take our text in the order it is written the resolution of verse 10 will come before the end in verse 12. The resolution is recorded in the tenth verse and it is simply this: Test the deacons and then let them serve if they past the test. But then Paul quickly follows with two more statements which serve to emphasize two key issues.

The first issue in verse 11 we already investigated and came to the conclusion that Paul must be describing a blanket description of the requirements for women servants in the church whom I will call deaconesses. These are not merely general women in the congregation nor are they specifically the wives of the deacons. Deaconesses must be dignified, not malicious gossips, they must be temperate and faithful in all things. These four broad statements help to identify a woman who is fit to serve the church.

I asked you to observe that I did not mention the deaconesses when I said that the home is central in determining the eligibility of both elders and deacons to serve in the church. That is because the second major issue which Paul brings to us after the resolution is that of the Deacon's home life. In this context with the eleventh verse concerning deaconesses immediately preceding it we need to specifically focus in on the men who fulfill the post of servant ministry. In order for any man to be qualified to be a servant of the church of the Living God in an official capacity his home life must be exemplary.

That is why those who may fill the official servanthood roles of deacon or deaconess must be tested.

Fit To serve - Part Two

Every one of us are called to be servants and yet in Acts 6 the early church saw a distinct need to select and ordain a unique group of men for a specific servant task in the church. They did not merely select warm bodies for the job a practice that is all too common today. What they did was issue a call for the congregation to select seven worthy men who could be trusted completely to do the job not only with integrity but in righteousness as well. It was required that they would be fit to serve the church.

Fit to Serve

The very concept of servanthood which we hold needs to be rewritten. We to often envision servants as unqualified to do truly important jobs - but being a servant is the highest calling in the church. In John 13, Jesus gave one of the most vivid examples of servanthood in the scriptures when he washed his disciples feet. Moreover, when the disciples began to argue about who was the greatest of all, Jesus told them that the greatest must be the servant of all.

When needs arose in the early church the apostles did not do what we normally and unfortunately do. Our common solution is to just shove any warm body into positions of service in the church. But the disciples understood something which we all too often miss: you need to be qualified to be a servant of the Living God.

Warm bodies are not sufficient. Neither does languid faith or weak doctrine make you worthy to bear the title, "Servant of the Church of The Living God". To be certain, anyone who wants to serve God can do so without needing to be a super-saint first. But long before you enter a role of official service you need to be mature. The role of deacon or servant was first of all just a description of a job. But in due time it also became a title. My question for you this morning is "Do you have what it takes to be a servant?" Are you "Fit To Serve"?

JustAs the church began to grow and change from the band of Apostles and about an hundred followers of Jesus it strained under the sudden addition of three thousand souls on the day of Pentecost. Surely God was teaching them also in that time that he was in charge of the church and he will grow it according to his design. Many of the difficulties which arose early came as a result of that growth.

What happens at home stays at home! Well, not exactly. One of the key issues during President Clinton's term in office was the divide created during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. A great deal of ink was spilt arguing both for and against the point that the quality of a person's private life weighed significantly upon their capacity for effective public service. From the perspective of scripture it becomes clear, however, that the home life is far from unrelated to the public life it is at essence a microcosm which exposes the real person.

I want to rephrase that another way because, much like a surgeon's scalpel serves to provide an opening so that he may repair what is broken inside - I want to peel back for you the layers so that you can see the areas of your own life which is most in need of surrendering to God. Do not take this as an opportunity to think to yourselves, "Ah this is a sermon that (so and so) needs to hear!" Rather this is a personal message for you.

It is relatively easy to "put on the plastic Jesus" when you get out of the car on Sunday morning and pretend that everything is alright. But your performance in front of other people really isn't all that impressive to God. Because your performance really isn't an insight into your heart. But something happens when you live in close proximity to other people; we tend to let our guard down and in many ways expose who we really are to those in our own households when the doors are closed and the curtains are drawn.

When that happens who are you?

Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone and finding them to be disagreeable in a variety of ways? Maybe they have a bad attitude or they have habits that make them out to just be the kind of person you don't want to hang around with. Now, imagine meeting that person and then after you've formed all your opinions you find out that they are a Christian or worse yet, a pastor. The effects can be catastrophic.

From the positive requirements of what the elder or pastor should be, Paul moves now to what we must not be.

How many of you have been to the Grand Canyon? Did you take pictures of the whole canyon? It really doesn't matter how big your camera is you simply cannot take one complete picture of the Grand Canyon. If you want a picture of the Grand canyon you're going to have to take hundreds of photographs and stitch them all together into one massive photo.

When you look into the qualifications to be an overseer or pastor what you're really getting is one snapshot of maturity in Christ. It's not a complete picture but it is a good picture. As much as that picture describes what Pastor's should be, it also describes what every believer should be growing to be. As such it is best understood as a series of Character traits which manifest or display themselves in daily life.