OPEN: In one medical school, the students were complaining that they didn’t see why a class in Physics was necessary for them to be doctors. Finally one student actually challenged the teacher with that question.
The teacher thought about that for a moment and then said “Well, we study Physics because it will help save lives.”
“Save lives?" Someone said “How could a class in Physics possibly save lives?”
The teacher smiled and replied “It saves lives because it keeps ignorant people from becoming doctors.”
APPLY: In every field of endeavor there are certain qualifications workers need to meet.
* Doctors need to know about diseases, and about how the human body works.
* Electricians need to understand the properties of electrical current and know how wire homes/businesses
* Auto Mechanics need to have a working knowledge of most makes of cars and how their engines work.
These are the kinds of information and skills these people need to do their job right.
When a business needs to hire new workers they’ll often post a help wanted ad - and the ad will tell what requirements necessary for someone to be hired for that job.
Here in Titus chapter 1 (and also in I Timothy 3) God has posted a help wanted ad. God wants good Elders to look after His church… and so He tells us what He expects of these men. According to Paul’s instructions to Titus, these are the qualifications for a good Elder:
· He’s a good husband
· He’s a good father
· He’s not someone who has to have his own way (not overbearing)
· He’s doesn’t get angry easily
· He’s not a drinker
· He’s a honest, gentle man who likes helping people out
· It’s obvious he takes his faith seriously and works at living a holy/disciplined life
· He knows the Bible well enough so that he can use Scripture to encourage believers and oppose heresy
· He must have a strong enough character to stand against immorality and false teachers
These are not optional.
These are requirements for the job.
Paul says “an elder must be…” these things (see footnote #1)
But why?
Why must an Elder “be these things”?
Well, because an Elder’s job is unique.
His job is different than the Preacher’s, Deacons, Sunday School Teachers, etc.
For example, there are a lot of preachers out there who could not be Elders.
Did you know that?
An Elder needs to be married, but there are some preachers who aren’t
An Elder needs to have children who are old enough to show what kind of father he is.
But there are many preachers who don’t have kids.
But why MUST an Elder a good Husband and Father. (Footnote#2)
Because the Elders are role models for the rest of the congregation.
· You want to know how to keep your wife happy?
You should be able to watch the Elders and find out how they treat their wives.
· You want to know how to raise obedient and happy kids?
You should be able to ask an Elder and his wife what he did in his family, and be able to get good answers because they have a proven track record in good parenting.
An Elder is supposed to be the model of what God wants EVERY man in the congregation to become.
He’s the measuring rod.
He’s the yard stick of what good Godly Christian men should be.
But that’s not all an Elder is.
He’s also a Pastor. One of the Shepherds of the flock.
Now I know it’s popular in many churches to call the preacher a Pastor, but that’s not how the term is used Biblically. Titus (who was a preacher) is never referred to as a pastor. Neither was Timothy. Neither was Paul (who wouldn’t have qualified anyway since he was not married).
The Bible reserves the title Pastor for the Elders.
Pastor is a job description of what Elders are called to do.
In I Peter 5, Peter talks to the Elders of a certain church and says to them:
“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds (pastors) of God’s flock that is under your care…” I Peter 5:1-2a
Now notice - whose flock are the Elders shepherds of? (God’s)
The flock doesn’t belong to the Elders… it belongs to God.
Thus, Elders will be held accountable to God for how they lead/ protect His flock.
ILLUS: George Faull tells of the time a church selected a man as an Elder that the preacher knew had taken the job for the prestige it held. The preacher knew the man was wrong for the job, but because of the method the congregation used to select their Elders he couldn’t do anything about it. So, he asked George to come in and give a talk to the Elders.
So George came and talked about the requirements for Eldership found in Titus and I Timothy and he explained the importance and value of a good Elder for the church.
But then he said:
“You need to realize how seriously God takes your role as Elder in this church. On judgment day you’ll have to give an accounting. God will take you personally aside and ask to you to answer for every Christian in this church that stumbled and fell because you didn’t do your job.”
Suddenly, the man who’d just been elected Elder jumped to his feet and cried:
”You guys didn’t tell me that! I don’t want that kind of responsibility. I don’t want this job!” And he walked out of the room and resigned his Eldership.
That man had taken the position of Elder for the wrong reason: prestige.
An Elder should shepherd the flock of God for only one reason: He loves Jesus and wants to protect His sheep.
ILLUS: When Jesus rose from dead, one of the things He did was spend time on the beach with His disciples. The Gospel of John tells us of a conversation Jesus had with Peter at that time:
Three times Jesus asked Peter “Do you love me?”
Each time Peter said yes
After each of Peter’s responses Jesus gave a similar answer:
“Feed my lambs.”
“Take care of my sheep.”
“Feed my sheep.”
The primary motivation for someone who determines to pastor Christ’s flock is the Elder’s love of Jesus.
An Elder holds one of the most critical and valuable roles in the church.
And a church will ONLY be as strong and loving as it’s Elders are.
It’s not a position to be taken lightly.
Elders shepherd the Flock… they lead and pastor God’s people
ILLUS: Economist E.F. Schumacher tells of the time - during World War II, that he worked on a farm
Each day he would count the 32 head of cattle they had, then he’d go do something else.
One day an old farmer told him that if all he did was count the cattle, they wouldn’t survive. Sure enough, one day he counted 31; one was dead in the bushes. Now Schumacher understood the farmer: you must watch the quality of each animal.
“Look him in the eye; study the sheen of his coat. You may not know how many cattle you have, but you might save the life of one that is sick."
In the same way an Elder must do more than count the flock.
He must look each member in the eye, study the sheen of their coats, determine if they’re faith is a healthy thing or if they are sick and need spiritual attention.
Elders are Pastors of the entire flock.
They are your shepherds… and they are mine.
Too often, Elders feel their job is to “Run” the Evangelist. To “Control” him.
This kind of Elder treats the man in the pulpit like a hired man.
As a result the Preachers and Elders in some congregations can become at odds with each other.
That is not a healthy arrangement.
In a healthy church (like ours) the Elders should protect and encourage their preachers.
And the preachers (in turn) should protect and encourage their Elders.
But there are times when Elders need to confront their preachers.
When Paul was about to be taken away to Rome in chains, he asked a group of Ephesian Elders to meet him in a town called Miletus. There he said to them:
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” Acts 20:28-31
In other words good Elders should listen to the preacher’s words and study the Bible to make sure that we say is Biblical and needful for the congregation.
There are times when preachers/teachers can become a danger to the church.
In fact, there are times when even elders can threaten a congregation, and the other Elders must stand against them. Elders need to know the Bible well enough to recognize the difference between good doctrine and bad doctrine and protect the church from the bad stuff.
That’s what Paul told Titus in Titus 1
“(An Elder) must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” Titus 1:9
Now, that’s a serious responsibility.
How can we assist these Elders to do their job properly?
Hebrews tells us “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” Hebrews 13:17
OBEY?
SUBMIT?
But what if I don’t want to?
What if I don’t agree with them?
What if they make decisions that I don’t like or that don’t make sense to ME?
Well, I don’t know, what does Hebrews say?
Does it says “Obey” (yes)
Does it says “Submit”? (yes)
Does it say I have to agree with them? (no)
Whether I agree with them or not - UNLESS the Eldership endorses immorality or heresy - God expects us to honor the Elders by allowing them to lead.
ILLUS: Years ago, I had a couple men come to my office.
They asked if I knew where the “Bylaws” of the church were kept.
Whenever someone asks to see the by-laws of a church… you know you’ve got a problem.
They’re looking for a loophole
Something’s going on in church they don’t agree with and so they want to find a way to do an end run that they can’t find in Scripture. Oftentimes people will use church bylaws and constitutions to actually trump the Bible.
Now I knew that these men and they were good men, but they disagreed with a decision the Elders had made. And I knew what decision the Elders had made that they were upset with.
So I said this:
“Guy I don’t know where the by-laws are.
I haven’t seen them since I became a preacher here.
And I don’t really care where they are or what they say.
But this much I’ll tell you: they had better say that if the Elders make a decision, that’s what we’re going to do. Unless the Elders endorse immorality or heresy I’ll back them 100%.
Even if the Elders make a decision I don’t agree with – it doesn’t matter because if they think a certain policy is the best way to obey God, that’s the way it’s going to be. And anyone who thinks otherwise will have to come thru me to get to them.”
You see, the church is not a democracy – we don’t get to vote on every thing that’s done.
The church is a Theocracy. That means God calls the shots.
And apparently one of the things God calls the shots on is the responsibility of the Elders to make decisions for the local congregation. And God’s expectation that we should willingly honor those Elders by respecting their wishes – even if we don’t agree all the time with them.
To willfully ignore or go against the wishes of the Eldership could be a mark of rebelliousness on our part and might even be a mark of lack of trust in God. Such disobedience could place us outside of God’s Will for our lives.
ILLUS: An excellent example of this issue can be found in I Samuel.
Samuel was a judge/ prophet and priest for Israel.
He was essentially the leader of the people.
But Samuel was getting old, and he had transferred some of his judging responsibilities to his two sons. Unfortunately the sons were dishonest men who took bribes and perverted justice (I Samuel 8:1).
The Israelites reasoned: Samuel is getting old, and one of these days he’s going to die.
And when he dies, we’re going to get stuck with his sons!
So the people of Israel came up with a solution.
They went to Samuel and demanded a King like all the other nations had.
It seemed like a good idea to them at the time. The other nations had kings and it seemed to work ok for them. But Samuel knew that God didn’t want Israel to have a king at this time and he tried to persuade them this was a bad idea.
They, however, rejected his advice and demanded a king.
In I Samuel 8:7 LORD told Samuel:
"Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but THEY HAVE REJECTED ME as their king.”
Israel got their King… but they suffered for it.
So, we must be careful about trying to do end runs around decisions the Elders make.
It may SEEM like a good idea to us at the time, but it could put us outside God’s will.
Because this is such an important matter, it’s critical that we choose good men to be Elders.
How do we do that?
Well, look at Titus 1:5
“The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.”
Hmmm… Titus was to “appoint” elders… they weren’t elected to this office.
Acts 14:23 tells us that “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”
The Bible never tells about the “electing” elders… they were appointed.
Deacons were voted on… but not Elders.
But why?
ILLUS: I have preached for 25 years and I have seen the results of churches who “vote” for their Elders. Usually the vote works in this way: they set a threshold of acceptance. If the candidate gets over 50% of the vote (or 75% or 95%) those candidates are automatically accepted as Elders. It’s like a beauty contest.
Now, our Elders aren’t bad looking by many standards… but they’re not beauty queens.
I served in one congregation where a man was selected in this fashion… but he never should have been an Elder. The only reason he was nominated to begin with was his daddy had been an Elder. And it was well known in the congregation that this man literally hated his mother. But he passed the threshold of votes and became of an Elder in the congregation.
Voting for Eldership is fraught with difficulties and that may be the very reason the Bible speaks of “appointing” these leaders rather than staging a beauty contest where the most popular candidates are accepted.
We have a sister congregation South of Indianapolis that does it differently.
They are congregation of several thousand so it is difficult for the leadership to know everyone as intimately as we can here.
What they do there is: the Preacher and Elders prayerfully consider potential Elder candidates and approach them about taking on this responsibility. If the man is willing to become an Elder, the leadership then presents his name to the congregation for a vote.
BUT this is not a normal kind of vote.
The ballot has a “yes” and a “no”, but the once the votes are cast the leadership only considers the NO votes. And the only NO votes they look at are the ones where the people who voted put their names on the bottom of the ballot.
They then go talk to the people who voted “No” and ask why?
If these people know of a valid reason why the man shouldn’t become an Elder (and the Leadership confirms that the accusation is true) then the man doesn’t become an Elder… even if he 99% positive vote.
They realize how critical the role of Eldership is, and they refuse to allow it to be a beauty contest.
CLOSE: Elders have ONE central task… to shepherd the flock. They are responsible for guiding and protecting God’s congregation.
If they fail in that – they will disappoint their Savior, and that would be a terrible thing.
But if they succeed… God will reward in a very special way for their faithfulness.
ILLUS: There was once a young boy named Paul Gerhardt. His family was very poor, and so – to help make ends meet - he cared for the small flock of sheep and goats on the edge of the forest.
One day a hunter came out from among the trees and asked the lad how far = to the nearest village.
"Six miles, sire," he replied, "but the road is only a sheep track and can easily be missed."
"I’ve lost my way and I am very tired," returned the hunter. "Leave your sheep and show me the way. I will pay you well."
"No, Sire" said Gerhardt. "I cannot do that for they would stray into the forest and be stolen or eaten by the wolves."
"Never mind; your master would never miss one or two, and I would pay you more than the price of one or two sheep."
"But, sire, my master trusts me with these sheep, and I have promised not to leave them."
"Well," said the hunter, "Let me take care of the sheep while you fetch me food from the village and a guide."
"The sheep do not know your voice and would not obey you, sir."
"Can you not trust me? Do I not look like an honest man?" asked the hunter with a frown.
"Sir," said the boy slowly, "You have asked me to break my word to my master and leave his sheep. How do I know that you will keep your word to me?"
The hunter could not help laughing.
"I see you are an honest lad, and I will not forget you," said the hunter. "Which is the path? I must find my way for myself."
But Gerhardt would not let the man depart hungry, so he gave him the humble contents of his scrip. Just at the moment several men came hurrying through the forest uttering shouts of delight as they caught sight of the two of them. Gerhardt had been talking to the Grand Duke and these were his attendants who had been much alarmed at his disappearance.
The Duke was so impressed with the boy’s honesty and trustworthiness that he took him into his home, made sure he was well educated, and rewarded in many other ways.
That is the kind of man God is looking for to shepherd His flock.
And that is the kind of man we’re looking for to help pastor this congregation.
Footnote#1: Both Timothy and Titus are told that an Elder “must be” a certain kind of man. The word used in both I Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:5 is “dei”. This Greek word implies something “must be” or is a “necessity”.
For example, the word is used in Matthew 16:21 where Jesus said “he MUST go to Jerusalem” or Luke 2:49 where Jesus told Mary “know ye not that I MUST be about my Father’s business”.
Footnote#2 Does an Elder need to be a man who’s never been divorced?
Titus and Timothy are both told that an Elder must be the husband of one wife. In the past, the most common interpretation of this phrase was that an Elder must not have been divorced. And – given the language of the text - it appears to be the simplest interpretation as well.
If you consider that an Elder is a “role model” for what God wants from Christian men this makes perfect sense. God hates divorce and desires that all men (who desire to marry) should determine to stay married.
There are those who argue that this penalizes men who have been divorced, but that is as illogical as saying the requirement that Elders must be married to begin with penalizes single men, or the requirement that he must have children penalizes childless husbands.
In the Old Testament, Priests had even stricter requirements. Priests were not allowed to be married to a divorced woman, to a widow - not to mention a prostitute (Leviticus 21:14). Non-priestly Israelites were allowed to be married to these women – but not a priest. A priest was ONLY allowed to be married to someone who was a virgin. More than that Priests were to be of perfect physical condition – they couldn’t be blind, lame or physically marred. Reason? These men represented the best of Israel’s manhood before their God. They were essentially “role models” of God’s perfect creation.
There are also those who argue that the terminology in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1 could be seen as an endorsement of monogamy vs. polygamy. who would have many wives. Thus an Elder was simply a man who the husband of "one wife", or not a polygamist. That would seem to make sense except for one salient fact: Timothy and Titus served in Greek communities, and Greeks were NOT polygamists (neither were the Romans). Even Greece’s pagan gods were monogamists (they may have had many “lovers” – but they only had one wife). Thus the instruction that Elders could not be polygamists would be irrelevant instructions for these preachers in that culture.
