Shepherding - Recognition 02 — Acts 14

0:00 What we've been talking about is shepherding. And so far, to kinda recap where we've been, we've been talking about the mindset of the shepherd. So that's pretty important because we can we can approach the work of shepherding with a totally different and maybe erroneous reference point. And when we do that, then we're sort of shooting ourselves in the foot before we even start to walk. And so that's why we took John 10 apart hopefully in detail and hopefully in a manner that began to help us see how the Lord Jesus Christ views shepherding.

0:38 It's a huge part of his philosophy if you will. And so we looked at John 10 in that capacity. And then what we did is we looked at John 21 and we realized, wow, the Lord Jesus actually demonstrated shepherding in the life of Peter. And we saw the tenderness that he had towards Peter but we also saw his instruction to Peter. Peter, we...

1:02 I want you to take care of my lambs. I want you to feed my flock. And in so doing, he restores Peter's dismal, how should we say, dismal performance at being loyal to the savior, not to say that anybody, any of us would have done any better, but truly the Satan was trying to strategically remove him. And the Lord Jesus visits him and sort of brings him back and and he says, he ends the conversation with the same two words that he started the conversation three years ago, follow me. And so Peter then follows the Lord Jesus, becomes a huge spokesperson in the first third or so of the book of Acts and then writes us at least two letters and perhaps a gospel through the pen of Mark and gives us much information about the savior.

1:57 But one of the things he does in his epistles is that he actually says the very words of Christ, shepherd the flock of God. That was what he learned. That's what he was taught. And you get this idea there are many years, decades passed between the conversation of John 21 and the writing of first Peter chapter five. And so we looked at first Peter five and we saw the the...

2:21 Both the positive and the negative emphasis of those statements. He he even said, you know, shepherd the flock of God willingly not under compulsion. That was sort of a balance, a positive and a negative. And then what we did is we analyzed that, we said, well, now we need to be a little more specific about the work. We've kind of been talking about the work of what a shepherd does.

2:48 We've talked about it in John 10. We've talked about it in John 21. We talked about it in first Peter five. But Acts 20 gave us a lot of details. Everything from prayer to guarding to teaching, the house to house concept, the whole idea of of having the example of not pilfering, of of providing to give, to be a giver, all those things that that is done.

3:15 And so we we we really got a bird's eye view, almost a full crate, a full bushel of this work of the shepherd. Now, in the assembly life that is the the church of God, we come down to a point where we need to kinda put our feet on the ground to get traction to the road. And when we talk about that, a lot of times what we talk about is, well, how do we go about actually recognizing shepherds? That is holy spirit appointed individuals to serve in the capacity of elder or overseer. So I'd like to spend some time visiting about that tonight and it'll probably take us a couple of sessions but I want to give some concepts to this discussion.

4:07 Now, in order to to just do this right, I would like to begin by reviewing the two concepts that come to us of descriptions of the church leader and one is the word bishop or overseer, episcopas, and that has this idea of watching over with the intent of managing. And I made the... A point that... By the way, that word is in first Timothy three two. And I made the point to say that, hey, listen that there's a sense in which you may not do everything but you may oversee, manage.

4:42 It it doesn't have to be always on the fingertip level. And then we talked about the word which is the word used 20 verse 17 and that word truly has the idea of older. Now when you look at it based on the work that they're supposed to do, the... You get this idea especially from the qualifications, not a novice, lest they be lifted up with pride, that this is a person who has maturity. A person who doesn't have pride for example, doesn't wrestle with those I need to be first in everything kind of attitudes.

5:20 A person that has maturity. Now that doesn't necessarily equate to chronological age, but it does equate with development of life experiences. And so so that kinda has that tone... A tone to it. Now...

5:38 Oh, and by the way, as a little aside, I was given a couple of questions that I think we're gonna answer tomorrow night. So if you have submitted questions or get pass those to me through Andy or something, I plan to talk about those tomorrow night. I just wanted to say that so that I don't leave anybody hanging. Okay. So we've got elders and we've got bishops, excuse me, and elders and those are the two sort of...

6:19 Let's let's look at the scripture, Acts fourteen twenty three. Alright. Acts fourteen twenty three. This will be again foundation in preparing to the four things that we know. Alright.

6:31 So in this particular discussion, historical record, we we have a missionary journey in play. And if you'll look at it closely with me, it has to deal with of course Paul and his traveling companions and I'd like to read beginning verse 21. And they... When they had preached the gospel to that city, that's Derby, and many had made many disciples, they returned so they went back the way they came to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. Number two, they were...

7:07 So they returned is number one. Number two, they strengthened the souls of the disciples. So notice this sort of shepherding idea already. They said this, we exhorted them to continue in the faith. Alright?

7:19 So they they said, hey, listen. You you have to compress on. And the reason why because in those cities, they already had persecution and that's why they make this reference through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. In other words, if it's hard, it's hard for a reason because that's part of what it is to be a Christian. Verse 23, so when they appointed elders in every church having or prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

7:51 Okay. That's that's a big scripture. Now, the word appointed, I can't pronounce it. It's like it's like Cherninos. I can't say it well.

8:02 And and the root... The etymology of the word means to choose by raising your hand. Raising your hand is part of the idea. And if you take the etymology and say, oh, so what they did was they raised their hands and I guess that's a vote. Right?

8:21 Well, no. No. Not actually. When you look at the literature, for example, the ancient near eastern literature of that era or by Philo, for example, it hadn't... It really didn't refer to voting, it referred to chosen beforehand.

8:38 And so what you find is that Paul and I believe this was Silas with him at this point, as they were traveling, they went back through apostolic authority and they, that is the two men, did the selection process. It's very important we see that. We must... So when they... What's the antecedent today?

9:04 Well, that's the the the apostles who are going going back through the cities. They did the recognition or the appointing elders plural in every church every church. And so that means presumably one church per city. Notice it was plural, of course. I don't think it means one elder in each city.

9:28 And and furthermore, it was saturated with prayer and fasting. Now, Alexander Straub did a nice piece on this and there's a little sub article in his book Biblical Eldership. It's about page a 130 or so and he does a little word study on this term and he makes the case very strongly even if you read his footnotes that this wasn't really voting by the congregation. And the reason why is because grammatically, the word they, the plural pronoun they was referring to the two... To Paul and Silas going through and appointing Paul being an apostle, not the church doing the appointing.

10:11 So you have these direct individuals of authority of Jesus Christ making observational statements and decisions for those local churches. Now, of our brothers in our history would say, oh, well, we don't have apostles anymore so therefore we can't really appoint elders. But then that theory would negate the fact that the same... Specifically Paul, then wrote for us twice the qualifications of elders and we have documented, as I tried to point out, incredible information, plentiful information on the work of the elder. So in other words, what was the criteria they used to appoint?

11:00 And that's what we're gonna go through tonight. Number one, I want you to look back in acts... No. We'll do it this way. I want you to look in first Timothy chapter three and verse one.

11:13 Alright? First Timothy chapter three and verse one. I'm just gonna pull it up on my iPad. First Timothy three and verse one. Now, this this first thing that this first sort of pillar or corner, think of it as a boundary line is the word desire.

11:32 I'll read it for you. First Timothy three one, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of bishop, he desires a good work. Now, in the context, I think Timothy is an emphasis and Paul is going to talk about the qualifications for elders, but his first opening statement has to deal with an internal longing, a reaching out, a yearning for this particular work. Now, it's difficult to quant... To measure that, isn't it?

12:09 It's difficult to go to a brother and say, hey, do you desire? Do you yearn for the work of the elder or to be an elder? Because a lot of times, men, most of them are humble will say, oh no. I would I would never. I've never presumed that upon myself.

12:28 I'm not worthy of that calling. And so they have a very humble approach to that sort of question. And so what what you're... What you want to know is not whether they aspire to that so they can be in charge, but what you want to know is has the Lord worked in their lives that they yearn for something like that, they yearn to do that. And you have to ask the question in the right way.

12:54 So for example, I've learned to ask the question this way, if God has called you is... If he has made it clear just in this hypothetical question that he would like you to be an elder, would you have a natural affinity for that where you are today? That's how I ask the question. I sort of remove this sort of hint that maybe I'm... You're asking me if I'm trying raise to the top.

13:21 I try to remove that and ask the question without that intonation, that connotation so that they... So that we can just deal with where the Lord has you with your with your philosophy of ministry and motivation. Now, sometimes you can kinda see it because generally speaking, the person that has a desire will naturally start doing the shepherding work, maybe not all of it, but at least some of it on certain levels and that's one of the things you see. But it indicates that there's a yearning in the heart. Now for me personally, whenever I saw the sheep of God, I have to tell you that my heart just ate when there was disorder.

14:08 My heart burned when there was problems for the sheep. I didn't want them to be all a flitter all a flutter and unable to find food and and meandering and wandering off. That bothered me so much partly because it bothered my savior's heart and according to Ezekiel 34, really bothered the heart of God. So that that began to make me... Well, I just yearn to see the people of God shepherded.

14:36 I didn't think it was gonna be me, but I yearn for that that that was a real burning in my soul. And that's exactly what you're trying to uncover. So the very first pillar when we talk about shepherding or recognizing shepherds is this sort of god given sort of passion. Now if you don't have that god given passion, I don't think you should fret because quite honestly, the lord can really spark that within you. But it is something we need to consider.

15:08 Now what is the second thing we need to consider? The second... Oh, and by the way, just to finish this out, it says he desires a good work. That means it's a beautiful thing. It's noble.

15:19 It's... Has intrinsic honorability, if you will. I I want you to know that I think we have done a disservice to the generation before us when we talk about being an elder as a ticket to death row. I've I've heard it too many times. Oh, wow.

15:38 You're gonna be an elder. Well, welcome to the club. We get shot to pieces. Well, you know, according to the word of God, it's an honorable work. It's the noble work.

15:49 It's a good work. Why is that? Why is it such a good work? Because the Lord Jesus, that's his work. This is what he does.

15:57 This is how this is how he love this is how he loves to function as a shepherd. And so I think we have to understand that let's not let the obstacles and the hindrances and the difficulties of the work of shepherding color the fact that the spirit of God calls it a good work, beautiful, honorable, worth doing. And of course, he says it's a good work meaning thing to do, activity. It's a it's a lovely undertaking. It's a work.

16:30 It does... It requires some energy and measure of sacrifice on your part. That's what he means. Okay. Just to complete that line of the scripture.

17:02 And the very first one that I've mentioned will be the desire. It's not the most important but it is the first one. Okay? This... Going to mention is in first Thessalonians five twelve.

17:16 I want you to read this with me. And we urge you, brethren... Now Paul is at the end of his letter, he's giving a lots of sort of rapid fire instructions and he comes to this when he says, we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor before you. Now the word recognize has some connotation to it and it it means... It it it can mean several things.

17:40 It it has the idea of knowing who labors among you. So that's a pretty important word because it goes against this idea that we can't recognize elders today who are not appointed by the apostles. This word means that you know who they are. And I... By no means do I intend to crucify anybody of a differing opinion.

18:03 I'm just saying the scripture here, that word has a strong connotation to know who they are. Now there's another sort of aspect to it and it really mean... It really has the aspect of honor and respect. And the reason why that's important is because in this context, there is a measure of dealing with the unruly in verse 14. So there would be an appropriate connotation of honor and respect as the...

18:33 The unruly to those who are laboring. But notice that it says the word labor. Know those who labor. Now what does the word labor mean? It means fatiguing work, work that wears you out.

18:52 Now what kind of work is that? Well, it clearly has to be spiritual. Look at the rest of the verse. Who are over you in the Lord. Alright?

19:02 Now, the idea of being over you in the Lord carries the concept of helping, guiding, leading along. So it sounds like we're dealing with the elder or the shepherd. So the person that you give honor and respect to is the person who's doing this tedious wearing me out work and therefore are over you in the Lord. So it seems to be a very spiritual type of discussion. We're gonna we're gonna say that's the elder and why is that?

19:39 Because they do things like admonish you. That's a summary word for the teaching that Paul was given in Acts where you have to guard the nose from without and nose from within and making sure there's no external attack or internal subversion. And then, it says you esteem them highly, that's where you get the idea of honor and respect because notice this, the esteem them highly in love for their work's sake. So it goes back to the labor. They also must give an answer for your soul in another scripture.

20:14 Must give an answer for you. So what is my point? Point number one is we have a pillar over here and it's this idea of desire yearning. Point number two, you have a person who is demonstrating the labor of it all. And of course in this context, my response to such a person.

20:34 So it's really important we know what the shepherd does. Many times in my... Not many times, once in my life I've... Somebody called me up and they said, well, we want to recognize the elders. What does the elder do?

20:50 I'll never forget this conversation. And I said, well, what do you think the elder does? And without hesitation, instantly the comment on the other line, other end of the phone was, well, they handle the money. I said, what? Yes.

21:06 They handle the money. That is their job is to take care of the money. Well, I have to ask you, in all of our discussions about the work of the elder, acts 20 specifically, was there anything said about them handling the money? No. It actually said you work with your hands so you'd be ready to give, it's more blessed to give than to receive.

21:29 So if they handle the money, they're giving it away and usually it's giving it away from their own resources. But sort of managing like you're a CFO of an organization, I would suggest that's foreign to the concept or the labor of the elder. In fact, I don't think you can make that case at all. You can say that the apostles, spiritually minded men were somehow involved with the distribution of money for the Hellenistic widows, but they quickly diverted that, offloaded it to a bunch of other capable individuals which I might add, one was the first martyr and one was the knownly named evangelist in the bible to manage that practical problem which by the way sets up the model, the template for deacons that when the needs of the local church are to a point where they overwhelm the spiritual care, ministry of the word of God and prayer, then we need those to come alongside and offload other responsibilities so that we can stay to task of the word of God and prayer. That's kinda how deacons sort of come into being.

22:42 Now granted, you can't take Acts seven as a formed well developed church at that point. I agree. But it does set a sense of a model, a template to follow. Alright. So we know two things.

22:55 We know that there is this idea of yearning, this idea of labor. And I went through lots of labor discussions with you talk which I've I've already said so I won't be labor. Now, what's the third thing we know? Well, the third thing that we know is that the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Now, I believe that's back in Acts 20 if I remember correctly.

23:23 So I'll go back to Acts 20 and let's see. I... Yeah. Let's see. Where did I skip that verse earlier?

23:30 Meant to read... Oh, yeah. Verse 28. Acts twenty twenty eight. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

23:48 Now the idea there is that the Holy Spirit has been working, energizing, exercising, convicting, bringing a refinement to their... To the individual elders there so that they are are sort of picked, if you will, not by the congregation, but by the Holy Spirit. Now, what this does for you is it it helps us understand that the spirit of God is the primary and most important coordinator of everything about the assembly. This is a truth that we have held dear to us. The superintendent of the spirit of God.

24:33 Now, what's happened is it's been dumbed down and it's been dumbed down because in the flesh, we can say, well, I'm being led by the spirit and yet it was only the flesh and it diminishes the value of the truth because after all, all you gotta do is say I'm being being led by the spirit and you can do whatever you want. And the answer to that sort of example is I would say that example is sin. There can be no flesh. It has to be the spirit of God leading. I'm gonna explain in just a little bit how that works, but I want to make the point that the by far and away most important pillar of all of our discussion, the most important boundary to our sandbox is the Holy Spirit setting a person apart, qualifying the elder, working in their lives for the desire, and bringing them to do at least a measure of the work of God.

25:31 So the Holy Spirit is key. I believe that when we talk about elders, we do not actually cast our vote to who we think is right. We are... And this is... Write this one down.

25:44 We are discerning what the spirit of God is already doing. I'm a say that again. When we recognize elders, we are not casting a vote to my favorite person or to the one that I even think is spiritually the best. We are discerning. We are looking at the spirit of God, looking at the work that he's doing in our assemblies and we're saying, spirit, what is it that you're doing here that I should recognize?

26:18 That's that's what Paul and Silas were doing. When they appointed, we... I think they used these criteria because they recorded for us this evidence in the New Testament. So what were they looking for? Were they looking for their favorite guy?

26:33 No. They were looking for those the spirit of God raised up. They're looking for those who had the yearning. You're looking for those who are doing the work and, of course, the qualifications which I'll talk about in a second. And so the spirit of God, we we are actually thinking, looking, seeing what he's doing.

26:50 Now isn't this how we send missionaries out? We look at a person as they are exercised in the assembly, they're very evangelistic, they're very shepherding, they're very active and and and busy and they they wanna see the work of God go forward. You can hear it in how they pray, You can hear it in how they fast. You can see it if you will. You can hear it in their ministry.

27:11 You can hear it in their passion. And you and you you know, you're being fed by such things. And you go, wow. It seems like God is really working in your life. Are are maybe he's separating you out to another service.

27:24 That's what we do when we talk about missionaries and commendation. And that's what we do when we do... We talk about elders. The spirit of God is working in someone's heart and we are looking for those telltale signs and when they're seen, we as we know them, we honor them, we respect them. And in this case, I make the point that we officially recognize them.

27:51 Alright? So I I want you to see the Holy Spirit. It is not it is not my decision, it's discerning the decision the spirit of God has already made for us. Now if you don't think the spirit of God has made that decision, then you are cast upon the Lord and you wait until he has made that clear to us. That's very important.

28:18 Don't don't move forward in the decision of oversight unless there is a good... The body has seen the spirit of God's hand. That's how it happened when they sent out Paul and Barnabas and I'm thinking that this is the pattern that Paul duplicated when he came through this part of his missionary journey. Alright. The last pillar.

29:11 Now I want to warn you though, a lot of times we will just look at the qualifications and we look at a person and we just match up their life to the qualifications. But that's only one fourth of the equation. It's not just the qualification. Those... That's hard criteria that we could use and we default to it but it's the labor, it's the spirit of God's work, and it's their yearning.

29:39 It's all four of these. Don't get them confused. If you if you make one one side of the sandbox bigger than the others, then the whole structure is doomed to fail. So I strongly urge you that when we talk about qualifications, be careful not to let that be the final decision making factor of all decisions. It is just as important they work, it's just as important they're yearning and it's most important the spirit of God is singling them out.

30:11 Alright. So having said that disclaimer, let's talk about a few of these qualifications. Now, this list you can turn with me back to Timothy, first Timothy chapter three. And in this list, I'll go through them in order and when the ones that are different from the record in Titus come up, I will mention those. Okay?

30:34 So number one, it says, blameless. A bishop then must be blameless. Now I feel this is Steve Price's interpretation that blameless is sort of the flagship. It's the leader of the core. It's the one that sets the tone for everything else.

30:52 And in my very humble opinion, I think everything else tells you what blameless list looks looks like. So I... And the reason why I say that is because blameless is much more of a general term and when you get down to the specifics, for example, not greedy for money, that seems to be so specific it almost becomes an example of what blamelessness is. So I think we wanna see that tone to the text that this is this is blamelessness and if these factors apply then these are... This is the way the factors should appear.

31:29 Alright? So let's start. It says blamelessness. Now blamelessness means of course beyond reproach, beyond criticism, no charges can be laid against a person. That's pretty important.

31:44 They they have a really unique character that has a sense of integrity and purity. Not the kind of person that has an excuse for everything and can explain it away, but they have no reason to be even accused. You see, it's even before that. Many people say they're blameless because you can't prove that. You don't have any evidence of that.

32:13 Well, sometimes there is evidence, you just haven't found it. And so it's not the person that can explain accusations away, it's the person that has no accusations which can be made. That's the idea. The the second one is the husband of one wife. Now, is a very interesting comment because it's very hard to to say, well, what does that mean?

32:39 And people's views on divorce and remarriage come into the play here and and I'm I'm... I tend to look at this statement as the literal statement which says a one woman man or a husband of one singular wife. And so I I tend to side in the camp that be speaks of monogamy in marriage and specifically not polygamy. I also think that that each each group, your group included, will have to deal with the issue of divorce and whether a divorced person can be an elder or not. I have my own personal opinion on that and it would be better to share that with you maybe in the q and a.

33:30 Also, would point out that this be speaks of fidelity in marriage, faithfulness in marriage. That's very important. The faithfulness of the marriage. One man, one... Excuse me, one woman man, not a man for many women.

33:49 And so I strongly urge that or emphasize that viewpoint. Now, of course, the question comes up with what what about if you're, you know, you're not having sexual affairs but, you know, you commit the sin of harlotry in the heart. And of course, a lot of that today has to deal with lusting on the internet with pornography. And so... And then the comment is made, well, know, said that if you lust in a woman in your heart, it's the same as committing physical adultery.

34:28 Now, I think what we do, we need to have have just a little bit of a better understanding. When Jesus said that, what he was saying, his overall teaching was was that the Sermon on the Mount is explaining just how far reaching the solid commands of God's word intend to go to the very heart and core of your existence. Now, true that you're guilty of adultery all the time every time if you lusted a woman, then it also means that you have committed murder every time you get very very very very mad at somebody. But we're not jailing people for actually murder when they're really really really really mad at somebody, are we? No.

35:14 The point that Jesus is making is I want my word that has definition to extend beyond the definitions and touch your very core. I'm not sure that the lord Jesus intended you to go to jail for saying I'm really really really mad at you. Right? Therefore, if that's true, then I'm not sure that that's the same emphasis we should put for adultery by lusting in the heart. Did I say it's wrong?

35:44 Of course, it's wrong. Of course, it's sin. That's what Jesus is saying. That's what... That...

35:48 That's where I think we can definitely agree. Nonetheless, I believe we need to emphasize fidelity in the marriage. So if you're an individual that's caught in the pornographic web or the lustful sin of harlotry, trust to you that that's a bigger issue than just a husband of one wife qualification. What that means is is that the lust of the flesh has so dominated your fire... The core of your being that it has become your idol.

36:21 It is your idolatry and that is infinitely worse than anything else and certainly would remove you from a qualification as an elder. But the sin of idolatry is taken so seriously in the bible that it even mentions it multiple times in the New Testament. Covetousness is idolatry is what it says in the New Testament. So I wanted to point out brothers and sisters that struggling, dealing, fighting that battle. Yes, it may be an...

36:53 Lifelong battle. Yes, it may be a recurrent situation. But what you want to do is be honest before God about that. Because I'm pretty sure you can ask any man any time of the day or any man you can say, have you lusted in the last twenty four hours? And every one of them would say, most likely.

37:12 So I I I'm trying to point out the balance here. Alright. Temperate is what it says in verse two. The man must be temperate. Now, in classical Greek, it means to not mix with wine.

37:26 Isn't that interesting? But the implication is that you're restrained. You're restrained in in respect to alcohol. It would infer a sound clear mind, not something that's clouded by other substances. Now, what that implies is that there is a sense of self control that you're not being manipulated by external factors.

37:56 So external factors could be, for example, the world of pornography, could be alcohol, could be drugs, could be other substances which we might not even consider drugs, it could be, for example, marijuana, you know. People ask me, well where does it say in the bible I should not use marijuana, right? Well, Mary Joana is not in the bible but there is a whole lot of things that says this, I will not be mastered... I I will not be mastered by anything so that I can serve Christ and Christ alone. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient, profitable.

38:37 Those are Paul's thinking, though Paul's thoughts for the Christian life and I would suggest that we need to really have some respect to that. What else can control you externally as an application of this concept? Bitterness, greed, hatred, all the sins of the heart that James mentions in chapter three. So I I want to make sure that we look at this qualification and apply it as far as we can. Excuse me.

39:06 Excuse me. Now, I want you to look at the next word sober minded. It means sound mind, a little bit of self discipline in one's thinking, judgment, being rational. Now when I hear... When this thought comes out, it means that there are a...

39:24 There's a sense of being able to navigate through perhaps an array of details and with clarity be able to come to a reasonable decision. It's rational. One of the things that can happen in in an elder is that you are controlled by your emotions. So any little news of some catastrophe, ah, what's going on? And after you blow by the initial emotional response, then you think logically.

39:57 What I think the scripture is saying is, I want you to be of a person that is first of all going to be sound in your judgment, reasonable, rational. And if I may by default not dominated by emotional responses. I think that would be a fair application. A flight of ideas is a term we use in medicine describing someone who cannot keep their thoughts in order. They fly over here and then another word makes them bounce over to another subject.

40:33 They might be talking about the birds and then they said, well, the birds remind me of the bees and then they talk about the bees and the bees remind me of honey. So I'll talk about honey. And they're just all over the place and you can never get them to flow in a sequential order to a conclusion. It's a pretty important aspect I think as an elder. Alright.

41:26 It is one of the qualifications which are a little bit broader and less specific than I would like, but I think the other qualifications such as just and holy and tightest sort of fill in the blanks with this one. What's hospitable? Well, hospitable is showing care and love to strangers. It's kindness that is shown to those who are outside your circles. So hospitality or hospitableness is really important.

41:55 Now, the reason why the scripture highlights this is because it means to show that love and kindness to strangers. And why would God want you to do that? Because stranger. You were estranged from God. You were separated from the commonwealth of Israel and God came to you and he saved you as a stranger.

42:17 So in the Good Samaritan parable, you're the Jewish man on the ground and the stranger, Jesus Christ comes by and rescues you. You're a stranger to the Samaritan, he was a stranger to you but he exercised kindness to the stranger to him. And it goes back into the Old Testament. You be kind to the stranger for you were strangers too in the land of Egypt. And that just carries this idea that God has a huge tender spot for those who are outside because that's what sin did.

42:49 It made you outside. And so when he says hospitable, it's reflecting this whole doctrinal thesis of God where he wants you to be sensitive to the very attitude that caused him to come to look for you and invite you in for dinner. And that's that's kind of how we're... I think we need to to think about it. Therefore, in my activity, you'll see kindness to the stranger.

43:16 Kindness to the stranger, love to the stranger does not just come in the form of having a meal in your house. That's a big one. It's very obvious. It's very clear. It's it's not a hard example to to appreciate.

43:29 But kindness to the stranger can happen in so many other ways. It can happen to just being kind to those, gentle to those in the regular community especially when they mess up. Somebody runs over your yard, somebody runs into your house or your car. Those are strangers to you and you show kindness and grace to them. It's strangers by just simply having a sense of of helpfulness in the community.

43:58 One of the great things that Jay Nicholson does down in the Deep South is he has become a servant in the community and it shows his kindness to the stranger and it's actually most recently generated the way he wrote a letter a letter to the editor. His kindness was recognized by the publisher of the paper and invited him to write every... Twice a month a piece on religion in the public paper to his region, readership of 20,000 people. Kindness to the stranger looks and feels with many different sets of criteria. So I think having people in your home is one version of that but don't forget there's other versions to appreciate.

44:41 Able to teach. Now, is so important. It means in the skillful art of teaching and communicating. Now, not everyone has to... It was asked to me, does there any...

44:53 Do you have to be a pastor or keep gifted as a pastor or teacher to be an elder? No. No. Because in this list, it says you you wanna be apt to teach, you know, have some sort of appreciation and ability to do that. It implies that you didn't come with it.

45:12 And so I think I think we need to to at least consider that. Now, there are many different levels of this. There is the guy that can instruct on a one on one level and they're like Spurgeon. There's a guy that can teach on a one on 1,000 level and they sound like Spurgeon. But if you get...

45:30 If you give that guy the one person, he can't get it. He can't talk his way out of a paper sack. And the same can apply. You got a guy that's great one on one, one on two but you give him a thousand people, he's he's he's gonna choke on himself. Also, it's it's not in terms of holding a person's attention for an hour.

45:51 It's, you know, there are some men out there that can really say something that's golden in ten minutes and it's like the best little manna you've ever received. And some people, you give them an hour, they choke on themselves. You give some guys, you give them an hour and they sound like Spurgeon and you give them ten minutes, you wish they never heard them in your life. So there's many variations of this theme and it's also something that can be cultivated. There are homiletical skills that can be learned and developed.

46:21 It's apt to teach. It's a it's a thinking in that process and interest in that way. Developing capability. It may not mean that you're only gifted as a teacher. Not given to watch much wine, now that sounds a little bit like temperate but this idea is sort of prone to excessive use of alcohol is what he's saying to the point of intoxication.

47:21 You don't... You're not... It's not acceptable to be bullish as an elder. Bullish means that you're manipulating by passive aggressive ways, what you don't say, body language, facial contortions, trying to bully people that sort of this violent idea into your opinion. No.

47:42 That's... That cannot be done. Some... It may not... We may not do it physically but it can be do...

47:47 Done verbally or non verbally. I would suggest that we need to curtail our debater of being a debater as an elder. You know, being somebody who can debate well, who can quarrel well is not a compliment. Alright? You're a great attorney but you're not a great elder.

48:08 An elder doesn't have that sort of thing where they're going to win the case every time because you're discerning the spirit of God. What if you win the argument but the spirit of God didn't want it anyway? Well, you you just really missed the boat there. And so so we have to have this facet about a person. Not greedy for money.

48:28 Shamelessly greedy for fond of dishonest gain. Now, what this means is by implication is that there needs to be a healthy regard for money of what it is and what it's not. That that are... That you cannot serve two masters because you either love the one and hate the other or hate the one and love the other. And usually, the idea is that you're gonna hate God and love love wealth.

48:57 And so the elder cannot be controlled by such external passions of soul which isn't the lust of the flesh, it's the lust of the eyes. And so he says, you wanna be careful about that. So I've seen so many men and have gotten into careers in which earning financial, remuneration is easy. And what happens is it becomes sort of their go to answer for everything. Now, we gotta be careful.

49:34 We seek the Lord first and he may or may not use your money next. Right? And so we ought to be careful how we regard that tangible item. Gentle, that means courteous. It means yielding one's rights is an idea of meekness in here.

49:54 It's... It might... You you might have to yield your rights beyond what would be socially expected, yielding your claims. For example, when you're criticized, you know, criticism does come. I won't deny that And and usually the criticism comes from some some of those who are closest to you which hurts the worst of course.

50:21 But gentleness doesn't rear back and sort of explain everything that I've done. Sometimes, gentleness just allows you to yield your right of standing against criticism. You take that criticism and you go to the Lord and to those who love you. And if the Lord or those who love you says there might be a point, then you really let it affect you, change you. And if it isn't near who you are as an individual, then you just let it roll off your back.

50:54 So gentleness. The man of God must be gentle, able to teach, gently correcting a patient, able to teach, gently correcting those who are in opposition if God might grant them repentance. Alright? Second Timothy chapter two. Of course, we come up with this one not quarrelsome.

51:12 It's similar to the one that I mentioned above but this is more specific. It means generating peace. I want us to... I wanna caution us to be careful not to be the devil's advocate. That's what we say in our conversation.

51:28 I'm the devil's advocate. Really? You really wanna be that? Because let me tell you, he doesn't need an advocate. He does well on his own.

51:35 You're not trying to stir the pot. You're not trying to to be... You're trying to work to solution. Now I do understand the necessity of thinking from the other angle of a problem and predicting what might be the outcome of certain solutions and thinking it through from that level. But this has an attitude with it.

51:55 This has a chip on the shoulder with it and this is the one that you want to be careful. It's not to be jousting in the boxing ring. Of course, not covetous which is a lover of money that is an infatuation with it. Greed means you're just really pursuing it. And then, one who rules his own household well, having children in submission with all reverence.

52:20 Now, what does that mean? That means that whatever age of children you have, they are typified by a sense of respect of the headship principle of authority. That's what it means. So if they're toddlers, you're developing a very a very rudimentary understanding that obedience is how we run our house. When they're to school age, they have the same idea.

52:47 Now, of course, children are not perfect and they're gonna have moments of relapse but it's the the general tenor of of the family life. Now, I also want to point out that it says children. So the question is raised, well, if I only have one child although they may behave and with all reverence, does that disqualify me as an elder? And this is where I have to say, I think what this... What Paul is going after here is he's saying, if you have children, they look like this.

53:24 So I think if you have one child, I don't think you're disqualified. That sort of distort... Distorts the tenor of the statement. The tenor of the statement is reverence and and and submission. That's what you want your child or children to be like.

53:43 And so I I think if we focus on the plurality of the word children, we're missing the last half of the of the clause. Not a novice that's being puffed up with pride lest he falls into temptation of the devil. That is huge. Not so much the novice. The novice implies something that you're subject to pride but the issue is pride.

54:08 The issue is thinking of my self more highly than I ought to think. The issue is not as somebody telling me what to do and no one tells me what to do. The issue is raising my fist at God as Nebuchadnezzar said and saying, what are you doing? Those are the evidences of pride and those are the things that you're not supposed to have. Doesn't matter how long you've been saved but he uses novice because it tends to be the primary stumbling block in a young person in their service to God.

55:19 Self control goes back to being temperate. So a lot of them overlap. I think I think we can perhaps allow that overlap to exist. So what have I done for you? What I've done for you is I've said to you there are four sides to this sandbox.

55:39 And the four sides are you've got... Oh, I'm sorry. I'm overtime. I apologize. You've got the work of the holy spirit.

55:48 You've got the qualifications. You've got the work of the shepherd, and you've got their desire. And you look at the individual holistically from those four vantage points. The next thing that you do is you discern is the spirit of God doing this in the soul's life. Now that is something that happens by concentrated prayer by a group, maybe it's the current elders, by the women, by the entire assembly.

56:25 Everybody needs to be discerning what the spirit of God is doing. It usually begins in the oversight that then gets shared to the assembly and then it calls for concentrated times of prayerful discernment by subgroups in the assembly whether it be the young people, whether it be the young marrieds, whether it be families or women or men's meeting or the entire prayer meeting. But that's what we do. And we don't put a time stamp on that. We go...

56:55 We will pray until the Lord has made it clear. And when he's made it clear, there is no doubt in anybody's mind that the spirit of God is raising such people up and my job is to recognize what he's already doing. Okay. I've said enough. Thank you for letting me go on.

57:12 I apologize to you, Ray. You're the one who told me to bring it in and I ignored it. Forgive me, please. I felt this was important to discuss.

57:22 Yeah. Well, thank you, Steve. I kinda figured you were gonna go full time. So I just thought I'd say that so you won't go another fifteen minutes.

57:34 Yeah. You know me too well, brother. You're so you're so good. Thank

57:38 you. I think everybody appreciated it. Nobody minded at one inch... One minute. So thank you very much.

57:43 We really appreciate it. Would you like to go ahead and close out in prayer?

57:47 Yes. Sure. Sure. Our dear father......

57:50 Our congregation. Yes.

57:51 Okay. Our dear father, we thank you that we could join. And father, I pray that the spirit of God would give his over... Superintending role to teach the saints far after... Long after we say amen so that the saints are taught by the very voice of God's breath, I pray.

58:10 Oh, father, thank you for our time. In Jesus' name. Amen.