The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
2 Therefore an overseer must
be above reproach, ethe
husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,
5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
After the last couple of days, you might be thinking: Well, I am not an elder, so these devotions have nothing to do with me. But don’t be so quick to walk away from this message
that simply. Paul’s words about elders apply, not just to them, but to all of you because what is happening here is simply a description of genuine, faith-filled Christian living that of course is to be exemplified in those who lead and encourage genuine,
faith-filled Christian living.
This should strike all of you to think deeply about the standards of the Christian life. The standards that God sets upon our behavior in the church, in our homes and out there
in the world. Other than the part about being a husband and father or the ability to teach, everything here can be found in other places in the Bible teaching us how it is we are to live our lives if we are truly seeking to live as God’s people.
With that in mind, let’s walk through this again.
First, all of you are to seek to live your life in a way that gives no one cause to doubt your faith, or to doubt THE faith. You are to live above reproach. Someone
tries to lay some accusation of hypocrisy or unrepentant sin at your feet to discredit you or the faith…but it simply does not stick. As I mentioned earlier, this is akin to the call to blamelessness which is not perfection, but serious Christian living. And
it is a characteristic applied to all of God’s people, not just the leadership.
Is that the way you seek to live your life? Do you even consider what your life says to those in the church, even in your own family, let alone the world? What statement
does your life make? Is your life above reproach?
Similarly, all of you men and women are not only to be faithful to your spouses but are to embrace the specific calling of your role in the marriage, loving as Christ
loved the church, submitting to your husband as the church submits to Christ…in such a way that the gospel is proclaimed. And of course, all forms of sexual or marital infidelity are condemned outright in the Word of God for everyone, at all times, who name
the name of Jesus. Just as all of us are to be sober-minded, self-controlled, respectful, decent or dignified, and we are all commanded, in Romans, Hebrews, and 1 Peter, as throughout the OT, to show hospitality to others, to have open and welcoming homes.
No one who says they are a Christian is permitted to abuse alcohol, to have a violent or uncontrolled temper, nor are any of us allowed to be quarrelsome, or a lover
of money. No seriously minded Christian would think to defend such behaviors when we know they are to be put to death and not tolerated in any sense.
If those sins sit close to you, I would guess you are shamed by them, as we should be…that you seek to put roadblocks, accountability in place so as to never turn back
to such behaviors again! No flirting or courting sin in any way!
As Christian parents we all know that God has ordained that chiefly it is our parenting that God uses to bring faith to our children. This is an obligation that is felt
so deeply and so personally and is so sobering, that many evangelicals reject it altogether! They cannot bear the thought that the way they raise their children, the way they lived or failed to live the Christian life, has any kind of impact on whether or
not their children spend eternity in the presence of God or separated from Him. Xn parenting is a daily practice of being so cast upon the Lord if ever we are to hope that due to our behavior, training, love, admonition, correction…our children will in fact
take their place alongside us in the kingdom.
While it is true that an elder should be one who has reached a deeper and more mature expression of these truths, it is also true that these are markers for any Christian
seeking to honor the Lord. Christianity, as no other religion in the world, places a great and searching emphasis upon the conduct and the character of those claiming to belong to God. As one pastor put it: We may not get to heaven on the strength of our
behavior or our performance, but having been given entrance into eternal life as a free gift, we are laid under the absolute obligation of spending our lives concentrating on nothing so much as living that life that is pleasing to God.
Look at it this way. A man who drinks too much, who loses his temper, a man who is quarrelsome and stirs up trouble, who takes their cues from worldly loves and
ambitions, a man who doesn’t love his wife ardently and faithfully, or who takes seriously the call to raise his children according to the promises made at baptism, a man who is not well-thought of by unbelievers who know him, that man is seriously flawed
and cannot be a leader in the church.
However, such a man not only is disqualified from leadership, he is disqualified from being an example of what it means to be a Christian in the first place! He is not
what a Christian man is supposed to be! And the same is to be said of Christian women.
Brothers and sisters, the church of Jesus Christ needs men like Paul describes here and she must have her eyes set on raising up men like this. But let’s be honest,
the church in our day needs not only leaders like this, we need Christians, men and women to be like this, to live like this, to fight, scratch, sacrifice, deny self, strive and push all by the grace of God, to be Christians who are above reproach.
It is this that is lacking in the church today…that is almost unarguable…but let it not be so of us, of our men, of our women, of our children. God’s standard is high…inexplicably
high…but His grace is sufficient for all of those who desire the righteous life, to actually enjoy the righteous life. Do not settle…do not think to yourself, oh well…I am fine, at least I am not…Do not make excuses. Do not lower God’s standard and then pat
yourself on the back that you have hit the standard that YOU, not God, has set for your life.
Humble yourself, confess the depth of your need, acknowledge your utter dependence upon the grace of our God and love your brothers and sisters. Do these things and
you will live a life…a life above reproach. The emphasis as in every aspect of our salvation is upon what Jesus has done to knit us together as one body and our responsibility to live faithfully, to Him and to one another in light of that grace.
Prayer: Father, have mercy on me, a sinner. I think more of myself
than I do of others, of my comfort, my desires and my well-being. You have told us to consider others more than ourselves and I have scarcely ever done so, please forgive me. Give me the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ who came not to be served but to serve
and give His life a ransom for many. The needs are all around me, open my eyes and fill me that I might be Your hands and feet in the world. Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Father, I Know That All My Life (Click “lyrics” under Samuel Anatharaj’s name)
