Sermon Central
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Is The Pastor Eligible?-1
Contributed by Byron Sherman on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Part 1 of a 2-part sermon. Paul told Titus that the focus of his work on Crete was to bring order to the churches & appoint qualified elders. Pastors must meet certain qualifications. But What are they? Pastoral eligibility is measured by...
Illustration:
My uncle Raymond Davis/Married to Nomy for >50yrs./Difficult times--Yes!/Sorrow, joy, hardship, testing/MARITAL Stability
Dr. Erwin Lutzer’s parents /Both Germans Gustav & Wanda Lutzer met in Ukraine/Survived War, Deprivation & Material want/Emigrated to Canada & met in German-speaking Church/Married for 76 yrs!/MARITAL Stability
Application:
?Your Pastor bring MARITAL Stability to this Church?
?He in-line with the full truth of God’s word, & with the Gospel of Christ?
4—Pastoral eligibility is measured by...
BROOD Stability(:6c)
Explanation:(:6c) Children, Kids
:6—“if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.”
“Having faithful children”
The behavior of the elder’s children is also a way of judging his faithfulness & ability. A pastor’s children must be faithful—to their parents—as those respectful of their leadership.
Some versions translate this as “Believing,” causing some to hold that the children must be saved for the elder/overseer/pastor to be eligible for the office. Thus if they are NOT saved he cannot pastor.
MacArthur agrees with this ‘saved children’ scenario.
BUT if that is true, then how long are they allowed to be unbelieving? If this is the case, then how long should a pastor wait before admitting his children are unsaved? Can they not be saved later in life, as teens, as adults? This scenario corrupts free will.
‘I think here then it’s safe to say that he’s talking here about faithful adult children, for the most part, who are not going to scandalize the ministry by their unruly wild living.’—MacArthur
*Parallel:
1Tim. 3:4-5—“one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);”
“Faithful/Believe”—pistov—1) Trusty, faithful; 2) Easily persuaded.
“Children”—teknon—Offspring, children. Denotes a child alike as respects to descent & age. Emphasizes the idea of descent, giving prominence to the physical & outward aspects.
“Not accused of dissipation or insubordination.”
As “faithful” children to their parents, they should not exhibit protracted recklessness or incorrigibility. They must be willing to honor their father & mother.
“Accused/Open to the charge”—kathgoria—Accusation, charge. Strong— A complaint ("category"), i.e. criminal charge:-- accusation, accused.
“Dissipation/Riot/Wild”—aswtia—1) An abandoned, dissolute life; 2) Profligacy, prodigality. The fundamental idea of aswtia is "wastefulness & riotous excess. Reckless & extravagant expenditure, chiefly for the gratification of one’s sensual desires. It denotes a dissolute, profligate course of life. From the negation of —swzw— ‘To save’, thus One who will not save or keep (his possessions). Used 3X.
—Like ‘the Prodigal son’ of Luke 15
Lk. 15:11- 17—“Then He[Jesus] said: “A certain man had two sons. “And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, & there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, & he began to be in want. “Then he went & joined himself to a citizen of that country, & he sent him into his fields to feed swine. “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, & no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough & to spare, & I perish with hunger!”
