Have you ever felt unheard or as though you can’t find an ear to listen to your concerns? Have you ever left after speaking to someone feeling as though they didn’t hear a single word that you said? Israel had a problem with this as well. Moses had basically been given control of all the leadership duties after leaving the land of Egypt. He acted as judge, jury, lawyer, and many other positions. Soon his father-in-law, Jethro, brought to Moses Zipporah, Moses’ wife and their children. Moses soon took his seat early one morning to begin teaching the law to the people and acting as a judge in their arguments. He did this each and every day from early morning until late at night. Jethro saw this and noting how foolish this endeavor was, gave Moses some guidance. “You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me: I will give you counsel and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. Furthermore you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you , but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” With only one person handling all the issues of the community, it was impossible for everyone to be heard and for everyone to have input on how the system should work.
In Acts 6 we hear a similar cry from the Hellenistic Jews. “Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.” The Hellenistic or Greek Jews needed their case to be heard and action to be taken to help care for their daily needs. So the apostles offer a bit of a compromise. “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.” The apostles couldn’t give up their duties of preaching, teaching and prayer to “serve tables” and so the institution of what we now call a deacon was created.
When needs arise within the church we have two groups of men who should handle these needs; Elders and Deacons. Elders, otherwise known as shepherds, take care of the spiritual needs of the people through administration among other ways in which they watch over us. The Deacons on the other hand, take care of the physical needs of the church including everything from upkeep of the facilities to the shut-ins, widows, and even some of our own needs if they know about them. Today after the service you will have the chance to make a choice on whether or not the men that will be presented to you are worthy of holding the titles of Elder and Deacon. This choice is not to be taken lightly: Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:22 not to hastily select leaders. “Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.” Do not just choose someone to be a leader of this church because if they fail, their failures are partly your fault for putting them into leadership positions. We must choose carefully who will lead us and take care of both our spiritual and physical needs. We will review the qualities of these men, both those in office and those looking to become part of the leadership team, that we must consider if we are to make a wise choice about who we put in authority over us.
Elders – 1 Timothy 3:1-7
I promised that one day I would cover this list more thoroughly so that we might have a better understanding of the qualities our leaders must possess. I would like to note first that in verse 2 of this chapter it says that an elder must have these qualities. The words used here do not leave any room for ambiguity about the personal requirements these men must fulfill. J. W. McGarvey divides these requirements into five categories.
First the man must be experienced in life and in the scriptures: not a new convert, able to teach. Secondly, he must have a good reputation with those within and outside of the church. Thirdly, his domestic or home life should be in order: he must be married to one wife and must rule his own house well, showing that he has raised his children well. If a man has been divorced does this disqualify him or what if he never married? How about if his spouse has died and he remarries? As long as he follows the Bibles rules about marriage, he should be accepted. If the events happened before he became a Christian then his past has been wiped away and so shouldn’t even be considered. I would caution against voting in a man who has never had children or has never married because how can he give sound advice about those issues if he has never experienced them.
Fourthly, He must be a man of principles and character. His character should be summed up in the idea of blamelessness. He doesn’t desire others things, nor does he desire dirty money. Finally, he must be a man of proper habits. He must be vigilant, always on alert, and not be a drunkard.
Although this list may be extensive, these will all be needed by the person who aspires to this noble position. These are the qualities but how will you notice them in the men for whom you will be voting for today. Many good ways exist such as how they acted when you saw them outside of church and church related functions. How did they treat the cashier at the store for instance? We probably don’t see each other enough to use that idea. How about when they have trouble in their lives? Men who hold strong to Jesus Christ may have a hard time but will weather the storm with their faith in tact. Randomly visit when you know he is home and see how he reacts to your visit to test his hospitality. Inspect his home life and how his children act and see if those are in line with scripture. There are many ways to inspect the lives of these men and see if they are worthy of the authority of becoming an elder.
We must choose carefully those who lead us. As 1st Timothy 5:22 says, “Do not lay hands on someone too hastily…” which means, “Do not put your seal of approval on someone without thinking…” Do not put your trust into someone who may or may not end up doing what the Lord God wills because if they choose to sin, especially under the authority of that office, you will also reap the consequences of his sin as well. Great power lay at these men’s finger tips. So I must encourage you to look at the qualities of an elder as described by the Bible and then look at these men and see if they match. When you vote, I encourage you to tactfully and nicely note why you chose not to vote for those individuals so that they might have a chance to improve themselves to be voted in next year. Now, another problem comes along in that we as humans use personal opinion and emotions to choose and accept others. If that person wasn’t nice to us last week like we thought they should be then maybe we shouldn’t vote for them. Maybe you expected them to do something for you and they chose not to. We have plenty of petty reasons why we shouldn’t or should choose a certain person. That has no place in here. Personal opinion and emotional decisions have no place in deciding elders. We must choose carefully, along Biblical guidelines.
Deacons – 1 Timothy 3:8-13
The word for deacon in the Greek language translates to the idea of a servant or an assistant. These men are not responsible for the spiritual health of the church but for the physical needs of those within the church. Acts 6 seems to be the place where this group of men was first formed. The needs of the people had become too great for just the leadership to handle and so they instituted a place for men to serve the congregation. These men would have to be men who had a good reputation in the community and also had to be Christian men who had been immersed and lived their lives according to Scripture. The verb must continues to be applied throughout the rest of 1 Timothy 3. Each requirement here is a must. These men must speak the truth and not allow themselves to say one thing here and another there. They also, just as the elders, should not get drunk or seek after dirty money and they must manage their homes well. The deacon must have a good grasp of the gospel, i.e. “holding to the mystery of the faith.” As for the note about women in verse 11, many interpretations have been given with many drawbacks to each one. The simplest understanding of this verse refers to the idea of the wives of the elders and deacons. The wives of our leaders must also exhibit Christ-like behavior.
“In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality of a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, on a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man’s associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower. We want and need men of high integrity. I once heard someone define integrity as what you do when no one is looking or better yet, what they say after they smash their finger with a hammer.
We must choose carefully those who we would vote in to take care of the needs of this church building as well as our own needs. They represent us. They give direction to us. A short story on giving direction may be in order. “All morning, an instructor on my staff had been explaining leadership to a class of police recruits. Calling a man to the front of the class, he handed him a piece of paper on which was written: "You are in charge. Get everyone out of the room without causing a panic." The recruit was at a loss for words and returned to his seat. The second man summoned tried: "Everybody outside. Go!" No one moved. A third man glanced at the instructions, smiled and said, "All right, men. Break for lunch." The room emptied in seconds.” That guy gave directions that appealed to the men in the room. However, leaders sometimes have to give directions that do not please us but should be for our betterment. We must carefully choose a leader who will actually lead even in the face of adversity.
The leadership of the church comprises of three different entities: The staff, the elders, and the deacons. Each on must possess certain qualities for them to be a part of the church and have the respect of the people. Today you have the opportunity to determine the direction of this church by voting on which leaders you would have in office according to the scriptural principles set down in 1 Timothy 3. We must choose carefully because they represent us and their faults will be our responsibility. We can’t blame them without blaming ourselves first. Keep this in mind when you choose.
