Who is qualified? That's what
we're talking about. In verse one of chapter three,
he's talking about the office, it's called bishop. Look at verse
one. This is a true saying. And whenever anything starts
that way, what he's basically saying is there should be no
debate about this. There should be no argument among
believers. This is a true saying. You know,
a lot of times Paul would say, for example, he'd say, this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. And this
has the same authority behind it. So one thing that true believers
in a local body should never be debating or arguing about
is what he's about to say about the office here of a bishop. This is a true saying if a man,
Not a woman. If a woman desired this, then
we stop it. Because as we said last week,
the woman's place in the church. So if a man desired the office
of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Now a bishop is an overseer. That's what the word literally
means. Overseer. And I put in your lesson, it's
one who is entrusted with the care of the church. And so if
a man desires that office, he desires a good work. Now let
me say this before we get started. And then down in, where is it? He goes on, you know, he talks
about the office of bishop, which would include pastors, elders,
the spiritual leaders of the church in the word. And then
verse eight, he turns to deacons. and he gives qualifications for
a deacon. The elders, the bishop, the pastor,
usually the way we look at it is those are the ones who do
the teaching and the preaching because they know the word of
God. They're skillful, they're mature
in the faith. The office of deacon is more
of a physical, taking care of the physical needs of the church.
And so both are needed. So we'll look at it that way. But the first thing, the main
qualification for a pastor, an elder, a preacher, whatever,
and a deacon is salvation by grace. These are offices not
for just people who attend, even if they've attended there for
years. It's for those that we have confidence that are sinners
saved by grace, they're believers, they know the gospel. They give evidence of having
been brought by God to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works. They know the truth. And especially
in the first office here, which involves teaching and preaching,
they have to be skillful in the word of righteousness. You know,
in the book of Hebrews, it talks about believers who were, they
were believers, but they were unskillful in the word. And they
had to be fed with milk and not with meat and all of that. So,
that's why the scriptures, you know, say in, I think it's 2
Timothy, study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So
anybody who preaches or teaches should be skillful in the word,
knowing the gospel, knowing the issues of sin, knowing the issues
of righteousness, knowing the issues of judgment. Now that
doesn't say that every true believer, even who's skillful in the word
and who knows those issues, the gospel issues, that's not to
say that every one of them should hold this office. because there
are other qualifications. One is a person has to be skilled
to communicate as a bishop, as a pastor, as a preacher, as a
teacher. They can communicate the gospel.
We had a man here years ago. He's dead now. He's with the
Lord. He was an elder, and he knew the scriptures, but he couldn't
stand behind a pulpit and preach and communicate it that well,
and that's okay. but he served in a supportive
and an advisory capacity, all of that. So understand that. And so now when we talk about
being qualified, it's gotta be a sinner saved by grace who professes
the true gospel of the glorious person and the finished work
of Christ. He knows who Jesus Christ is,
God manifest in the flesh. He knows the ground and the cause
of justification, the imputed righteousness of Christ. That's
his heart. So understand that. That's the first qualification.
Secondly, understand that when you read these, and you look
at them, you might look at this and you might think, well, goodnight,
I've gotta be perfect to do that. No. This is not a list that if
a person measures up, You can say he's perfect. Because if
it is, I'm gonna get down from here. And none of you should
get up here. So this is not saying that a
person is qualified, it has to be perfect in character and conduct.
And I thought about this as I was studying for this lesson. You know, Paul speaks of in 2
Corinthians chapter four of a treasure that we have. And of course,
that treasure is the blessedness of salvation by the grace of
God through the righteousness of Christ. But he says, right
after he mentions that treasure, he says, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. And you know what an earthen
vessel is? That's a clay pot. So understand that when I preach
the gospel, when Jim or Randy or Mark or anybody preaches the
gospel, you're listening to a sinner an imperfect person saved by
the grace of God, realizing that the only perfection that any
of us have is what we are in our standing in Christ, washed
in his blood from all our sins, and clothed in his righteousness,
imputed. That's the only perfection I
have. The Bible, you've heard the term
he's got clay feet that comes from the Bible well I've got
clay feet so do you so basically as one old writer said we're
just it's just one sinner or one beggar telling other sinners
other beggars where we can find food spiritual food so understand
it and understand this you know you've got there's always a stigma
attached to it because of people's misunderstanding Have you ever
said, you know, have you ever done something maybe you shouldn't
be doing? And one of your friends or one
of your enemies said, well, I thought you were a Christian. You ever
heard that? You know, I've had that happen
to me, and you just want to smack them, you know? You want to be
unchristian. But the thing about it is, the
Bible records not only the successes in practical godliness of his
saints, but they're worst moments. Worst moments. And you gotta
understand that the world doesn't even know what a Christian is.
That's 1 John 3, 1. The world will not know us. Now
they think they know what a Christian is. And especially when it's
a preacher or a pastor or an elder, you know, they hold you
up to a higher standard in a way that that can be said it's right,
but there's a way that it's wrong. And you know, you see some of
these false preachers who talk about their godly lives, and
even some who talk about sinless perfection in themselves. And
the world applauds when they, you know, when that, when they
hit the ground, you know, when they fall. And I have to say
that when a false preacher falls, I'm kind of glad too. But they don't preach the gospel,
but any of us. I mean, if I got caught up in
some public scandal, it'd be all through town, because I'm
on television. I'm a public figure that way.
I don't know how many people watch that TV program, but I
know there's quite a few, I think. At one time, Hollis, who was
the manager down at WALB, he's not there anymore, but he told
me that among all the church programs, ours was the most popular. Now that was several years ago,
so I don't know if that's still the case or not. But I think
people like the format that I do, you know, sitting down and 28
minutes and all of that. We don't have all the bells and
whistles there. But being that way, if I got caught up in a
public scandal, it would ring throughout the town. They're
not gonna read Romans 834, who shall anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies, who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. And of
course, you've seen false preachers like Jimmy Swigert and people
like that and what all happened to them and stuff like that.
So understand, when we talk about qualifications, we're not talking
about perfect people. So he says, a man who desires
the office of bishop, or pastor, elder, desires a good work. And it's a good work, not because
it's a work done in order to attain or maintain salvation,
that's not a good work. If somebody tries to do good
works, as they say, in order to be saved, or to earn God's
blessings, that's not a good work, that's a dead work. That's
a bad work, that's an evil work. That's what the scripture says.
That's fruit unto death. A good work is, we're not even
the source of our good works. The Bible tells us that we who
are saved by God's grace, the good works are that which God
foreordained that we should walk in them. And they're given by
his power. It is God that worketh in you,
scripture says. And it's to his glory and not
our own. And so if we keep that in mind,
it's not just a, if a person wants this off just to get up
before the public and flaunt themselves and all of that, that's
bad. To be a pastor or a preacher
is a calling. And what God does, if he calls
you, he gives you the knowledge and he gives you the skills to
do what the task that he set forth for you to do. These are the bishop, the elders,
the pastor, the teachers, are those, as I put in your lesson,
they care for the souls and the spiritual needs of the church
in preaching and teaching the gospel and encouraging one another
in the faith. All right? Now look at verse
two, he goes for the qualifications here. A bishop then must be blameless. Now does that mean he's gotta
be perfect in his character and conduct? Well, if you measure
it by the standard that we all go by, which is what? The righteousness
of God in Christ, then nobody's qualified. Do I live a life of
perfection that equals the righteousness that Christ accomplished? No,
I don't do that. But what that means, he's to
be a man of good reputation, a person who is known to be obedient,
not a lawbreaker, not a scandalous sinner. Now you understand what
I mean when I say scandalous. What is scandal? Scandal is flaunting
their sin. It's like a guy who'd say, hey,
look at me, I'm saved by grace so I can do anything I wanna
do. I don't have to worry about anything. I don't have to put
a check on myself. You know, well that person shouldn't
be a pastor or a teacher, you see. We don't believe grace so
that we can sin. We sin enough as it is. We believe
grace which motivates us to fight sin. And so that word blameless
literally means unreproachable. In other words, if somebody would
walk in here and accuse me of being a drunk or accuse me of
being a philanderer, can I honestly refute that or do I have to hold
my head in shame? You see what I'm saying? You
say, well, what about sins of thought? Well, you can't see
my thoughts, all right? And I can't see yours. I know
what they are sometimes. I can still tell by somebody's
face maybe sometimes. I don't know. But the thing about
it is, we're not judges over men's hearts, men and women's
hearts, to say, well, you just thought bad of me or something
like that. I don't know. But when it becomes public out
there, we have to be blameless. And then he goes on, he says,
not only blame us, the husband of one wife. Now you know how
a lot of people take that. They say that a person who's
been divorced and remarried is not qualified. I don't believe
that's what it's talking about. What it's talking about is it's
a word against polygamy of that day. And it was popular. Polygamy was, especially among
the Gentiles, that a man would have more than one wife at the
same time. and even among the Jews. And
somebody says, well, you know, the Lord gave instructions to
those who had more than one wife under the old covenant, and he
did, but that wasn't to condone polygamy, it was to deal with
the reality of it. Here it is, you gotta deal with
it, all right? So what I believe this is saying,
that a bishop has to be a man who has one wife, that he's married
to at the present time. Because if you got more than
one wife, your attention's divided. And so, you know, you've got
to give, you husbands, you are commanded to love your wives
as Christ loved the church. That means you have to give them
attention and care. But if it's divided amongst two
or three or four or five, then how are you gonna do the work
of the ministry? See what I'm saying? So the husband of one
wife, he says he's gotta be vigilant, that means on his toes, awake,
alert, aware. He's gotta be watchful, watchman
on the wall, you heard that. Not to let false doctrine, false
preachers come into the pulpit and come into the church and
divide the church. dividers of brethren, you gotta
be watchful, gotta be sober, that's clear thinking, right
judgment, that's what that means. Of course it's a rule against
being drunk, yes, on liquor and all that, he says that in another
place here, but that's mainly to be sober is to be clear-headed,
to be in right judgment. According to the Word of God,
he says he's to be of good behavior, which is to be discreet and to
be modest, considerate, humble. and to be kind, given to hospitality,
that is for the care of the people of the church, our brothers and
sisters, be hospitable, be inviting, all of that, and then apt to
teach, ready to teach, one who has the knowledge, the discernment,
the ability to explain and illustrate and communicate the truth of
the gospel and the word of God, that's it. Now he says in verse
three, not given to wine, that's drunkenness. In other words,
listen to what he's saying. It doesn't say that you can't
take a glass of wine or anything, even alcohol. It says don't be
given to it. Don't be a slave to it. See,
that's what he's talking about. Don't be known as the town drunk
like Otis on Andy Griffith. So that's what he's talking about.
He says, no striker, not ready to brawl and to fist fight and
to get into public skirmishes. Now, we debate the gospel. I don't deny that. But we don't
come to blows over it and all of that. That's what he's talking
about. He says, not greedy of filthy lucre, not in it for the
money. you know false preachers you
know they claim they're not in it for the money but it sure
looks like they are a lot of them you know so not giving filthy
but be patient. The word patient means forbearing.
I've got a scripture there Philippians 4 and verse 5, an elder is to
have a forbearing humble, unselfish, gentle, considerate, and forgiving
spirit. And it also, and this is tough
now, am I perfect here? No, but I try to remember this
now. It says, he must be able to put
up with insults and offenses, bearing them patiently and forgivingly
as he's been forgiven in Christ. And I, all too often, You know,
if you've been in the ministry of the truth, of the gospel,
which is the light that men and women by nature hate, and then
even some who claim to be true believers, believers of the truth,
but who follow certain men, you're gonna be insulted. You're gonna
be lied on. I have done, I've been there.
And it'll come again, and boy, you gotta take it. And it's hard,
because the old flesh wants to get back at him. The flesh wants
to get revenge, you know. And that's what he's saying.
You gotta cultivate a spirit of patience. and forbearance,
not a brawler. The word brawler there means
not contentious, just like striker has to do with actually physical,
striking out at, and with words, striking out at others. Brawler
means not contentious, must not always be ready to fight. And
it may sound like Paul is repeating himself in some of these, but
that's okay. Isn't it? I mean, how many times
you, you know, you think about your little children growing
up, how many times you had to repeat yourself, you know, and that's
why God looks at us as his children. Verse four, one that ruleth well
his own house. Now does that mean he has to
have a perfect marriage and a perfect family? No. We're just like you
all. Sometimes we have our disagreements
at home. Sometimes we have to discipline
our children. But what it's talking about,
he must, as I put in your lesson, he must have the will, the courage,
the determination to rule over his own household, his wife and
his children, as Christ loved the church. And so if qualification
that he's gotta have a perfect marriage and perfect children,
well, there may be some who come close to that, but that's not
usually the case. And verse six, or verse five,
he says, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how
shall he take care of the church of God? And that's a good point. A person, in false religion,
I can remember this, in the church I went to, We had two pastors
who were ruled by their wives, and you could tell it. Who made
the decisions? And so, you know, now some people
may accuse me of that, all right? But it's not the truth. And so
we understand that, you know? So he says, for if a man know
not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the
church of God? Now verse six is really important. Not a novice. You know what a novice is. A
novice is a new believer, a babe in Christ. Lest being lifted
up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now
that doesn't mean that if you take a new Christian and put
him up teaching and preaching that he's going to be condemned.
What he's talking about here is the accusations of the devil. So here's what I put in your
lesson. That condemnation of the devil does not mean to be
condemned as is the devil. It means to fall under the accusation
of the devil with pride, that kind of thing. And he says, the
devil is called the accuser of the brethren, and we should take
great pains not to give him reasons to accuse us. Now, we do know
that when the devil accuses, and understand this, it's not
the devil appearing in the aisle and pointing a finger at you.
He uses other people, he uses people to do that, to accuse
you. And we're confident, just like
I quoted a while ago, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? It's God that justifies. The
devil's accusations towards the people of God do not hit their
mark. Now, if the devil accused me
of being a sinner, yes, I'm a sinner, but I'm one who has a perfect
righteousness in Christ. I'm washed in his blood. I'm
clothed in his righteousness. So you understand that. So we
don't want to put a new believer in a position where they might
be accused of the devil in that sense. All right? Now verse eight,
he turns to deacons. Likewise must the deacons, that's
a servant. That's what the word deacon,
it's to take care of the physical needs of the church body, a servant. All right, the deacons be grave,
that means to be serious about what he's doing. In other words,
just because you don't teach or preach, don't think of that
as a second-rate office. It's important. And he says,
not double-tongued, not saying one thing and meaning another,
but being straight with people, not giving too much wine, that
was evidently a problem back then as it is today, so not being
a drunk, not greedy, for filthy lucre, the same thing that he
said about a bishop, holding the mystery of the faith in a
pure conscience. Isn't that interesting? You know,
what's the mystery of the faith? That's the gospel. That's the
gospel that we've been brought by God to believe. So a deacon
is a believer, obviously, and what's the pure conscience? It's
the conscience and heart purified by faith in Christ. Seeing that
the guilt of my sin was laid upon him. God imputed my sin
to him and his righteousness to me and I have eternal life. So the pure conscience is one
free from guilt based on the blood and the imputed righteousness
of Christ. I don't know why specifically
he puts that here for a deacon. It applies to every believer.
The bishop too. But it's there and I love it.
And I'm glad it's there because that just reminds us that while
we're doing the work in the body of Christ, that our mind ought
to be on serving the Lord. And I believe that. You know,
we talked about, I think it was last week, talked about the curses
that God pronounced in Genesis chapter three. I pronounced the
curse upon the serpent. And that was the coming of the
woman's seed, the coming of Christ to take care of the condemnation
that we've earned and deserve because it was laid upon him
and he took care of it. Then he talked about the curse
on the woman, the pain of childbirth and the nature, the sinful nature
that desires to overtake her husband. And then he talked about
the curse upon man which was to work with the sweat of his
brow. In other words, continue working.
That doesn't mean you have to be out in the field sweating
all the time. I mean, even if you're in an office, you know.
But that's part of the curse on the man. Well, the curse on
the woman is taken care of, and it says in childbearing, not
that having a baby makes you saved, but I believe in the coming
of Christ through the woman. And I've talked about that. The
curse on the man is taken care of is that the Bible says, I
think in Ephesians and other passages, that you're to work
as unto the Lord. And so I think what this is saying
here about a deacon is that don't think that when you take care
of the physical issues of the church that you're working as
a slave to the people. You're working for the Lord,
working unto the Lord. And keep that in mind. And even
in your jobs do that, he says. So, all right, look, it says,
verse 10. It says, let these also first
be proved. In other words, they're to be
proven. Again, that would be the same thing as saying not
a novice. Then let them use the office of a deacon, being found
blameless. That was the same as in a bishop
or a pastor. And verse 11, even so must their
wives be grave, serious, not slanderers, not telling lies
and all that, sober, faithful in all things. And verse 12,
let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, again, against polygamy
now, ruling their children and their own house as well. Doesn't
mean, again, you have to have perfect marriages. You ought
to have good marriages. and be disciplined, discipline
your children. But it says in verse 13, for
they that have used the office of a deacon well purchased to
themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which
is in Christ Jesus. That word purchase is really,
I'd say this, I love the King James Version, but that's not
really a good translation of that word. Purchase here really
means, it's not the modern usage of the word. It doesn't mean
that they buy or they bargain with God. It means to acquire
or obtain something. And to acquire to themselves
a good degree means to obtain a position of trust, respect,
and influence in the church. And this would be to great boldness
in the faith. Free and bold speaking. Those
who use this office well have nothing of which to be ashamed.
That's what it's talking about. So I hope that's helpful as we
think about that and go through it. But understand that what
the, that's who's qualified. And that qualification begins
in any man with salvation by God's grace in Christ. Okay.