An Overseer, Then, Must Be...#2

So as I said last week, we talked about approach and the husband of one wife. This week we're going to pick up with temperate. One of the things that I get asked as a pastor is, well, what Bible translation do you like to use? Or what do you recommend? And I always tell people I recommend the NASB. That's the version I just read from. And it's because it's a literal translation. It's a formal translation. And what it means sometimes, though, is that it uses words that we don't use. And so you might look at it and go, I temperate temperate what's temperate mean we're not talking about climate we're not talking about temperatures what what is temperate temperate is sober or showing moderation or self-restraint someone who has self-control now you have to think why would it be important for an elder to have self-control to be moderate because he's gonna face crazy people it's true there's a certain um or weight that leaders need to have, whether that's in their home or in their workplace or in the church. They need to have a certain stability to them. And I'm not talking necessarily about their physical appearance or their stature, though it does help. It is easier for bigger people to communicate a stability, right? If you looked at John Klug and you looked at me, one of us isn't going to blow away in the wind, right?

But that doesn't mean that John can't be weighty. Okay? So to be temperate is to be moderate, self-controlled. And the reason I talk about being weighty is that they're not easily moved. They're not riding the waves of the culture. They're not riding the waves of people's emotions. They're not riding the waves of people's expectations of them. There's a stability to them. They're moderate. They're self-controlled. They're not easily put off their court. And that's important because as Luis says, they're going to deal with crazy people. People who have crazy things that they think, crazy things that they've done, crazy things that they want. And the man needs to be able to stay grounded and say, okay, well, no. We're not going to do that. No, that's not the kind of thing that we're in. I think you ought to be doing. Now, here's a question about temperance. Self-control. When is it easiest to be self-controlled?

I'll tell you when it's easiest to be self-controlled. It's when other people are watching. That's when it's easiest to be self-controlled, isn't it? If I were to ask you, when was the last time you screamed or hollered at one of your children? You'd be like, well, we'd be counting in maybe hours, maybe days, for those of you who have young kids, right? When was the last time you screamed and hollered at one of your kids in public when other people were around? What? Probably not as recently. Why? Well, because when other people are around, we're a little more moderate, a little more self-controlled, a little more temperate. We're not inclined to give in to all of our lusts when other people are watching as easily as we are when we're alone. And this is important that we remember when we talk about an elder and his qualification because all of us have a propensity to lie, to show one thing in public, to show one thing when people are around, and to be something entirely different.

When no one's looking. So when is an elder supposed to be temperate? All the time. He's supposed to be temperate all the time. He's supposed to be self-controlled and stable and sober-minded in private as well as in public. It's very easy to do when you're, well, easy maybe not the word, but it's simpler and it's not as difficult. It's easier to be moderate in public because what will they think of me? I can't do that. I can't say that. Sometimes you get upset. Sometimes you get nervous. Sometimes you get worried. And all of a sudden, you're cool as a cucumber in terms of what you're looking and what you're projecting, but your heart is all tied up in knots. You're angry. You're frustrated. You're worried. It's standing right here that it doesn't. I don't know what it is. So what men do you know, would you say, are temperate? Do you think this is something that some men don't struggle with? I contend that there's not a man who doesn't struggle with it.

That there's not any man who says, yeah, I'm just sober-minded and stable and comfortable and self-controlled all of the time. You know in the book of James, he talks about not many of us becoming teachers. Do you know why he says not many should become teachers? Well, the first reason is he says, you'll incur a stricter judgment. But that's not where the passage ends. He then goes on to talk about temperance. He goes on to talk about your tongue. And he says, there ain't none of you. who can control even your tongue, let alone your whole body. This is what he says in James chapter 3. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. Normally we stop there, but it goes on. He says, for we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horse's mouth so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also.

They are so great and are driven by strong winds, and yet they're directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. The tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among us, among our members, as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds and reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men. We have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessings and cursings. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. And the context is, who should become teachers? Let not many of you become teachers, because you can't control your tongue because you're not temperate.

Because you speak and act without sobriety. You say things you ought not to say. Often. And so you want someone who's going to rule in the church to not be given to this sort of sin. Someone who talks out of the side of their neck, if you will. Not someone who's easily riled up or stirred up or gets caught in vain speculations or silly arguments. Someone who can see what's going on and can maintain their composure. You want someone who's temperate. Now our speech is just one way that we need to be temperate. And we ought to seek out. It also has to do with our behavior. And so you could almost say that this qualification of temperance is a warning against hypocrisy. What you want in the men who lead, men who are temperate, you want men who are the same at home as they are in public. You want to know them. You don't want someone who's one way when he's around people and another way when he's around other people.

So the question is, how do you figure out if someone's temperate? How could you know? If there's such a propensity to hide this sort of failure, how do you know if someone's temperate? They can tell you what we do. What we do is talk to their wives. We ask their wife, what's he like at home? We look at their children. Are the children stable? Or do they seem to be, do they look like they're seasick? Like they're on a ship that's just forever being tossed around and everywhere. We look at the sorts of decisions the guy makes because he might come to church and present well and be very stable, but he might be making a mess of his life personally, but in such a way that it's not evident to those who aren't in the know. So we look around at it and we say, okay, what's private life like? Can he hold down a job? Can he excel at his job? Is his wife happy? Does she look like she's browbeaten? These are the ways you can see if there's temperance in this man.

Another way you can tell is how he responds when he's disciplined, when he's confronted with sin. Is he temperate? Is he self-controlled or does he lose it? This is what temperance is. Someone who's able to handle the ups and downs of life, both publicly and privately, without going off the deep end. Because what happens if a leader goes off the deep end? Everybody follows him. Or they're at least affected by it. There's a real danger in having a man who's unstable and who's not self-controlled in leadership because if he doesn't know how to control himself, he won't be able to manage and care for other people who struggle with the same thing. And so this is temperance. Sobriety, self-controlled, moderate in his speech and actions. Showing self-restraint. What about prudent? What does it mean to be prudent? Well, simply it means to be wise or to act with discretion or to be modest. Okay?

Now, we could look at different leaders and say, are they prudent? And some we would say yes, and some we might say no. If I asked you if Donald Trump was prudent, what would you say? Certainly not immodest. Maybe wise in some ways. Acting with discretion? Probably not. Okay? And part of the reason you want someone who's prudent, what it means to be prudent is to be able to count the cost of what they're doing. Okay? If you guys, you're familiar with the ideas of collateral damage or fallout. If I do this, then these other things are going to happen as a result. It takes wisdom to be able to see what's going to happen as a result. Okay? You don't want a reckless man leading the church because the people under his care that he's supposed to take care of will suffer because of his recklessness.

I'll tell you a story. I would not generally consider myself to be reckless, to do dangerous, foolish things. But there was one time that stands out in my mind early on in our marriage where I did something very reckless and foolish, and I'm going to deal with it the rest of my life. Some of you know that I used to climb trees, and so I have all my tree gear. Vanessa was pregnant with Joseph. It was after church on a Sunday, and I was bored. And so I got my tree gear out and I decided I was going to make a tree swing. The sort of tree swing where you jump off of a second story deck and swing. So a fun one. One fit for someone being reckless. What did you say? Grown-ups. Yeah, it's a grown-up swing. And I made sure you wouldn't hit the ground and I made sure of all these other things. But you're standing on the railing of a second story balcony and you're jumping off. Now is that reckless? All the women are saying yes and all the men are like, can I play?

Well, I did everything I could to make sure it wasn't reckless. I made sure you're not going to hit the ground, you're not going to hit the tree the first time. And I did it. And a couple of other people went after me, and then I thought, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to push the boundaries a little bit. And so I pushed the boundaries in such a way that I went down and up, and when I came back down, I ran right into the tree, right into the trunk of the tree. And I thought the tree was going to fall down. Vanessa thought the tree was going to fall down.

And I thought I was going to break all my ribs all in the time of this swing. Reckless. Okay? And foolish. Entirely lacking wisdom. Did not count the cost. And I have a messed up back to this day because of that. So am I saying that I shouldn't be a pastor because I did something foolish once? Well, no, that's not really the case I'm making. What I'm trying to make the case to you is that all men are in their own way going to face temptations. to be foolish, to not act wisely, to do things that they have not counted the cost of. And this is especially true of young men who don't think beyond the end of their nose about what the implications of their actions will be with regard to their body, with regard to purity, with regard to smoking and drinking and whatever else they're doing. They're not thinking, what's this going to mean for me when I'm 40, when I'm 50, when I'm 60? They don't tend to think about these things.

And they're lacking in a certain amount of wisdom. You realize that this is a temptation that all men are going to face. They're all going to have to walk through moving from foolishness to prudence. Where they can look at something and go, no, if I do that, this is what it's going to cost me. This is what the implications are going to be. And when it comes to church leadership, you want them to think not only of what the implications for themselves are going to be, but what the implications will be for everyone that is going to be affected by it. Collateral damage is a bad thing. And it's something that leaders have to bear in mind. It ought to be a good motivation to a leader not to act foolishly because the people under his care will be harmed if he does something foolish. It ought to actually motivate him not to do something foolish.

If a man were to look with lust in his heart upon a woman, he ought to think, if I do this, it's going to be corrupting to my wife and to my children. And it actually ought to motivate him not to do it because of the harm it will cause to other people. This is how pastors and elders have to think. If I do this, if we do this, how is it going to affect the people? This is how fathers think. And it's good that they do. This is the kind of man you want leading. You want someone who takes the weight of caring for other people's souls seriously. And you want him to make wise decisions. You want him to model wise decisions for those who haven't learned the lessons yet. So how does a young man learn prudence? I think we would all agree if you are a young man or have known young men, they don't come wired this way. This is a gift they have. This is a cultivated virtue.

How do they learn it? Well, one of the ways they learn it is through failure. As much as we might not like that, oftentimes men learn through failure. Now, this doesn't mean that they're free to fail. And it's this, well, they're just going to do it, so we just need to let them learn through the school of hard knocks. That's not what I'm talking about. But that being said, they will learn through failure. And after I ran into that tree and was hanging there and figured out that I hadn't broken any ribs, by the time Vanessa got out down the stairs and to me, Because she was looking out a window on the second story, so she couldn't see me. She had to run out and down the deck and down to the floor. And I was standing there, and I'd taken my stuff, my harness off and stuff, and I was standing with my hands on my knees, and my whole body was shaking. Because I was in such pain. I crushed my phone. I had a phone in my side pocket. One of those old Nokia brick phones, and it had just crushed it. And I had a perfectly rectangular bruise up on my hip. And I think herniated discs in my back.

done terrible things to my hip. It really was a lot of pain. And she was pregnant with Joseph and she came down there and she had already told me, I think this is foolish, this thing you're doing. And I said, no, it'll be fine. And she says, don't you think we should call somebody and ask them if it's a good idea? And I said, no. Like the owners of the house. And I came down, when she came down and I'm standing there and like convulsing in pain, I just looked at her and I said, Vanessa, we're going to have sons and they're going to do things like this.

And you're going to have to let them do some things like this so that they learn that they're not invincible because men often have to learn the hard way. Now, it's the aim of a pastor or an elder to prevent some of that. I tell you this story hopefully to prevent some of that. Okay? But men will learn by failure. Now, do failures alone teach? Well, probably not all of the lessons you'd like for them to teach. So what has to happen when someone fails? Well, their failure has to be acknowledged by someone wiser and they have to have it explained to them how they failed and why they failed so that they actually get it. This is the nature of us. So how do you learn prudence? Well, you learn it through failure and you learn it through discipline. Someone coming to you and saying, if you do that, here's what's going to happen. So a prudent man, one who's going to lead and one who's going to set an example is going to be one who's first been taught about his own foolishness.

and his own temptations to be unwise, to lack discretion, to act impulsively or impetuously. Now, does prudence require that you never do anything with any risk? No. There's a danger here. Prudence, on the one hand, is being wise. It's not doing things haphazardly or without considering the cost. But you don't want men... who never do anything that has a risk or a cost. That is not the definition of wisdom. You want men who will lead by faith, who've counted the cost, and then who've made a decision to do stuff, and you don't want their decision always to be, we don't do hard stuff. We don't do scary stuff. We never do dangerous things. This is why I told Vanessa, we're going to have sons, and you don't want to remove their male principle of conquering and winning and competing. We have to hone it.

And the same thing's true of godly men. You don't want fearful men leading. Men who think that wisdom is defined as never having gotten into any sort of trouble or conflict, never ruffled anybody's feathers. That's not wisdom. Because in your life, I suspect that when you've grown the most, it's because you've had someone come and ruffle your feathers with wisdom, being told that you were being a fool. And so you want men who apply their wisdom To you for their good, for your good. Who come to you and don't just say, yeah, well, I hope that goes well for them. You want men who apply their wisdom to you, who come to you and who say, don't do that. Do this instead. To be prudent is not to be safe. The next thing is respectable. Why does an elder have to be respectable? What does it mean to be respectable? I think that being respectable means the sort of person that you would follow.

You tend to follow people that you respect, that you have some admiration for, you look up to a little bit. So elders ought to be respectable. They ought to be the kind of men that you would look up to. Now, what kinds of things would take away from respectability? Being able to listen to the person? What do you mean? That they will listen? Is that what you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yep, it has a lot to do. Here's the thing about respectability. It's entirely subjective. And it's based on other people's opinions. Now, there are objective, respectable things, right? And I don't mean to discredit that. But a lot of what is respectable is you just kind of sense it or feel it. There's just a sense in which you think, I can trust that guy. I can listen to him. I can follow him. And it's not because he's got credentials or it's not because of...

a bunch of particulars, you just kind of get a sense. Do you ever have your wife say, I don't like that guy? And she knows about that fast that she doesn't like him. She has no idea why, but she just knows that that guy's not a good guy. Yeah? Yeah? This is something I think that women are acutely aware of. Respectability. And the reason I think is because they tend to be more sensitive than men. So what would be disrespectful? Well, in an elder. Well, how about the way they speak? Foul, crude language. You think, oh, it doesn't matter. I say, oh, it matters. Consider Donald Trump for a minute. Does the way that he speak, just as an example, because you all will know, does the way that he speak make it harder or easier to follow him? It makes it harder to follow him because he does not speak in a respectable way. Now, am I glad that he says it?

Well, if the only other option is don't say it, then yes, I'm glad that he says it. But are there better ways, more respectable ways to communicate what he communicates? Yes. And should the men who lead the church aspire to those more respectable ways of communicating? Yes. So the way you talk actually matters. My wife tells me when I don't say words properly or when I use a bad construction. She'll tell me, you always say this. And I say, it's because I'm from Chicago. It's just my slang. And she says, no, you just, you're losing the respect of people because you don't speak clearly. And I'm like, I want to just blow her off and tell her she's just, you know, who are you? But she's aware of it. So do you use foul or crude language? No, actually, you don't want your leaders to do that. Actually, you want them to set a bar higher for how you communicate.

Because they're not the only ones who are tempted to speak that way, but you want them to set a bar that's higher than the rest and say, no, we don't talk that way. We don't need to use foul or crude language to communicate ourselves because we actually have words for that that have real meanings. What else is respectable? How about whether he keeps his word? It has a lot to do with respect. If a man won't keep his word, he will lose respect, and he will especially lose the respect of other men. And he'll do it quickly. It's just written into the... The bones of men. If a guy doesn't keep his word, if he won't do what he says he's going to do, they don't respect him. Say he talks, but he doesn't do. He needs to do what he says he's going to do. Or he needs to say, I'm not going to do that. And if he said he's going to do something and he can't get it done, he needs to call and say, I'm sorry, I said I was going to do this thing, but I can't get it done because of these reasons. Here's when I will get it done. That's respectable. And it's still a failure, but it's a respectable way to fail.

You won't lose the hearts of the respective people if you tell them, I'm sorry, I've said or done something I can't do, but here's my resolution to it. That's respectable. We can live with that. Moving on from speech, what else communicates respect or disrespect? The way you dress. Sorry. How are you supposed to dress? Is there a gold standard for how pastors and elders are supposed to dress? Nope, sure isn't. But they're to be respectable, not to be well-groomed. You want to wear a beard? Fine. You don't want to wear a beard? Fine. You want long hair? Longer hair? Fine. You want short hair? Fine. Right? But they ought to dress in such a way that doesn't work against their office or their place. They ought to look respectable. Their families ought to look respectable. Because if their families don't look respectable, it's a reflection on them. Now, am I advocating that they should be vain and stand in front of the mirror and Do their hair. No, I'm not. Just make sure your hair is combed. The whole thing, not just the top. Wear clothes that match. Let your wife help you. Wear clothes that aren't wrinkled and stinky or have stains or holes in them. That's how low the bar is. Dress nicely, neatly. What else? How about tattoos, piercings, crazy hair? Do those things communicate respect or disrespect? Depending, yeah.

Yeah. There was a point at which I took out all my piercings. And I had plenty of them. I can't take out my tattoos, but I've got them. So most of you, I think, know that. But I realize it communicates a certain thing about the type of man I am. And as much as our culture would tell you, that's not fair and that's not right, it's true. It's true. And it doesn't matter how cute your tattoo is. It communicates something. And I say that as someone who still wants to get more tattoos. I won't. But I understand. But I understand the temptation, the desire. And they go, well, what about the ones I've got? And I go, well, you can overcome those unless they're on your face or your neck or something. I'm not saying there's this hard and fast rule and it's hopeless. If a man has a tattoo, he's not fit to be an elder. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying if in the context in which he serves, it works against being respectable,

He needs to know that. Crazy hair? What do you mean by crazy hair? I mean crazy hair. Colors? Crazy colors? Crazy haircuts? Something that is meant to say, look at me. I'm a peacock. Look at me. That sort of thing. It's not respectable. And a man who's going to lead in the church ought not to draw attention to his appearance in that way. Comb your hair. Cut your hair. Dress neatly. Speak respectfully. And you'll be a long way there. And just saying that much, it's hard. That much is hard. Last week, I realized after I'd come to church, I'd grabbed a pair of jeans. And my wife commented about the jeans. I don't know how many of you noticed. Maybe none of you did. The pants I wore last week had an oil stain right here. They weren't the pair of pants I thought they were. They had an oil stain right here, and they had PVC glue on the thigh over here.

They had moved from church pants to work pants, but I hadn't remembered or noticed at home. You may have noticed. You're the kind who notices things like that. You must not have been paying attention. I know you would have. And so you have to keep track of that kind of stuff. You have to be respectable, okay? Every once in a while, I think about putting my earrings back in just to see what you all would do. But you know what I know you would do? You would not listen to anything I had to say. You just wouldn't. You'd all be distracted. So a man ought to be respectable if he's going to lead the church. Because he represents Jesus Christ and he represents the church. And so the way that he conducts himself, the way he speaks, the way he dresses matter. The way he looks actually matters. And he doesn't get to control what other people think of the way he looks. And there are some just timeless, respectable sorts of things that men can wear. My wife's helped me with getting me a coat. I've actually got two of them. Okay?

And is it because my coat's all fancy and in style? No, it's just a yellow coat or mustard or camel or whatever color it is. And I come out and I say, can I wear it with this? Or is it going to be distracting? And she helps me and she tells me. And there are basic things that men ought to have in their wardrobe that are just always look nice and don't ride the waves of fashion. They should be respectable. What else? Hospitable. An elder ought to be hospitable. What's it mean to be hospitable? Well, it means that they have to love other people. I think when we think of hospitality, we think of it in terms of having people over to our house and having people in our house and having a nice meal. And there are two things that we need to be aware of that. One, there's a difference between being hospitable and entertaining. They're not the same thing. When someone comes to your house, to entertain them is not to be hospitable. Your entertainment may actually be a burden to them.

It may be a hassle. They may not be able to be comfortable at your house because they have to go along with the entertainment of the evening. Which is to say, to be hospitable is a humble, it's a simple thing. Hospitality communicates that you care about the people around you. So if you have someone over to your house, you can feed them macaroni and cheese for dinner, if that's what you're having, or spaghetti, or whatever. It doesn't have to be something fancy. You can come over and you can have hot dogs. if that's what we're having. Or you can have steak, or whatever it is we're having. You can come over and you can eat the food that's available. Because it's not about the food, it's about the person. You're being kind to them. You care about them. Hospitality, in having other people into your house, is born out of a love for other people. You care about them. And so an overseer can't be the kind of person who lives in a cave, literally or figuratively. Your house can't be such a place that

No one is welcome there. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't have to be spotless, but it has to be welcoming. You have to have thought through the comfortability of your guests and then make accommodations for them. Having people over isn't the end of the requirement. You'd be hospitable here. You can be hospitable with people here. Do you care for others? Are you interested in them and what's going on in their life? Or is it, hey, how are you? Oh, I'm fine. Okay, great, thanks. We'll do it again next week. It's a normal conversation, but it's not a particularly hospitable conversation, right? So an elder ought to be someone who's hospitable, someone who loves other people, who sacrifices for them, who gives so that they can receive. And this has to be true of his family as well. You see, going into office is a calling not just for the man. It's a calling for his whole family.

It affects all of them. It affects his wife, and it will affect his children. Hospitality is one of the places where that's front and center, where it actually has an implication for their whole life. If a man is hospitable, but his wife doesn't like people, then they're not going to have a hospitable home until he leads her into being hospitable. Until he says, no, we're not going to do that. We're going to do this instead. No, I know it's last minute, but yeah, no, they can come over. Yeah, we'll host small group. That's okay. He says, I need to decompress on Sundays. Okay, well, we can do it Sunday evening. The one who's hospitable doesn't see people as an impediment to their life. They see other people as an integral part of their life. They like living with other people. They like living amongst other people. Am I saying that they never get to have time alone as a family? No, I'm not. But I'm saying that they should be in and amongst the people. You want elders who maintain contact.

with their people. You know when you go to the doctor and sometimes they want you to come in for your yearly checkup. What's the point of a yearly checkup? Is it to make sure you didn't develop cancer? That's one of the reasons. What's the other reason? What do you do at a yearly checkup? You spend 20 minutes talking to your doctor. They're just touching base with you. They're just making sure that you still, if there's anything they can do to help, how are you doing? How are you feeling? Is there anything we should know? They're just relating to you. They're just touching you. This is hospitality in their environment. Because if you never, ever, ever went to the doctor except for when you were sick, you wouldn't have much of a context for them saying, you need to go get some more testing. There's something not good on the results. There is some level of relationship that has to be cultivated that you want to be cultivated with the person who's taking care of you in that way.

Same would be true in dentistry, right? It's as important for you to talk to them and listen for five minutes to what they're doing and what they've got going on in their life as it is for you to make sure that their cavities are taken care of. This is hospitality. You know, Abram might have a little thing of Thin Mints out in his office. It's hospitable. So you want men who are hospitable leading the church. Now the final one I want to talk about this morning is being able to teach. Some might apply this requirement only to pastors and say, elders don't have to be able to teach, and I don't think that's the case. I think elders actually have to be able to teach. Are they called to teach? Is that their primary work? No. But they actually have to be able to teach. So what does it mean to teach? Well, it means to take responsibility for somebody else.

To be a teacher is to say, I have a knowledge of something that I want to impart to you. I'm taking responsibility for your ability to learn and to know and to implement the things I'm going to teach you. Now, if the person's completely unresponsive and unwilling, that's not the teacher's fault. But he has to have a desire and a willingness to take responsibility for other people in such a way as to lead them. In Titus 1, Paul describes the same requirement this way. He says, that they have to be able to hold fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. This is what teaching is. This is what pastors and elders need to be able to do. You don't want an elder leading the church that whenever there's a conflict, if it's theological or practical or, you know, people are, there's something going on, he goes, well, I don't know what to say to them. I don't have any answers to their questions. An elder ought to have answers to questions or be able to get the answers to questions.

And so teaching is more than possessing and disseminating knowledge. It means being able to teach the scriptures faithfully. What does the scripture say? Here's what the scripture says. And here's what it means. And here's how it applies to our lives. And so this is the positive part of teaching. This is the easy part of teaching. To say, I'm going to teach you something. And then I lay out my lesson and I teach you something. That's the easy part. But teaching also requires that a man be able to refute. or to convincingly argue against error. And that's the hard part of teaching because that part of teaching means conflict. It means disagreement. It means frustration. And an elder needs to be able to meet that sort of conflict and stand firm and hold his ground and speak intelligently and wisely and convincingly to the subject at hand. Does that mean an elder has to know everything about everything? No.

Undoubtedly, if you come and ask me a question sometime, I might say, you know what, you should go talk to Daniel about that. Daniel would be able to give you a better answer concerning that. If you have a question about worship, I'm as likely to send you to talk to John as I am to answer the question. Because these men have more knowledge in different areas than I do. And there are times they send people, you need to talk to Pastor Dave. And so I'm not saying that every elder has to be able to teach everything. But they ought to be able to meet with conflict and be able to argue against lies and falsehood and error.

Not to be afraid of it. You know, one of the hardest things that I run into in like Sunday schools, I ask questions and then people answer questions and sometimes their answers are wrong. And then I face this choice. Am I going to say, no, that's wrong? Or am I going to try to manipulate it into something they didn't say so I can say, yeah, you mean like this? Well, sometimes I have to say, no, that's wrong. That's not right. And it might seem like a small thing to you, but it's because you don't stand up and if you have to actually tell somebody they're wrong in public, it's really a hard thing. Now sometimes they say things and they're ignorant, and so you have to teach them. And sometimes they say things and they've thought through it and they're conscientiously wrong. And they still need refutation. They still need an argument against. They still need someone who's able to teach. Another thing that attends teaching is a manful resolve to stand up.

in the midst of conflict. That a man is not going to simply believe something personally and privately, but let everyone else do something else. He's willing to stand up and even come under attack for what the truth is. And so it's not simply his ability to possess the knowledge or even to his ability to articulate the knowledge. It's his willingness to articulate the knowledge at the point of conflict when he knows that there's going to be a cost. That's what it means to be able to teach. And you want men who are men of action who are willing to stand and fight. Now, why should they have to fight? Well, the reason they should have to fight is because there's danger. There are things that we consume or that we're tempted by that are dangerous. And we need a teacher to say, don't listen to them and here's why. You say, well, that's not very nice. You said not to listen to such and such. And I say, yeah, here's why.

But everyone loves him. And I say, yeah, well, they ought not to because it's bad. And it's dangerous. And you may not. And so in effect, a teacher or someone who's able to teach has two voices. They have one that they use to speak to their people teaching. And they have another one that's made for warning. They bark, if you will. You want a teacher who will bark and who will warn and who will growl. Because an overseer is described as a shepherd. And a shepherd has a job of keeping the sheep fed and watered and safe. And part of keeping them safe is keeping the wolves and the thieves away. And he's not going to be able to plead with the thieves and the wolves because they're going to come and they don't play by the nice rules. They come and they're a threat and they're a danger. And so they have to be able to say no. And if they're not willing to say no, then they're not a teacher. I remember reading a book one time about

what is most attractive to unbelievers who are interested in the Christian faith. Not just the general unbeliever, go knock on their door, but there was a study done and they went into churches and they said, okay, let us talk to all the people who've been converted in the last two years or so. And we're going to interview them because they are the ones who most recently had a change in their way of life. what was it that was important to them? What was it that was attractive to them? Now, some of you remember when I've talked about this before, but what do you think was most important to them? What was at the top of their list? This is what's most important to us. What's that? That's right. That's absolutely right. Strong, clear statements of conviction. That's what they wanted. They wanted clear doctrinal statements, not mushy ones.

They wanted clear, here's the battle and here's where we stand on it. That was attractive to them. They said, I can get a hold of that. I can take that home because I know what the Bible says about it. I know it conflicts with the world and I know I'm from the world and I expect there to be a difference between what the world loves and fawns after and what the Bible says. They were relieved by it. And so a teacher's job is not to reconcile all of the conflict between the world and the scripture by saying, actually, there's no conflict. His job is to say, there is conflict. Here's what the nature of the conflict is, and here's what the Bible says about it. And I believe it, and you should too. That's what it means to be able to teach. Does he have to be able to stand up and preach a nice three-point expository sermon? No, he doesn't. He has to be a man who has convictions and who believes the Bible and who's willing to stand on its truth.

Even when it's dangerous. When there's a cost associated with it. That's what it means to be able to teach. Not all men are called to preach on Sunday morning or to teach a Sunday school. Does that mean they can't be elders? No. I think our church has been around for 10 years now and I think the only time we've ever had one of the elders, we've never had one of you guys speak on Sunday morning. I think you spoke once at a Christmas Eve. How was it? It was a stretch. It was a stretch for Daniel. Sometimes you have men, the elders will teach adult Sunday school. Sometimes. And it's not that I think they're incapable of it. They've got other responsibilities and I get paid to do the work and I enjoy doing the work. But you want men who are able to teach. Men who are willing to meet conflict with truth and say, here's the way it is. I'm a Christian and this is what I believe and this is what the Bible says. That's what it means to be able to teach. And he may do that over coffee talking to some guy who's struggling with some sin.

That may be the context in which he demonstrates his ability to teach. Or it may be that when he comes into conflict at work and he's able to say, no, this is what I think about that policy because this is what the Bible says. I'm able to teach and explain myself. So to sum up with the ability to teach, you want men who aren't afraid of conflict, but who understand what the truth is and who are willing to stand on it. That's what you want. That's what it means to be able to teach. All right. We'll pick up next week with some more. I've often thought of this section of Scripture as being one really long sermon that's just sort of broken up into chunks. And that's just the way it is, because I want to give us enough time to process through the different qualifications each week. I don't want to just broad brush over all of them and say, yeah, that's what you want in a leader. I want us to actually have a deeper understanding of what it means for a man to be able to teach or prudent or respectable or whatnot. So let's pray.