Look for a Willing Servant

Scripture Reading

Will you turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3, if you're using your pew Bibles you'll find that on page 1053. 1 Timothy chapter 3, again we're going to be having an elder election on August 9th.

And so these three sermons are in preparation for that. So, 1 Timothy 3, beginning at verse 1. Brothers and sisters, this is God's perfect Word. This is a faithful saying. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, 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? not a novice, lest, being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. And we plead with You now that Your Holy Spirit would attend to it. Lord, that Your Spirit would work in our hearts and in our lives that we would have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to believe. Lord, we need you this morning. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon

Last week, we looked at 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1. If a man desires the position of a bishop, And just as a preview, last week's sermon, this sermon, and the next are essentially picking up on each phrase of that. So, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. This morning we're going to focus on the words there, desires. Desires. If a man desires.

I need to move quickly so we're not going to have a big flowery introduction because there's a lot of fish to fry, not a lot of time to cook them. So I need you to buckle up because I'm going to give you lots and lots of Bible verses. You can try to write them down if you want or email me later and I can email you the verses. So we're going to move fast. Be ready, hope your hand doesn't cramp. Here we go.

So in 1 Timothy chapter 3, God says to us, it's a good thing, right? If somebody desires to be an overseer, if someone is going to be a shepherd of God's people, that is a good thing. The question is, what is this desire? What is this desire? It's actually two different words here in the Greek. The first time it says, if a man desires, this is the word for orgeo. The next one, when it says he desires a good work, is epiphemia. And so this desiring, though, is meant to be something deep down inside this man is propelling him on to the goal. It's something that's heartfelt.

It's something deeper than just, yeah, you know, it'd be kind of cool to be an elder. but it's actually something that they can't shake off of them. Desire and aspiration, though often the world looks like somebody who's already being bossy. I was just out of business a few weeks ago and somebody, you know, I was taking stuff from the outside the business and putting it inside the car and as I was doing that, another guy looked at his co-worker, I don't think he was his boss or anything, he just looks at his co-worker and he says, hey, you need to pick that up and take it into his car. He's aspiring to be the boss, but that's not what this is talking about. There are people who aspire to something and they just want to push their own way. There are people who are wanting to be an elder, they're aspiring, they're desiring that, and by that they mean they want to manipulate and twist and politic and get things how they want it to happen.

That's not what this is talking about either. It's not somebody who's desiring and so they're trying to store up all the charisma and make themselves popular. It's not somebody who's good at giving orders or likes to wield their authority. That's not what this desiring to be an elder is. There's a big difference between aspiring or desire and arrogance. We often get aspiration and arrogance mixed up.

The arrogant man is a man who likes to sit, and he might even have some natural talents, but he likes to sit there and watch college football. And he likes to watch football, and he remembers his own glory days in football, when he was even good with his own sports, and he was able to do things.

But he'll sit there on TV and say, oh yeah, I used to be able to throw a ball like that. Oh yeah, I used to be able to do that. But he doesn't actually go and help anyone. He just likes to revel in his own past, when in all reality, there's a reason why he didn't play state football. That's the arrogant man. The man who's aspiring is the man who for some reason when he was a boy, he was watching football and he thought, I want to do that someday.

And so he hit the gym. And he worked out and he worked hard. He listened to his coaches. He paid attention. He drilled, he drilled, he drilled, he drilled. When he didn't want to do things, he did them anyways. When his trainers told him, these are the steps you need to take, he said, OK, I'm going to listen. I'm going to follow along. And then when the team came together, it wasn't about him. He played with them. and for others. You realize he was a part of a team.

That's the type of aspiration that this is looking at. That's the desire here, not the one who's the armchair theologian saying, I want to be an elder someday. No, we're looking for the man who's already getting his hands dirty loving other people. That's what this is talking about, if you desire to be an overseer.

First Point

So first, look for someone who's marked by humility, right? The opposite of arrogance would be humility. Matthew chapter 5 verse 3, Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then in verse 5, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Are you, this isn't like, Like, okay, only the elders of this way.

I'm saying, does this man that you're looking at, does he show that he's meek? Does he have strength and yet he's willing to restrain that strength? Does he have authority and yet he's willing to pull back that authority because he wants to love someone well? Is he poor in spirit or is he puffed up in his own pride? Look for someone who has humility in mind.

Romans chapter 12 verse 3 says, For I say through the grace of God given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Does this person think highly of themselves? Or do they walk around with a sense of humility?

If somebody asks them, sure, they'll talk to them about their Bible reading or their prayer or decisions in life. But they aren't trying to lord it over you right away. Rule your life. Because they know what's best. But are they humble? Are they humble in their mind that other people might have things to even contribute to them? Are they humble enough to listen?

First of all, listening to God. Deuteronomy 6, 4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Do you get a sense from this man that he's humble enough that if the Lord says it, he listens? Is this man who's desiring or aspiring to the office, do you look at him and you think, that's a man who leans in when the Lord speaks. Even when it hurts him. I see a man that can Ring true of Psalm 119, 97, and 98.

Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. You through your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. When you talk to this person, does it seem like they have God's word stored up in their hearts? Like it's at the forefront of their mind. Seems like they have God's word ready at hand because it's something, they listen to God because they love Him.

And it's there with him. Are they humble enough to listen to God? But also, are they humble enough to serve? A man who aspires to the office of an elder must be humble enough to serve. This is a passage we looked at two weeks ago in the book of Mark.

Jesus himself said, As you think through the different people that you might elect as an elder, as you look at the different men in the church and you think through this, ask yourself, when's the last time I've seen them help anyone? When's the last time I've seen them care practically for someone? Or are they just there for their self-aggrandizement? Maybe you know them well because they know how to make themselves known well. but they're not actually there to make other people flourish. Are you there?

We have it right on our website, a safe place for people to grow. Please, I beg you, vote in an elder or two who are going to be the men who will make this place a more safe place to grow. where children will be enriched, where youth will be trained, where older members will be cared for, where families will be welcomed, where we can grow together as a congregation. Colossians 1, verse 28 says, Him we preach, meaning Jesus, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. That's the goal. of the elder, that the congregation might be presented as perfect in Christ Jesus. Not for their self-aggrandizement, not for their own pride, not for their own reputation.

But also, if you're going to look for a man who is aspiring, desiring this good work, he needs to be humble in rebuke. Look for a man that you think would actually listen like David listened. When Nathan pointed his finger in his face and said, you are that man.

Okay, I sinned. Now I gotta do something about it. Whose heart is malleable and will turn from their sin unto God. Because I gotta tell you, one of my favorite things in the world is when little children correct me. One of my least favorite things is when my wife corrects me. But if I didn't listen to her either, it'd be a world of problems. Because see, if they're humble in receiving correction, then they'll also be humble and gentle in the way that they give correction.

2 Timothy 3.16 tells us that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, but then the two uncomfortable things, reproof and correction. And then the one we like, training in righteousness, so the man of God might be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. But those middle two, correction and rebuke, Is this man being rebuked by God's word himself? Have you heard them talk about struggling with a sin and putting it to death and having to wrestle in their own heart because God rebuked them? Next, if a man aspires to this office of a bishop, he ought to be a man who is humble enough to pray. The height of arrogance for the Christian is an empty prayer closet.

Is somebody saying, I don't need to ask God for my daily bread. I don't need to ask God to forgive me. I don't need to go to Him and pray for others because I can just do it myself. But when you find a man on his knees praying, you find a man who recognizes that he doesn't have all the answers or all the stuff. He actually depends upon God. Find a man who is willing to pray. Ask yourself some practical questions. Have you heard this man pray before? Has he ever asked you how he could pray for you? Has he ever prayed with you? When he prays though, Jesus tells us that there's different types of prayers.

Right, you remember the picture that Jesus gives where there's the guy who's the Pharisee and he goes into the temple and even in his prayer he's filled with pride. Right, he stands there in the temple before the very mercy seat of God and he says, I don't need mercy because I'm not as bad as this tax collector and sinner. Right, he's filled up with his own sense of self-righteousness. I beg you, don't elect a man like that. Even though he might be in the very temple of God. Don't elect a man like that. Find the man who's on his knees pleading with God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Lastly, in humbling themselves, they need to be humble in evaluating themselves. Matthew 5, 7, this goes with what we just talked about. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Jesus gives the story of the servant He's forgiven a boatload of debt. I'm talking about like state of Illinois type debt. Right? And the ruler comes and he gets all this debt cancelled. And then what does he do when he walks out of that very merciful situation? He goes and he starts choking the guy who owes him ten bucks.

Don't elect a man who doesn't know how to show mercy. Who doesn't know that he himself has been forgiven and has a tendency towards forgiveness. Elect a man who knows mercy, humbles himself and is willing to say, I'm a sinner. I know what it's like and I forgive you. Secondly, if you're looking for a man who's desiring this position of a bishop, look for a man marked by wisdom. Wisdom, quickly defined, can be knowing what to do and knowing how to do it.

Right? On the ship we had nuclear engineers and everybody said that they were not worth their money because they had all this theoretical physics knowledge in their head, but they couldn't actually stop a sink from leaking. Right? There's a problem. Right? And so, wisdom is, how do you match those two?

Wisdom is learned first by fearing God, Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Does this man go by worldly wisdom or does he go to God's word, fearing Him, gaining knowledge that way? Wisdom is also what listens to God. Proverbs chapter 9 verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

But you need to recognize that there's also an aspect to wisdom that's really important for an overseer, for a shepherd, for an elder, for a bishop. It's both knowledge of what's right and what's true according to God's Word, but also the knowledge of how to, in relationships with people, bring them to that truth. There are all sorts of people who are in different stages in their walk theologically and in their faith. The merciful and wise and loving shepherd knows how to bring each person to the next place.

Not trying to force everyone all at once to get all their answers right, right now. Wisdom also, though, doesn't mean having all the answers themselves, but that they know where to go, right? The humble elder is the one who is asked a question and they say, I don't know. Let me go find out.

Proverbs chapter 13, 13 says, He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandments will be rewarded. And in Psalm 119, 33 and following says, Teach me, O Lord, the ways of your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding. And I shall keep your law. Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to covetousness.

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your way. Establish your word to your servant who is devoted to fearing you." Is this a man who even when he doesn't have the answers or even when he fumbles and fails, knows how to go back to God's word, study it, and learn the path. This must also be a man, if he's aspiring to be an elder, he needs to know how to get counsel.

I gotta tell you, I love our session right now. The board of elders right now, I love it. As the youngest person on the elders, which I absolutely love, again, by the way, I'll bring to them ideas. And I think my ideas are like cheddar. They're just great ideas. I'm like, guys, look, I have this wonderful idea. And they shoot through it like Swiss cheese. And I need that. Each of us need that.

Proverbs chapter 15, 22 says, without counsel plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established. When you go to look for a man who's aspiring to be an elder, is he the type of man who's going to ask other people their opinions? Is he the one who wants to be a part of a team and values teamwork? Have you noticed a man who's willing to humble himself and to listen to advice even when he might not like the advice that's given?

This is one of the reasons why Israel split. Right between South Judah and the Northern tribes, right? Because Solomon's son was so filled with pride that when the old men came and they gave him the advice, say sweet words to the people, love the people, care for the people, and they'll serve you for all your life.

He didn't like it, so he went to his buddies. He went to his friends and he said, hey, what should I do? And they said, be rough with them. Show them your might. Show them that you're stronger than your dad and they'll be subject to you. Yeah, right. See you later. They leave. We don't need a dictator as a bishop. We have one king and his name is Jesus Christ. We need shepherds, not tyrants.

Do they ask for wisdom at all? When you think through the list of men in the congregation, Remember Proverbs 11, 14, where there is no counsel to people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Are that type of person who's even asked your opinion before? Or asked anyone's opinion before? Do they take advice from anyone? If a man's aspiring to be a bishop, I hope that he's a man who has a wisdom and foresight. Proverbs 22, verse 3 says, a prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. But the simple pass on and are punished.

One of the things, again, I love about our session is they tell me all the time, John actually, one day I called him and I said, John, I got a cockamamie idea for you. And he said, I think I know what my job on this session is now. I said, oh, what's that, John? He said, I'm a muffler for your crazy ideas.

Because, see, this man has foresight. He has wisdom. He knows that if we go down this route too fast, we can end up in trouble. Literally just happened this week. I was on a Zoom call with a commission meeting and I had these great ideas of something I wanted to do and these other two elders were like, whoa, hold on bud. If you do that, here's what can happen. And in this case, it could have meant for me quite legitimately life and death.

And they're like, that's not good ideas. Here's some better ideas. And their ideas were amazing. Way better than mine. Find the guy who has foresight. Also, look for a man who's wise in knowing when and when not to fight. In the reformed world this is really, really important. We like electing guys and putting guys up high who have really strong rhetoric. And who have really hard theology. And they want to fight. And it seems like everybody they're going to go into battle with.

There's also a wisdom to know when to just be peacemakers. Right there are hills to die on. But not every mountain is a real mountain. Some mountains we fight on are really just mole hills. A wise elder knows where to stake his flag, where to say here and no further. But then letting other things go, okay, that's fine. Wisdom is often gained through trials and hardships.

I remember Talking to a man, he was a veteran, early 30s. And this guy had literally been through war. Watched people die. Watched some of the most atrocious behavior that you could imagine, both by the people he was serving with and the people he was fighting against.

And when you talk to this man, It just became blatantly clear, even though he was in his 30s, he was more wise than some of the 60 and 70-year-old men I've talked to. I mean, just because somebody's old doesn't mean they're wise either. I go to too many nursing homes and talk to people. I remember one guy, he didn't know it, but he was within two years of dying.

Zero desire for anything of the things of God. If I wanted to talk to him about how the corn was doing all day, he'd love to do that. But as soon as we got to anything of substance, forget it. Just shake his hand and say, okay, I'll see you next week. Hoping something would change, praying for him. Look for a man who has wisdom. A man who might have lived through some of the pain that Job describes. Who knows the end of the rat race that Ecclesiastes talks about. and has found the true answer in Jesus Christ.

Lastly, if they're desiring to be an elder, a bishop, an overseer, ask yourself, what are they desiring right now?

What are they desiring right now? What does it look like is the goal of their family? As you look at their family, what are they desiring? What end, what goal are they chasing after? As you think about their work and you hear them talk about their job and their industry, what's the end of it? Why are they working? Why are they there? Why do they wake up in the morning? What are they chasing after now? What's motivating them today?

When you talk to men in the congregation and you're working in your heart and your mind and praying and thinking, what is it that motivates this guy? Ask him, you might even want to ask him, I don't know, but maybe ask his wife. Now that's a good one. I'm dead serious, you might want to pick up your phone and call a man's wife and ask her, is it money that drives your husband?

Or is it the love of Jesus? Is it the next promotion in their career? Or is it love for God and others? Is it their own pride and reputation? Or is it because they're a redeemed child of God? Is it because, is their desire, is their motivating factor in life, ease and comfort, early retirement and the easy life? Or are they somebody who actually wants to work for God's kingdom?

Does this man hunger and thirst for righteousness. Matthew chapter 5 verse 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Where do we start with our catechism? One of the first things we teach our children, doctrinally. What is the chief end of man? Why should you live your life, kids? What are you doing with your life? What should be motivating you? What is the goal of all of this? To love God and enjoy Him forever.

Does this man, even though it might be fallible, you're never going to find the perfect Christian man. By the way, if you find the perfect elder, He's probably putting on a front. Let's talk to him more. But maybe he's Jesus incarnate. I doubt that one too, right? But you're never going to find the perfect elder.

But this is a man that hungers and thirsts for righteousness. And he knows that hunger and thirst can only be found in Jesus. That he knows the living water is what Jesus offered to the woman at the well. That he could thirst no more because he could come to Jesus. That he needed to hunger no more for righteousness because he knows that he has become the righteousness of God because Jesus became sin for him.

Does he know the heart of the gospel and does it enliven his heart and drive him in his desires in life? How he'll act with people, how he'll behave at work, how he talks about himself as he loves his family, how he spends his money. All of this, at the root of it, is tied to What is his chief desire? If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good thing.

Closing Prayer

That's good. Make sure he's desiring the right thing. Desiring God in his glory. Let's pray. Father, we pray, thanking you that you have given us our chief elder, Jesus Christ, The great shepherd of the sheep. Lord, we pray that you would please, by your spirit, give us wisdom. That if it's your will, we might elect a man or two men who would lead us in your paths. Father, please give us wisdom. We pray in Jesus' name.