1 Timothy 3:1

1 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. (1 Timothy 3:1, NIV).

This week I am starting a series on the qualifications of Elders. Our present Board of Elders includes myself, Dave Jones, Dennis Keller, Ralph Littlefield, Gerald Stillman and Buddy Spaulding. In meeting, we have thought it would be good to discuss the qualifications of elders and ask you as a congregation to write down the names of people that you think fit the bill. We are praying and asking God to show us those who should be part of the leadership team of this church. We invite you to join us in this prayer.

Some of you in this church are qualified to be in this position. But you may be conflicted because in your heart you might like to be asked, but you also think that expressing this out loud would be self-seeking and a sign of spiritual immaturity. In the world around us, it is considered ok to say we want a promotion or we would like to own a business. In the world around us, its ok to say we are the greatest if we can back it up with action. In the world around us its ok to want more and to move higher. However, when we bring this into the church, it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel spiritual. It doesn’t feel appropriate. So you sit back and don’t step us and say, “If the church felt I was qualified, I would be willing to serve.”

I have a word for you today, a word that you can trust. The apostle Paul would consider it foundational. “If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.”

Some who might seek this position may have changed their minds. Church leaders are under a great deal of fire. We can blame it on the Catholic church with their continuing issues with child abuse, but the Protestant church has had its Jim Bakers, its’ Jimmy Swaggarts and many others who have marred Church leadership. The ability to fall into sin is open to anyone and many walk in that path. But the result is that spiritual leadership is not something that many people want to be a part of.

I have a word for you today, a word that you can trust. The apostle Paul would consider it foundational. “If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.”

Then some have been in leadership in this church or other churches. For some reason, things did not go the way that people thought they would or should. Or perhaps their energies were diverted into other areas and they lost the heart and passion for leadership. They may have become “weary in well-doing.”

I have a word for you today, a word that you can trust. The apostle Paul would consider it foundational. “If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.”

What is an overseer? In the Greek he is an “episkope”. This is the Greek word from which we get the Episcopal church. The word “overseer” is also translated “bishop.” Some believe that in the early church that one person among the “presbuteros”, the elders, rose to a position of prominence. This bishop, this overseer, may have been the one in charge of the churches that met in one city or in one area.

I believe that scripture gives a different view. That view is that the bishop and elder were the same people. Paul, writing to Titus, uses this in this way.:

5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. (Titus 1:5-7, NIV).

Here he uses the words as synonyms, not as two separate offices.

So why the two words? The word “overseer” described Gentile leadership, the word “elder” described Jewish leadership. Both cultures were included in the terms Paul used for leadership.

Also, the two words helped form the basis for the position. An elder was an older person, one with experience. Just as we don’t put twenty year olds on our Supreme Court, so the early church did not usually put younger men in leadership, though Timothy, himself, was an exception.

Where the elder was older, the term “overseer” described what the function of the office is. The overseer or bishop was a part of the team of people who, under God’s direction, oversaw the spiritual life of the church. They did much of the teaching and provided spiritual leadership and guidance to the local church. They were not dictators, but directors. That they were part of a team is evidenced by Paul’s words to Titus, “appoint elders in every city ”. The plural is used for elder. God wanted a team approach to ministry; he did not want one person leading a church. If so, Jesus was to be that one person.

He wanted people with servant hearts. He wanted people with willing hearts. For the office of overseer is a noble task.

If you were found to be qualified, would you take that position? In spite of all you hear, I have a word for you today, a word that you can trust. The apostle Paul would consider it foundational. “If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.”

How important is good leadership? It’s vital for any group of people working together.

You know the frustrations of poor leadership or no leadership. Married couples can spend a lot of time asking the question, “What are we going to do?” without any results unless one steps up and says, “This is what I would like to do.” At a basic level, that is leadership.

If you have ever attended a committee meeting, you know what I mean. If the person running the meeting allows the group to go off on major tangents, doesn’t have a clear agenda, doesn’t provide a focus, and doesn’t have a mechanism for allowing issues to be resolved, the members of that committee can lose motivation and interest in being there.

However, good leadership goes beyond that. The Christian message is about love, God’s love for us and our love for others. If the leadership steamrolls those under it, anger, frustration and resentment can build. If people don’t know that you care, they don’t care what you know. The works of the flesh do not promote the fruit of the Spirit.

I would also add that in the church there is only room for one leader. That leader has to be Jesus Christ. On the human side, you do not want gods (people with small g’s) leading. You want people who have a heart for Jesus and a love for Him. His leadership must be acknowledge, believed and evident within the church.

So leadership is important. I want to now give you an overview of the passage we will be looking at here in 1 Timothy.

As we will look at this passage over the next few weeks, we will discover some important truths. Some of them I want to highlight briefly this morning.

First, if you read through the qualifications given in this passage, you may scratch your head and say, “This stuff should be true for all Christians.” And you would be right. Other than the quality of “apt to teach” all the others should describe every Christian at a basic level.

Second, if you were to outline this passage, eleven qualities are given and then three illustrations of life situations follow.

Third, you will find little description of what the work entails. The word “overseer” sheds some light. The phrase, “apt to teach” will point us in that direction. But the rest of the qualities deal more with character than a description of what the job should look like.

Fourth, this list starts with the words “above reproach” and ends with “a good report,” very similar terms. Everything in the middle explains these two terms. (More on that next week.)

So read this passage this coming week. Look at it. Pray about it. Write down the names of people you know in this church that would measure up. Send an email or leave the paper on my desk. Write the names in the rip off tab of the bulletin.

Finally, check your own idea on what a noble task would be. Is following Jesus, serving the Lord, being a part of his work in your list of tasks you want to be involved with?

Today we have some young people who are heading down to Boston on a missions trip. This is a noble task as well. We want to invite them up so we can pray for them as they go.