2.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• God works through the church to call men to become elders.
• When a church calls an elder, they must follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
  - The Holy Spirit guides us through his Word, the Bible.
• There are two places in the Bible where the Holy Spirit clearly gives us the qualifications of an elder (which also applies to pastors):
  - 1 Timothy 3:1-7
  - Titus 1:5-9
• The first qualification is that an elder must be “above reproach” (or “blameless”).
  - This means that there must be nothing in his life that can give him a bad name.
  - This does not mean that he must be sinless.
• This qualification is the most important one, because an overseer works for God.
  - If an overseer has a bad name, he will make God’s name look bad.
  - If he has a good name, people will see that his God is good.

2.2 – 1 Timothy 3:1-7←⤒🔗

^1. This saying is trustworthy: 'If someone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work.'

^2. The overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher,

^3. not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money.

^4. He must manage his own household well and keep his children in control without losing his dignity.

^5. But if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the church of God?

^6. He must not be a recent convert or he may become arrogant and fall into the punishment that the devil will exact.

^7. And he must be well thought of by those outside the faith, so that he may not fall into disgrace and be caught by the devil’s trap.

© NET Bible

2.3 An elder is called by God←⤒🔗

In Lesson 1 we have seen that the work of an overseer is good work. If you desire to be an overseer (elder), you are desiring something good.

But the desire to be an elder is not enough. A man does not become an elder by going to the church and saying, “I want to be an elder!” No, a man becomes an elder when God calls him to become an elder.

From Acts 20:28 we saw that it is the Holy Spirit who makes someone an overseer. And from Ephesians 4:11 we saw that it is Jesus Christ who gives “pastors and teachers” to his church. Clearly, an elder is someone who is called by God the Father, Son, and Spirit.

But how does God call a person to become an elder? He works through the church. A church must pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead them. When it is time to choose an elder, they must choose a man who is spiritually mature. Then they must tell this man, “We think that God is calling you to be an elder.” That is how God calls elders.

2.4 Who can be called?←⤒🔗

When a church calls an elder, they cannot just call anyone. They must follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides us through his Word, the Bible.

In the Bible there are two places where the Holy Spirit clearly tells us what kind of person an elder must be. If a man is not this kind of person, it means that he is not spiritually mature yet. Then the church should not call him to be an elder.

These two places in the Bible are 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. For this lesson you have read 1 Timothy 3:1-7. You will look at Titus 1:5-9 in later lessons.

These two passages give us the “qualifications” of an elder. A “qualification” is something that you must be or know or do, before you can be chosen for a task.

The first qualification is found in 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6. It is this: “The overseer then must be above reproach.” We will see what this means in Part 2 of this lesson.

2.5 Above reproach←⤒🔗

An overseer must be above reproach (or “blameless,” in some English Bibles). What does this mean? It means that there must not be anything in the overseer’s life that can give him a bad name. If someone tells bad stories about him, those bad stories must not be true!

In the book of 1 Samuel, we read about two leaders who were not blameless. Hophni and Phinehas were two priests. Their job was to teach God’s people and to lead them in serving God. But they stole from the people. When the people brought meat to sacrifice to God, they took the meat for themselves. They even slept with the women who worked at God’s tabernacle! (1 Samuel 2:12-17, 1 Samuel 2:22).

These two leaders caused great damage. They made God look bad in the eyes of his people. Because of them, God’s people did not want to come to his tabernacle anymore. They did not really know or love God. There was no one who could teach them about him (1 Samuel 3:1).

God brought judgement over Hophni and Phinehas. Then he gave another leader to his people: Samuel. Samuel led the people of Israel for many, many years. At the end of his life, he called the people together. He said to them,

Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king.  Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me, and I will return it to you!. 1 Samuel 12:3

Then the people answered, “You have not wronged us or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone” (1 Samuel 12:4). Clearly, Samuel had been a blameless leader.

A blameless leader is a gift from God. Because Samuel had a good name, the people trusted that God is good. Because he was following God, he could teach the people to follow God. In this way God’s people were richly blessed.

The gift of blameless leadership is still needed in the church today. A church leader must be able to say, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, NIV).

2.6 “Blameless” is not the same as “sinless”←⤒🔗

Does this mean that an elder must be without sin? No. Only Jesus Christ, our Great Elder, is without sin.

Think of the apostle Peter. In the past he had denied Jesus (John 18:17). And even while he was doing great work as an apostle, he still made some wrong choices (Galatians 2:11-14).

And think of Paul. In the past he had persecuted God’s people (Acts 9). And even after he became an apostle, he still said this about himself: “I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!” (Romans 7:19).

Peter and Paul were both elders. But they were not perfect. They were sinners who needed God’s grace and forgiveness every day.

But we can still say that Peter and Paul were “above reproach.” There was nothing in their lives that could cause people to say, “These men are only pretending to serve God.” Or, “These people are telling us about God, but just look at their lives. Their message can’t be true!”

When Peter and Paul sinned, they repented from their sin. They kept growing in their faith. They did not have a “secret life” which they tried to hide from God and from other people.

That is what it means to be above reproach. This is the first and most important qualification, because remember: an overseer is working for God. If he has a bad name, he will make God look bad. However, if he has a good name, people will see that his God is good!