13.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• There are six qualifications of an elder that are found only in Titus 1:5-9. 
• The first of these is that an elder must not be arrogant.
• To be arrogant means to live for yourself and your own pleasure.
• Arrogant leaders cannot serve the church or work together as a team.
• The second of these qualifications is that an elder must not be quick-tempered.
• This means that he must be patient and slow to anger.
• The two qualifications fit together:
  - As we fight against the arrogance in our old, sinful hearts,
  - we will become less quick-tempered and more patient.

13.2 - Titus 1:5-9 (ESV)←⤒🔗

^5. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you –

^6. if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 

^7. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

^8. but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

^9. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

© NET Bible

13.3 Where we are now←⤒🔗

So far in this Bible study, we have looked at ten things that a man must be before he can become an elder. From 1 Timothy 3:2-3 we have seen that he must be:

1. above reproach
2. a one-woman man
3. temperate
4. self-controlled
5. respectable
6. hospitable
7. an able teacher
8. not a drunkard
9. not violent, but gentle
10. not contentious

We call these things “qualifications,” because they qualify a man to be an elder. There are ten more qualifications that we will study in this course. Six of them are not found in 1 Timothy 3. We find them only in Titus 1:5-9. Specifically, they are found in verses 7-8:

For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined:.

These verses remind us of 1 Timothy 3:2-3. They tell us some of the same things, for example that an elder must not be a drunkard or violent. But these verses also give us six more qualifications to think about:

1. Not arrogant
2. Not quick-tempered
3. A lover of good
4. Upright
5. Holy
6. Disciplined

We will focus on these qualifications in Lessons 13 to 15. Let us begin with the first of them: An elder must not be arrogant.

13.4 Me, me, me!←⤒🔗

“Me, me, me. Life is about me and what I want.” That is the rule by which an arrogant person lives. The Greek word for “arrogant” means “self-pleasing.” To be arrogant is to live for yourself and your own pleasure.

Later in his letter to Titus, Paul speaks about arrogant people:

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.Titus 3:3

When you live for yourself, you become the enemy of the people around you. You don’t really care for them, because you care only for your own “passions and desires.”

We all know such arrogant people. But in this verse, Paul is not speaking about other people. At the beginning of the verse, he says, “For we too…” He is speaking about himself and about you and me!

Each of us has an old, sinful heart. This old heart says, “Me, me, me!” We all love our own “passions and desires” too much. But Christ died for us, so that we will live for God. Now God’s Spirit helps us look away from ourselves. He helps us to start serving the people around us.

13.5 An overseer must not be arrogant←⤒🔗

One day Jesus heard how his disciples were arguing with each other. Each of them wanted to be the greatest. Then he called them to himself. He told them,

You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:42-45

Peter remembered this lesson for the rest of his life. Later in his life, he wrote these words to elders:

Give a shepherd’s care to God’s flock among you…. And do not lord it over those entrusted to you, but be examples to the flock. 1 Peter 5:2-3

An elder may not “lord it over” the people. This means that he may not try to be their lord and master. No, he must care for them, as their servant.

In these verses the church is called “God’s flock.” And in Titus 1:7 an elder is called “God’s steward.” Paul and Peter speak in this way, to remind us that the church does not belong to its leaders. The church belongs to God. Elders are only stewards who must take care of God’s church.

It is easy to see why an elder should not be an arrogant man. If an elder lives for his own glory and his own pleasure, he will not serve God or the church. He will instead use the church.

There is also another reason why an arrogant man cannot be an elder. Paul told Titus to “appoint elders in every town” (Titus 1:5). Not just one elder, but a group of elders. Elders should be leaders who can work together as a team. They should listen to each other and make decisions together. Arrogant leaders cannot do this.

13.6 An overseer must not be quick-tempered←⤒🔗

The next qualification in Titus 1:7 is that an elder must not be quick-tempered. This means that an elder must not be someone who gets angry quickly.

It is not always wrong to become angry. It is right to be angry when we see sin around us and sin within us. (In Matthew 21:12-13 we see how Jesus himself became angry at the sin of people.) But, just like God our Father, we must be slow to anger (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8). In other words, we must be patient.

Think of the many people whom an elder must work with. Think of all the problems that he must help to solve. There will be many reasons for him to become angry! But if he gets angry quickly, he will not be able to help anyone. People will be too afraid of him.

Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary to China, said that every missionary needs three things: 1. Patience. 2. Patience. 3. Patience! Without patience a person cannot be useful in God’s kingdom. But a patient believer can be greatly used by God.

Proverbs 16:32 teaches this truth in a powerful way. It says, “Better to be slow to anger than to be a mighty warrior, and one who controls his temper is better than one who captures a city.”

The 11^th qualification (“not arrogant”) and the 12^th qualification (“not quick-tempered”) fit together. As believers, we must continually fight against the arrogance in our old, sinful hearts. As we do this, we will become less quick-tempered and more patient.

Of course, no one is perfect. But in general an elder must be known as a humble, patient man. Then, by his own example, he will teach the church to be humble and patient like Christ.