Caring for God's People

Thanks very much, Kate, and good morning, everyone.

Really good to have you with us, whether you're in the church here or watching us online.

Do you know how many churches there are in Edinburgh?

Nor do I.

But I thought I'd estimated, and being a numbers geek, I worked out a way I thought I could do it.

So I went on to the Oscar the Charities website.

I looked for charities based in Edinburgh that have promotion of religion as one of their objectives,

and I counted the ones that looked as if they were churches.

There were lots of Christian organisations and so on that clearly aren't churches.

I counted those I thought looked like churches.

And I got to just over 200.

Now I think that's probably a significant underestimate of the number of churches in Edinburgh for various reasons.

But let's say 200 is roughly the number.

The question then is, why are you in this church or watching this church this morning,

rather than one of the other 200?

And there might be lots of reasons for that.

Perhaps you're just visiting.

Perhaps you're visiting family or friends, and because it's their church, you come along with them.

Perhaps you live very locally in Brunsford.

You think, this is my local church.

I should go along and be part of it.

Perhaps, like me, you've been a member of this church almost all your life.

It's where you've been brought up, and you're very rooted in it.

Perhaps you enjoy the worship, or you appreciate the teaching, or you really appreciate the fellowship and the welcome that you get in the church here.

Lots of possible reasons.

For some people, and I suspect a relatively small minority, one of the reasons, I'm sure not the most important reason,

but one of the reasons why you might come to this church is because of the way it's structured,

because of the leadership, because of the organization, and the way the church works.

Now, I suspect some people are thinking that's a really esoteric thing to think of as a reason for coming to church,

but actually it does have some importance, because how the church is organized, how it's led,

affects the decisions that are made, and also affects the relationships we have with one another,

which really is very, very important.

So I thought to begin with this morning, it is relevant to what we're going to be talking about,

although a slight digression, it might be worth very quickly looking at how churches are organized.

And there are three main ways we could divide it.

Now, you see the names down the left-hand column.

Try not to think denominations in this.

This is more how churches work together.

So Episcopalian churches are led by the clergy.

So you might have someone who's called a priest, or a vicar, or a minister, or someone like that,

who's responsible for the local church, and they report to senior clergy who might be bishops, archbishops, and so on.

Or in some churches, it might just be you have pastors over individual churches,

and you have a senior pastor who sits above the pastors of churches.

So that's how Episcopalian churches work.

It is the individuals who are important in the leadership.

Presbyterian churches, the second kind, are led by elders.

So the decisions in the church are made by elders.

The care of the church is the responsibility not just of one person,

though there may well be a minister or pastor,

but it is the responsibility of a group of elders.

How many Presbyterian churches are grouped together?

And if you take the Church of Scotland as an example,

you have presbyteries in local areas, and then you have the General Assembly.

And all of these have representatives of the elders of churches,

often but not always the ministers, but representatives of churches.

So these churches are elder-led, and they work together

in making big decisions for their denomination.

And then the final kind of church I've called congregational.

It's called congregational because big decisions are made by the congregation.

They're in a sense they're quite democratic in the way they work.

So they might quite regularly have votes of the membership on important issues,

for instance.

Probably also a pastor, minister, maybe even some elders and deacons.

But the congregation ultimately makes the decision.

Many congregational churches are independent.

They don't belong to a denomination.

They are only answerable to their own members,

and of course, to the Lord Jesus.

So maybe at this point you're asking, what is this church?

And the answer is internally we are Presbyterian with a small p.

And from an external point,

if we come under a congregational section in my table,

we don't have firm links with other churches,

although there are other churches that we very much enjoy fellowship with.

And you find lost churches are a bit like that.

They're a bit of a hybrid.

But I hope you can see that there are differences in the ways that churches are organized.

And you might then be asking, well, which of these is biblical?

Surely there's a biblical way to do church.

Which of these is it?

And the answer, I think, is all of them.

You could, for each of these different groupings of churches,

you could go to the Bible and you could find examples of churches being organized in that kind of way.

Examples of individual leaders, examples of groups of elders,

examples of where the congregation made decisions.

You see, the Bible isn't just, or the New Testament doesn't just have a handbook that says,

here is how you organize church.

And very much we have to look at what's there

and to deduce things from quite often what churches did,

perhaps in the book of Acts,

but also more particularly from what Paul and others write about as they write to churches.

Now, don't get me wrong.

I am very much wedded to the style of church that we have here,

churches that are led by elders and that are answerable only to the Lord for the decisions that are made.

But we need to recognize that is not the thing that really matters.

The thing that really matters in church, according to New Testament,

is not the way in which you organize yourselves.

It is the quality of the leadership and the members of the church.

Church is a people business.

We are here to support and encourage one another in the Lord Jesus,

and it is the people who really matter.

And there are big problems that can arise if you get people in leadership positions in churches

who aren't consistent with the teaching of the Bible.

So you have a Christian apologist, a well-known evangelical apologist,

who after his death is found to have sexually abused a large number of women.

You also have a leader, a very high-up leader in one of the churches,

who is found to have taken money that was donated by the congregation,

invested it dodgily, and then fraudulently tried to hide what had happened.

And I could give you lots more examples of that,

of people in leadership positions of churches who really shouldn't have been there,

who weren't living the lives that they should.

I read recently a description of Billy Graham,

and Billy Graham was described in this as a 20th century icon of accountability.

I like that, a 20th century icon of accountability.

In other words, Billy Graham went to great lengths,

some might say extreme lengths,

to make sure there could never be any whiff of scandal around him

on sexual or monetary things.

Because think, if Billy Graham had got involved in some kind of scandal,

what tremendous damage that would have done to the church

and to evangelical Christianity.

And in a smaller way, we need to make sure

that those who are in leadership positions in the church

are those who are living lives that are consistent with what the church teaches.

Let's not think that these things only happen

to people in high-up positions elsewhere.

They could easily happen in our church if we're not careful.

And please do pray for the leaders of the church

and for our walk with the Lord Jesus.

So we come now to 1 Timothy 3,

and in this section we're looking at this morning,

Paul is saying to us,

here is how church leaders should be.

Not how they should organize themselves,

not how the church should function,

but here is the kind of people

we should have in leadership in our churches.

Now, in case you think you can switch off at this point,

or you can think about all the faults with the leaders of the church,

let me just say here that I think

the vast majority of things that Paul talks about here

are things that should be characteristics of every Christian.

So he's not, although he's specifically talking about leaders here,

I think we should all be challenged as we go through

and as we think about what Paul is saying.

But let's just do a quick overview of the groups that Paul talks about,

and then we'll go into a little bit more detail

into the qualities that he thinks they should display in their lives.

So there are three groups of people that Paul addresses here.

The first is he talks about an overseer.

Overseer just means what it sounds like.

It is someone who sees, who oversees,

who observes things, and who acts on them.

In the church context, it is someone who is taking care of the members of the church,

who is aware of things that are going on in their lives,

the kind of problems they might be facing,

and who is there to help and to encourage them.

So it's not just seeing, it's seeing and acting on it,

and that applies as well in decisions that are made about the church.

There are two other words in the New Testament

that are used almost interchangeably with overseeing.

You'll get passages where two or more of these words are used.

The second one is elder.

In the parallel passage in Titus, Paul talks about elders.

And the third one is pastor, or sometimes shepherd.

And these three descriptions between them

refer to the people who have been entrusted

with the overall leadership of the church.

Those who, under the Lord Jesus,

are seeking to care for, to pastor, to shepherd,

to lead God's people,

and to help them to grow in their faith.

So that's the overseers.

Second group of people is called deacons.

And Paul says in the same way, deacons.

Deacons can be best described as those who serve in the church.

That's what the word means.

A deacon is someone who serves,

or someone who helps, perhaps,

in the leadership of the church.

Now, it looks in the New Testament

as though some churches definitely did have deacons,

and some may not have formerly had deacons.

So the church in Philippi, which Paul writes to,

he writes to the Christians,

to the overseers, and to the deacons.

But in none of his other letters to churches

does he do that.

In Timothy, he talks about overseers and deacons.

In Titus, where Titus is in Crete,

he talks just about the elders, the overseers.

So there may or may not in many churches

be those who are formerly recognized as deacons.

But there certainly are people who are doing that role

and who are recognized as those who are involved

in leadership within the church,

but not the kind of overall leadership,

overall responsibility.

And we have lots of people in this church.

We don't formally have deacons in this church.

We have lots of people doing that.

We tend to call them things like ministry leaders.

Then there's a third group,

and the third group, in some ways,

is the most difficult one to define.

The version of the NIV that we're using now,

the edition of the NIV,

calls them the woman.

That is a very literal translation

of what the Greek said.

It could also be translated the wives,

because the word for woman and wife are the same in Greek.

Now, there are two possibilities,

two main possibilities of who Paul is writing about here.

He might be writing about the wives of deacons

and saying here are the requirements of deacons

and their wives.

There's also a requirement for them.

Now, that makes some sense

because it comes in the middle of a passage about deacons.

He talks about deacons,

then he talks about the woman,

then he talks about deacons again.

And perhaps we could say that the instructions

that are given,

the qualities that are required,

are appropriate for those

who might be the wives of leaders in the church.

So we're talking particularly about

how they talk, malicious talkers.

And those who are the wives of leaderships in the church

and are supporting them in the work they do

will know lots of things

that perhaps other members of the congregation don't

and shouldn't necessarily know.

And they might be tempted to gossip unhelpfully about it.

So that would make some sense.

There are some difficulties with that view though.

And one of these is that Paul seems to have in mind here

a different group.

He talks about the overseer.

He then talks about the deacons.

And then he says,

in the same way, the woman.

If he was talking about the wives of deacons,

why didn't he previously talk about the wives of overseers

who have at least as important a role in the church

as the wives of deacons?

He also talks about the woman or the wives.

If he was talking about the wives of the deacons,

why doesn't he say their wives?

And that would leave everything absolutely clear.

So my judgment, and others may disagree,

and commentators and Bibles disagree on this,

my judgment is that most likely here,

Paul is talking about women serving in the church,

not specifically the wives of deacons.

In a sense, it doesn't matter.

Whether we're married to someone

who is one of the leaders in the church,

or whether we're serving in the church in our own way,

it is very important that we display the kind of qualities

that Paul talks about in this passage.

So three groups, overseers, deacons,

and I'm going to, as we talk about them,

I'm going to put deacons and women

and talk about them together.

Let's then get into the passage

and think about what Paul says.

Now it looks as if there's just a really long list of things,

but it doesn't in some ways look very structured

the way that Paul writes it.

And I'm sure there is a very good reason

why he uses the order he does,

but the way my mind works,

it worked quite well to try and categorize

into different areas of a person's life

what Paul was saying should be the characteristics.

And there's one or two could fit in

under more than one heading,

but let's not worry too much about that.

So we're looking first at the overseers, the elders.

And the overriding thing that Paul says here

is that they are to be beyond reproach.

They are to be above reproach.

And that has an impact on many different areas

of their lives.

So Paul says those who are in positions of authority

in the church, and it applies to those

who are just members as well,

but specifically in this context,

those who are in positions of authority in the church,

they need to be temperate.

Now temperate here means kind of even-headed,

level-headed, clear-headed, that kind of thing.

It's someone who is not prone to going hither and thither

and changing their mind all the time,

but it's someone who has a good mindset

and is able to follow that through in their actions.

They're to be self-controlled.

So there's to be someone who is aware

of the temptations that we all face in life,

the difficulties we face,

and has got them under control

and through the power of the Holy Spirit

is seeking to live a life

that is pleasing to the Lord Jesus

and avoid the temptations we all face.

They're to be not given to drunkenness.

That speaks for itself.

Paul's not saying we have to be teetotal,

but he is saying it's important

that Christians don't regularly get drunk

and out of control in their lives.

Not a lover of money.

Church leaders very often have access to money

or are involved in the distribution of money

in the things of the church,

and they need not to be greedy

and not to be looking for gain for themselves.

An awful lot of Christian leaders have fallen

because they've tried to get more and more for themselves

at the expense of others.

And then finally, Paul said,

and let's just take a second more to talk about this,

it needs to be not a recent convert.

Verse 6, he must not be a recent convert

or he may become conceited

and fall under the same judgment as the devil.

Being a church leader, an overseer, an elder

might seem to be quite an attractive position

to many people.

It might be one that you would aspire to

and say, I want to become an elder quickly.

I want to become a leader in the church.

If that's your attitude,

you're probably unsuitable to be an elder.

Because Paul talks at the beginning

of what he says about elders, about overseers,

that if someone desires to be an overseer,

they desire a noble task.

Not a noble office, a noble task.

And the duty of the overseer, the elder,

is not to rule over the congregation

and to feel that they're superior to everyone else.

Rather, the overseer is there to care for others

and to help them to grow in the Lord Jesus.

And if an overseer does the job well,

it's hard work.

It's stressful.

It involves a lot of sacrifice,

including for their wives and families.

And yes, it brings respect in the church.

It means you've got influence

and it can be very fulfilling.

But the reason why we would wish to serve

as overseers in the church

is so that God's people may be built up

and that they may come to know the Lord Jesus better.

Anyone who wants to be an overseer

simply for the status it brings

is doing it for absolutely the wrong reason.

And as a bit of an aside here,

let me also say,

don't think that the elders of the church

are a lot more spiritual than everyone else.

We're not.

I can think of lots of people in the church

who I'm absolutely sure are more spiritual than I am.

But for various reasons,

aren't elders.

Elders are there to serve

and to be available to the Lord Jesus

to help his people to grow.

And Paul says here,

coming back to the text,

if an elder is a recent convert,

there is a danger.

They become a bit big headed

and they think I'm better than others

because I've become an elder

and I've only been a Christian

for five years or whatever.

So I think that is what's behind

what Paul says in that verse.

Okay, let's move on.

And we've got another difficult group

to look at,

the elder at home.

So in this edition of the NIV,

Paul says that the elder

has to be faithful to his wife.

And that seems obvious

and is certainly absolutely right.

Whether it's wholly what the Bible means

or what Paul means when he wrote it,

we could have some discussion of it,

I think is the principal meaning.

But what Paul actually wrote

is that the elder has to be the husband of one wife

or possibly the man of one woman.

And that raises issues of,

can you be an elder if you're not married?

Can you be an elder if you've been married

and you've been widowed?

And a number of others like that.

I don't think that is what Paul is addressing here.

And I certainly wouldn't have any problem

with a non-eyed person

or someone who'd been widowed

and married again,

being an elder of the church.

I think Paul is talking about

someone who is faithful in their marriage,

who people can look at

and they say in their marriage relationship,

they model what a Christian should be like.

And it's so important,

not just for elders,

I've said for everybody,

that we have strong married relationships,

that we're faithful to those we are married to,

that we show them real love and care

and we don't get tempted away from our marriage.

Elders have to be faithful to their wives.

And then Paul says,

elders have to manage their families well.

This is another one

which people have some difficulty with.

Read the full verse,

verse four,

he must manage his family well

and see that his children obey him

and he must do so

in a manner worthy of full respect.

If anyone does not know

how to manage his own family,

how can he take care of God's church?

I think we get the analogy,

that's fairly straightforward.

Paul is saying,

if you've got an elder

and their home is chaotic

and they're not really looking after the family

the way they should,

how can they then be entrusted

with the care of the church?

But it does create an issue

if you've got an elder

and their children have chosen

not to follow them in their faith.

Does that then disqualify them

from being an elder?

I think no.

We, all of us,

have no, ultimately,

no power to make our children

become believers in the Lord Jesus.

That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

And all of us who are parents,

we should be praying for our children,

we should be encouraging them

and teaching them

and training them in the right way

and introducing them to the Lord Jesus.

Ultimately, they have to make their decisions

as the Spirit leads them

to follow and trust the Lord Jesus.

So I think if an elder's family life

is clearly chaotic

and they're not bringing up their children well,

that is an indication

that they shouldn't be

in leadership in the church.

But the fact that children have chosen

not to follow the Lord Jesus,

particularly adult children,

doesn't, I think, disqualify them.

I think we've finished

all the controversial bits of the passage,

so hopefully downhill from now on.

What about the elder in the church?

And the three here

that I highly think

are being relevant to the church.

The elder has to be hospitable,

says Paul.

Hospitable literally means

a lover of strangers.

And this is something

that was particularly relevant

in the early church.

A lot of Christians

might travel around

and to stay in inns

or whatever the equivalent of hotels

were in those days

what was dangerous

and could create all sorts of issues.

So it was important

if I'm a Christian

and I'm visiting another town,

particularly if I'm visiting

in Christian service,

that those who are in the church there

are hospitable

and receive me

and welcome me

and provide accommodation.

Directly, that is probably

not quite so relevant today.

Most people,

if you go to visit another town,

you either go and visit a friend

or you find somewhere to stay,

a hotel or a guest house.

But it's still relevant

that we need to be hospitable

in our dealings with one another.

We need to be welcoming

those in the church

and those coming to the church

and showing them the love

and the care of the Lord Jesus.

To that extent,

an elder still needs to be someone

who is hospitable,

has people in their home

and shows real concern for others.

Able to teach.

This is the one thing

that is clear

as a difference between elders

and deacons in the passage.

Elders have to be able to teach.

Deacons have to have a grasp

of the truth

but not necessarily able

to teach others.

So to be an elder,

one of the requirements

is that you can teach others

the Christian faith.

Now that doesn't mean

teaching from front.

It includes it, obviously,

but it doesn't just mean

preaching, teaching

from the front.

We've had and we have elders

who don't regularly

preach from the front

but have a very strong ministry

in teaching others.

For some,

it is through one-to-one meetings

and talking with people

and building them up

in their faith.

Or it can be in a small group,

in the home groups that we have,

being able to teach them

and encourage the group

in their faith

in a way that people

might not feel so comfortable

doing from the front.

Some of us are better

speaking from the front

and not so good

at other things.

But one way or another,

elders must be those

who understand God's word,

who are applying it

in their own lives,

and who are able

to pass it on to others.

And then the final thing

that's related to elders,

I think, in the church

is that they're not

to be quarrelsome.

They're not to be troublemakers,

always objecting to things

as they come up

and picking verbal fights

with others.

And it's clear

that someone in that kind

of position could cause

quite big problems

in church leadership.

And then finally,

for elders in the world,

we're to be respectable.

Respectable, in a sense,

is the outward form

of self-control.

We've got to be people

who present ourselves well

and to give a good testimony

for the Lord Jesus.

Not violent, but gentle,

that's obvious.

And a good reputation

is very important

that those outside the church

can see that we love

the Lord Jesus,

that we are serving him,

and our lives are consistent

with what we believe.

There's a huge number

of things there.

I look at them and I think,

well, some of these

I'm reasonably comfortable about.

Some of them I think

I'm particularly weak on.

But as I said,

these are the things

that elders should display.

And as I said,

really most church,

all church members

should be seeking

most of these.

Very quickly,

maybe we're going to talk

about something else

to finish.

Deacons,

the helpers,

the people who serve

in the church.

A similar kind of list

to elders

with one or two differences.

So I'll just,

the ones that are similar,

I put in italics,

we won't talk about them again.

The other ones,

deaconists should be sincere.

They've got to be genuine

in their faith

and desire to serve

the Lord Jesus.

They've got to hold

the deep truth

and not necessarily

be good teachers,

but certainly understand

God's word

and believe it

and be firm

in wanting to hold to it.

They need,

if we move to the church

and the world section,

need to be tested.

So you don't just have

someone who comes

in the door of the church

and says,

I want to serve,

I want to lead a small group,

something like that.

You can't just put someone

into that straight away.

They need to be tested.

Particularly with the woman,

it was not malicious talkers,

which we talked about

a little bit earlier,

and they need to be trustworthy.

So again,

a challenging list of things

which those who are in positions

of serving in the church,

those particularly

who are recognized

as leading activities

in the church,

should match up to

and should be tested against.

But really,

as we look at it,

it's very easy

to go down the list

and to treat it

as a checklist.

And that's probably,

in some ways,

it's something we need to do,

in other ways,

it's not the most helpful way

to look at it.

The real issue

is do I,

do you,

love the Lord Jesus

and love the Lord's people?

And if we do,

then these things,

to some extent,

will come along with it.

As we develop the character

of the Lord Jesus,

so we will develop

the fruits of the Spirit

and the kind of qualities

that are talked about here.

So I don't think

we should be spending

all our time

going through these lists.

We should be aware of them.

But the real question

is for all of us,

do I love the Lord?

Am I walking closely

with the Lord?

And is that evident

to others?

Because what we can see here

is what is visible to others

to some extent

or another.

But to finish with,

I want to talk about

our example.

And this,

as in everything,

our example is

the Lord Jesus.

So let me just put up

two verses

from the Gospels,

or one from the Gospel,

one from 1 Peter.

Peter says,

you were like sheep

going astray.

That's a quotation

in the book of Isaiah.

But now you have returned

to the shepherd

and overseer

of your souls.

So those of us

who are overseers,

who are elders,

pastors, shepherds,

call it what you will,

our job

is to follow

the example

of the Lord Jesus.

He is the ultimate

overseer.

And I think

a very significant

little phrase,

overseer

of your souls.

As overseers

in the church,

we can see

what is visible.

We can see

how people act

and behave

to an extent

that we know them

well enough.

But we only see

what's on the outside.

And we do have

a concern

and a responsibility

for the souls

of the members

of the church

in that we need

to get alongside them

and find out

where their issues are

and try to help them.

But the Lord Jesus

is the one

who can see

the inside.

The one who knows

everything

about us.

And ultimately,

he is the one

that we need

to look for,

for guidance

and for strength.

Not humans,

not fallible humans

as we all are.

But to recognize

the Lord Jesus

is the one

who is the overseer

of our souls.

And then the quotation

from Mark's Gospel,

there's a similar

verse in Matthew.

The Son of Man

did not come

to be served,

but to serve

and to give his life

as a ransom

for many.

Elsewhere,

the Lord Jesus

says that he comes

among us

as one who serves.

The word really is

he comes to us

as a deacon.

That is the same word

that's used here.

And so in our service,

if we are serving

the Lord Jesus,

our example

that we should be

following

and seeking to imitate

is the Lord Jesus.

Jesus.

And to recognize

that the extent

that we serve

in the church

or elsewhere

is only a tiny fraction

of the way

in which he served

perfectly.

He served in his life,

but particularly served

as he gave his death,

as he died

and gave his life

for our salvation.

And as in everything,

we don't look at ourselves

or we don't even look

at those round about us,

although they can be

very good examples

that we can learn from.

But we look to the Lord Jesus

and say,

here is the one

who is the perfect overseer,

who is the perfect deacon,

the one who served,

and we should look to him

and to imitate him

in our lives.

And of course,

we need to make sure

before we can do that,

that we have a living relationship

with him,

that we know him

as the saviour,

as the shepherd

who died for the sheep,

who gave his life for us

so that we could be forgiven

for our sins.

So there's 1 Timothy 3.

I'm sorry,

quite a technical message

this morning.

That's the nature

of the passage.

But if you take

nothing else away,

take away these two verses.

The example of the Lord Jesus

as the one who cares for us,

as the one who serves us,

and as the one

who gave his life

for us.

Let's join together

in prayer.

Father, we thank you

for your word.

We thank you

for the Lord Jesus,

for the way in which

he, as in everything,

gives us the perfect example.

We pray that those of us

who are in positions

of leadership

in the church,

whether it's as overseers,

as elders,

whether it's in

kind of roles

that deacons would have

in serving the church,

that we may,

as far as we can,

live up to the standards

that Paul sets for us,

that we may seek

to live lives

that are transparent

and that are pleasing

to the Lord Jesus.

But help us particularly

to have a love

for the Lord

and a love

for his people,

that the church

may be built up

as we care for one another,

as we serve together.

We pray that all of us

may know the Lord

as Saviour

and may seek

to follow him

as the one

who is the perfect leader

and the one

who knows

every aspect

of our lives.

We give you thanks

for our time together.

We commit ourselves

to you now

in the name

of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.