Sermon

Shepherds Of The Flock, Part 2 - Family Qualifications - Frank Brancato

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. Going back to a passage that we noticed last week also in the

  2. book of Titus Chapter 1 and verse 5, the Apostle Paul said,

    Titus 1 chapter mention

  3. for this reason, I left you in Crete that you should set in

  4. order, the things that are lacking and appoint ordain

  5. Elders in every city as I commanded You In this passage

  6. the Apostle Paul instructs Titus, or tells Titus.

  7. The reason for leaving him in Reet.

  8. Now, something about create. You might remember I think this

  9. is very important creep was no small place.

  10. In fact, it was the fifth largest island in the

  11. Mediterranean Sea Scholars. Tell us that ancient Crete was

  12. about 186 miles long and the width of it very in the

  13. narrowest part of Crete, it was seven miles and in the widest

  14. part of creating was 35 miles. There were over 100 cities in

  15. that. Place and over a million people

  16. and Paul tells Titus that he left them and creepy left him in

  17. Crete for the purpose of doing two things.

  18. Number one to set in order, the things that are lacking.

  19. And number two to ordain Elders in every city.

  20. Now, first of all, we need to understand.

  21. And remember that ordaining, Elders that every city means

  22. ordaining Elders in every church.

  23. Now, if, in fact there Is a hundred cities that we might say

  24. that there was 100 congregations in that particular place.

  25. Perhaps every city where there was a church, they were toward a

  26. Elders now. Elders were ordained in those

  27. places without miraculous help from God.

  28. I've heard people say, you know, we don't have a whole lot of

  29. Elders. Today we have a lot of

  30. congregations that don't have Elders today and the only way

  31. that they could have done it back in the old days or back in

  32. the days of the early, you Testament Church was with

  33. miraculous Hill. I don't believe that at all.

  34. I don't think there's anything that is described there about

  35. Elders, that was with miraculous help.

  36. I think that these men were spiritually minded, man.

  37. Number two, they desire the office of a an elder.

  38. And number three, they were fully qualified Now.

  39. Understand today, we may not have Elders in a lot of

  40. congregations, but really, what does it mean?

  41. What we need to have Alders, we A spiritually minded men, that

  42. desire the office and are fully qualified now.

  43. It is scriptural government for there to be elders and deacons

  44. in the Lord's church. That is scriptural.

  45. But it would be equally on the opposite side, unscriptural and

  46. wrong to ordain men that were not qualified according to the

  47. word of God. Now names for the office.

  48. We talked about this last time, I'll be very brief about this

  49. names for the office. There's three different names

  50. that describe the office of an elder one is the English word,

  51. Elder, and Elder. Simply means older, and with

  52. experience, and what I have here on the screen, I have the word

  53. young, the line through it. Because by definition alone, an

  54. Elgar is an older person. And by definition, it would

  55. automatically eliminate a young man.

  56. A young man cannot be an elder. After an elder is one that is

  57. older. And with experience secondly,

  58. there's another word that describes, the office of an

  59. elders and that is the word. Bishop and Bishop is an overseer

  60. and Bishop is used to describe the duty that the Elder has to

  61. the congregation. And that is an overseer of the

  62. flock. Number three is the word Pastor

  63. sometimes taken out of context in the religious world where

  64. somebody gives the name pass. Faster to an evangelist or a

  65. preacher that is unscriptural. A pastor is an elder and there

  66. were always a plurality of Elders in congregations of the

  67. body of So, a one-man Pastor system that is found in the

  68. denominational. World is unscriptural and Elder

  69. though is called a pastor. And a pastor is a shepherd and

  70. talks about the task to feed the flock.

  71. Now, here's the point and Elder is described as an elder because

  72. he's older it with experience. He's called a bishop to describe

  73. his duty to the congregation and that is an overseer he is called

  74. a pastor to Tribe. His task to feed the flock as a

  75. Shepherd. All right, now, qualifications,

  76. what do we noticed last week? Number one, a man must desire,

  77. the office. That's first and foremost.

  78. Now, you remember what we said, a man that's going to desire the

  79. office. There's two different words and

  80. that passes for desire. It says, if a bishop desires, if

  81. a man desire, the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

  82. Those two English word desires are different.

  83. The first one is to desire the office.

  84. The second one is to earnestly or eagerly desire to work.

  85. So if a man is going to be an elder, he's got him desire, the

  86. office but even more so he has Desire, the work.

  87. You know what? This man described to me is this

  88. man right here is described as a man.

  89. That understands that influence is more important than

  90. Authority. I'm going to say that again.

  91. Influence is more important than Authority.

  92. Leadership is more important and a man that wants the office.

  93. He needs to also desire, even greater the work.

  94. That's the first requirement, the second requirement, he must

  95. be blameless. Now, remember, that does not

  96. mean sinless. Blameless does not mean sinless,

  97. blame. This means that there are no

  98. sustainable charges against that, man.

  99. That's a man, that's blameless, okay.

  100. What about the family requirements?

  101. The first one is he must be the husband of one wife. in 1st,

  102. Timothy Chapter 3 and verse 2, Paul says a bishop must be

  103. blameless. He must be the husband of one

  104. wife. And by the way, these are not

  105. suggestions. If a man is going to be an elder

  106. which is the highest position in the Lord's church, and let me

  107. dis daresay, the highest position in the world because

  108. nothing is greater than the church.

  109. If a man is going to be that he must be blameless and he must be

  110. the husband of one wife. Let's go further.

  111. Paul is writing to Titus in Titus Chapter 1 and verse 6.

    Titus 1 chapter mention

  112. If a man is blameless and if he's the husband of one wife, so

  113. what do we have? We have the tightest, he's

  114. giving a condition and he's saying the tightest.

  115. If you find somebody that is blameless and if you find

  116. somebody, that's the husband of one wife, they would fit into

  117. the category with all the other requirements of someone that was

  118. a candidate to be an elder. Over here.

  119. Paul says, Point Blank, he must be blameless.

  120. He must be the husband of one wife.

  121. The question is, what does that mean?

  122. Well, first of all, he's got to be married.

  123. He has to be a married, man. He can't be single.

  124. He has to be a one woman, man. In fact, Scholars.

  125. Tell us, that's exactly what that means.

  126. It means a one-woman man. A one-woman man, one scholar

  127. said, he is to be as committed to his bride as Jesus Christ, is

  128. to his bride. In other words, faithful and

  129. true. Okay?

  130. Who would be eliminated automatically, what is the

  131. obvious people eliminated for having the husband of one wife,

  132. obviously a polygamist and there's no problem with polygamy

  133. in our country, really except in some various cult somewhere but

  134. really, we don't have as A custom the deal of polygamy

  135. because it's illegal. So I would it would eliminate a

  136. polygamist but it would also eliminate a man that was I

  137. scripturally divorced not following the pattern of

  138. Matthew, 19, I'm scripturally divorced and unscriptural 8

  139. remarried. Now the Bible in Matthew

  140. chapter, 19 gives an exception. There's one exception and only

  141. one regarding marriage and divorce and remarriage and that

  142. is adultery 3. And if somebody commits

  143. adultery, they are the guilty party, the innocent party could

  144. put that guilty party away and that person is free to remarry.

  145. That's the exception. There's only one exception.

  146. Now somebody that was on scripturally divorced and on

  147. scripturally remarried is somebody that's not the husband

  148. of one wife. It would eliminate that guy,

  149. too. All right, what about this?

  150. What if a man's is married to a woman?

  151. And she dies. And he marries another in the

  152. Lord. 1st Corinthians said, and, Couple years later the

  153. congregation where he is wants to install him as an elder.

  154. Is he the husband of one wife? Yes.

  155. Romans chapter 7, says that a man or a woman is bound to the

    Romans 7 chapter mention

  156. marriage relationship as long as the spouse is alive.

  157. But when that spouse is now dead, that marriage Union is

  158. separated, and that person is no longer married.

  159. If he marries in the Lord, he is the husband of one wife all over

  160. again. See the point.

  161. He's the husband of one wife. Now.

  162. I think we get that, we get that, but the real question is

  163. this? And I want you to know that I

  164. have really wrestled with this. I have studied with this by the

  165. hour. I have wrestled with this.

  166. What if a man is already an elder and his wife dies?

  167. He's already an elder. He fit all the qualifications to

  168. be an elder. And then his wife dies, should

  169. he resign his position as an elder?

  170. Now, my first reaction was we'll know he didn't do anything

  171. wrong. But then, I study it further and

  172. I have some problems with that. And by the way, I have known of

  173. cases. Where a man was married.

  174. He was an elder, she died, and he immediately stepped down and

  175. resigned. I've also known in cases where a

  176. man was married. He was an elder and his wife

  177. dies and he just ignored about husband of one wife had just

  178. kept right on going through. I know that those cases to the

  179. question, is this? Does a man have to step down if

  180. he is an elder and his wife dies?

  181. Now, here's my problem with my first thing was.

  182. No, he doesn't. But watch this, Paul talks about

  183. what an elder must be and not what an elder has been.

  184. That's the problem I got. It doesn't say what an elder has

  185. been. At one time, it says, an elder

  186. must be now. if a man cannot have more than one, then he

  187. can't have less than 1. JW McGarvey says this.

  188. Look at this, that he should be the husband of one wife,

  189. forbids, having less than one as clearly as it forbids.

  190. Having more than one more over the context, confirms the

  191. conclusion for the Apostle proceeds in both Epistles to

  192. state that the overseer must govern his household and

  193. especially as children, which statements imply that he is to

  194. be a family man, or a man of faith.

  195. Only. Now, I realize that sometimes

  196. these questions might be on might be hard to answer with

  197. certainty. I get that.

  198. But remember this, we must be very consistent in when

  199. interpreting these qualifications.

  200. We can't say that some qualifications are literal and

  201. others are well up to interpretation.

  202. Or we can look at those things with looseness.

  203. We need to be very careful because if we look at the, at

  204. the requirement of a man, being a husband of one wife, not

  205. literally, then we would not have to attach a literal

  206. interpretation to the next. Thing or the one after that, or

  207. the one after that. What's the next one?

  208. He's got to have faith for children.

  209. He's got to have faithful children.

  210. I'm going to tell you, if we take a loose interpretation of

  211. husband of one wife, then we can also take a loose interpretation

  212. of faithful children. As the man said, one time, if

  213. not, why not? Faithful children.

  214. Now in Titus, Chapter 1 and verse 6.

    Titus 1 chapter mention

  215. If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having

  216. faithful children, not accused of dissipation or

  217. insubordination. That's the new King James.

  218. The King James version, says, Riot or unruly.

  219. Now what does it mean to have faithful children?

  220. I'm going to simply just say it like this.

  221. And there's all manner of thoughts and theories of what

  222. faithful children is. I'll tell you what, I believe

  223. faithful children is, and I'm going to do my very best to

  224. prove that That faithful children means, faithful

  225. Christians. Faithful children is faithful

  226. Christians. Now, I don't understand why it

  227. is that people sometimes misinterpret faithful children

  228. and they say that faithful. Here does not mean what faithful

  229. means all throughout the word of God.

  230. For example, when Paul is writing to Timothy and second

  231. Timothy 2 and verse to listen to this and the things that you

  232. have heard from me among many witnesses, Has commit these to

  233. Faithful Men Who will be able to teach others.

  234. Also, Nobody has a problem with that.

  235. Nobody thinks that means faithful to their father.

  236. Everybody understands the things that I am Telling You Timothy

  237. commit vow to what Faithful Men Who are faithful, man.

  238. They are faithful Christians. Nobody has a problem with that,

  239. give me another passage Colossians 1 and verse 22.

  240. The Saints, talking to Christians and faithful brethren

  241. in Christ who are in colossi. Another passage Ephesians 1

    Ephesians 1:12

  242. verse 12, the same Who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ

  243. Jesus. Now, in these passages, no one

  244. would say that Paul means anything other than faithful

  245. Christians. But you know, you can read

  246. commentators, you can talk to people that have all manner of

  247. interpretations about this and some people would say, no, they

  248. don't have to be Christians as long as their faithful to their

  249. parent, faithful to their father.

  250. It's the same word. It's the same word.

  251. Let's look at some other translations of the exact same

  252. passage and find out what they say about the American Standard

  253. Version. The American Standard Version in

  254. the place of faithful children says this having children that

  255. belief, that's not a commentator.

  256. That's not a commentary that's not a Bible scholar.

  257. That isn't it? That is a translation of the

  258. word of God and by the way, whenever the Bible talks about

  259. believing or Believers, it is always talking about someone in

  260. connection with some what the idea of obeying, the gospel,

  261. somebody being Christian. Believers are those that are

  262. Christians. Let's go further.

  263. The NIV says whose children belief The Amplified New

  264. Testament says whose children are well trained and Believers

  265. Weist expanded translation says this having children who are

  266. believers. These are translations of the

  267. body of the Bible, The tell us that faithful children

  268. obviously, is talking about faithful Christians, what about

  269. some Greek authorities on the subject?

  270. Mr. Thayer says this. This passenger faithful children

  271. is talking about one who has become convinced that Jesus is

  272. the Messiah and the author of Salvation, a Believer.

  273. Next, here's another one art, Gingrich says a believer in

  274. Christ. A Christian believer.

  275. Henry says, brought up in the true Christian.

  276. Faith Robinson says a Believer. A Christian one more.

  277. This is the Cross Keys. Pulpit commentary, says

  278. Believers adorning. The doctrine of the Gospel, my

  279. Purity and obedience. There must be evidence that they

  280. have been brought up in the nurture and admonition of the

  281. Lord. So, why do I believe that

  282. faithful children means faithful Christians.

  283. Well, simply by the definition of faithful for one number two,

  284. by the translations. We just noticed of the Bible.

  285. Number three by noted. O Scholars, number four by

  286. commentators and obviously the context fits that it's talking

  287. about faithful Christians. Now.

  288. When a man's children are faithful Christians.

  289. There's a good reason for having this.

  290. As a requirement, there is a good reason to believe that he

  291. has experience in training and admonition of the Lord,

  292. Ephesians, 6 and verse 4 that he has experience in ruling or

  293. leading in such a way that inspires other people to obey

  294. and emulate on the other hand, when a man's children are not

  295. faithful, there's lingering questions.

  296. There's lingering questions. Is he had fault?

  297. I'm going to tell you something, folks.

  298. I believe that the Bible is clear. that if my children go

  299. make decisions and sin in their life, That I am not going to

  300. Bear the penalty of their sin. We are all we are all given the

  301. freedom of choice. They're not going to be held

  302. accountable for my sin and I'm not going to be held accountable

  303. for their sin. Bible says the soul that

  304. sinneth, it shall die. Is he ill 18?

  305. The son shall not bear. The iniquity of the father.

  306. Neither shall the father bear, the iniquity of the son, we get

  307. that. I'm going to stand before my

  308. maker alone and I will give an account for the things that I

  309. have done. My life.

  310. So will you so will our children so well everyone that's of

  311. accountable age. And an accountable mind

  312. everybody will do that. But if I raise a family and my

  313. children are not faithful children, does it not bring up

  314. by way of my influence? Does it not bring up at least

  315. some questions? A my fault.

  316. Then I show my children. What was important?

  317. Did I take my children and put the church above everything

  318. else? Did I do that?

  319. Do I have experience in raising others in the faith?

  320. Do I have experience in, inspiring others?

  321. To follow my example. Have I done those things?

  322. Lingering questions. Faithful children, folks, simply

  323. means what it is. It is faithful Christians.

  324. Now back to Titus Chapter 1 and verse 6 because connected to

    Titus 1 chapter mention

  325. faithful children, there's something else that's connected

  326. on the opposite side. Watch this not accused of Riot

  327. or unruly in the King James. Not accused of Riot or unruly

  328. the new King James says, dissipation or insubordination.

  329. Now, the question is, what does that mean?

  330. You know, I read some Scholars Vincent said, this, watch this,

  331. you know, what B and said that this means to be not accused of

  332. Riot or unruly, what's it mean to be accused of Riot or unruly?

  333. It means you are manifesting unsaved being this.

  334. I'm saving this to coin a word. That's what he said.

  335. It's about being unsafe being qualities.

  336. That's the opposite of a faithful Christian.

  337. In other words, the child of an elder must bear in himself.

  338. The quality is demanded in the father, he cannot be accused of

  339. Riot or to be unruly. The ni beak says that this way,

  340. he cannot be wild or disobedient.

  341. It's a word that is used to signify a wild and disorderly

  342. lifestyle. And incidentally in Luke chapter

    Luke 15 chapter mention

  343. 15 and verse 13. Remember what Jesus said about

  344. the prodigal? He goes out into the world.

  345. He takes his inheritance. It's and he wasted his substance

  346. on. What?

  347. Riotous living. It's the same thing.

  348. An elder can't have kids folks. That are guilty of unsaved,

  349. ananas or a wild riotous lifestyle.

  350. You know, this word is also used the word Riot.

  351. It's the Greek word s of T, by the way, but it's found also in

  352. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18 in the new King James says, this

    Ephesians 5 chapter mention

  353. and do not be drunk with wine, which is in, which is

  354. dissipation, but be filled with the spirit, that's the new King

  355. James. The American Standard Version is

  356. the same. Greek word is right there, the

  357. American Standard Version, renders it like this and do not

  358. be drunk with wine, which is Riot.

  359. So in other words, Paul in that passage is putting this word or

  360. attributing or putting this next to the idea of drunkenness.

  361. Are we getting the picture of the lifestyle?

  362. We are. Describing an Elders.

  363. Children must not be accused of Riot or unruly, which means

  364. guilty of unsaved equalities. And that's the opposite of being

  365. a faithful Christian. Now now such a lifestyle brings

  366. criticism to the child's father. An elder cannot serve

  367. effectively because children are out of control, he is to rule

  368. his own house. Well, in first, Timothy chapter

  369. 3 and verse 5, watch this for a man does not know how to rule

  370. his own house. If he doesn't know, how will he

  371. take care of the Church of God? Now, watch this.

  372. Here's some conditions. If there's a man out there, that

  373. is blameless. If he is a one woman, man, the

  374. husband of one wife, if he has faithful children which are

  375. faithful Christians, those that are not what they're not accused

  376. of Riot, or unruly or unsafe weakness.

  377. And if you got one a guy like that, he's also going to be

  378. someone that rules or leads his own house.

  379. Well, and when he does that he proves and he can also lead the

  380. Church of God. All right.

  381. Here's a big question. Oh, it's a big question.

  382. If a child leaves leaves the house.

  383. And the child no longer lives under the roof of that parent.

  384. Do the rules still apply? What if he becomes Unfaithful

  385. away from home? I've heard people say, it's just

  386. not fair. Yeah, it might not be fair this

  387. way. It is.

  388. I've heard people say it's just not fair.

  389. I mean after all their child is 35 years old and they live and

  390. they're married and they live on their own and all of that.

  391. And he decides to quit the church, it's not fair.

  392. Should the Elder actually be responsible for that or have the

  393. effects of that? It's not a matter of being

  394. unfair but let me just say this way, I have two children, my

  395. daughter is going to be 21 and my son just turned 18.

  396. Everybody understands, they are my children.

  397. Do we still have the same child parent relationship?

  398. Yes, they are still my children. What about when they're 30 and

  399. 40 and 50 years old. If I'm still living.

  400. Are they my children? Yes.

  401. They are. They never stopped being my

  402. children. Paul says that you have to have

  403. faithful children. What if one of my kids, though,

  404. what if I had four kids, And what if three of them are

  405. faithful and one is unfaithful. What if that's the case if

  406. somebody asks me? Well are your kids faithful?

  407. What's my answer? Paul said, you got to have faith

  408. for children. I'm not going to say, yes.

  409. I'm going to say, well, three of them are but very sadly, one of

  410. them is it? That's what I would say, because

  411. that's the truth. We see in the point.

  412. Now. What about the influence?

  413. Or what about things that reflect back on a father?

  414. How long should there be that, how long does a child still have

  415. ramifications of their choices? Reflecting back on the influence

  416. of the father, how long, okay, to two examples in the Old

  417. Testament, come to mind. One is Eli and the other Samuel.

  418. They had children that obviously the context shows they had sons

  419. that were not, I believe under their roof and yet their

  420. behavior. Their behavior was a reflection

  421. back on their father's influence. me ask you something,

  422. folks, we're not guilty of the sin that our children commit,

  423. But we will always have that as a reflection back on us and our

  424. good name when they make bad choices.

  425. Just like we have people that Pat us on the back when they

  426. make good choices and I'm going to tell you, yeah.

  427. Yeah. We feel good when somebody

  428. passes on the back and, you know, our kids are doing well

  429. and they're doing right and boy, you done a great job.

  430. Yeah, thanks doll. That take the flip side of, that

  431. is the flipside of that is, they bring shame and reproach on

  432. their father and their mother. When they go make terrible

  433. choices. Has absolutely.

  434. When a child goes away from home, he's still a child.

  435. And by the way, this relationship between child and

  436. father it continues through life.

  437. In fact, children are to honor their parents.

  438. Did you know that a child is to honor his parents for his

  439. lifetime? Not just while they live under

  440. the roof, they are to honor their father and mother for the

  441. duration of their life. And by the way, the greatest way

  442. to honor your parents is stay faithful.

  443. That's the greatest way. You can honor your father and

  444. mother is to stay faithful. Have you ever stopped to

  445. consider all the people in here that are old enough old enough

  446. to be a Christian? And you have parents that are

  447. still living? Have you ever stopped to

  448. consider that the destroy Isis? That you make in your life are

  449. affecting whether or not your father can be an elder in the

  450. body of Christ, in the Lord's Church?

  451. You know what I say that to the young man or young woman.

  452. That has a Godly father, a spiritually minded father.

  453. That is Desiring the office of an elder that wants to be an

  454. elder in the body of Christ, in the Lord's church that fits the

  455. qualifications in every other way, but you have decided the

  456. young person has decided, I'm going to go about my business.

  457. I'm gonna quit the church. You don't have to say about

  458. that. The only comes to make my mind

  459. shame on you. Shame on you.

  460. We have confidence in children that are faithful.

  461. We have confidence in children that are faithful in Proverbs 25

  462. and 19 listen to this competence.

  463. In an Unfaithful man though in time of trouble is like a bad

  464. tooth and a foot out of joint. Boy, some good stuff.

  465. We don't have confidence in people that are not faithful,

  466. children bear, responsibilities toward their parents.

  467. First Timothy 5 and verse 4, Listen to this.

  468. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first

  469. show. Learn to show piety at home and

  470. to repay their parents for, this is good and acceptable before

  471. God, so does an Unfaithful child disqualify an elder.

  472. Yes. Yes.

  473. May not be fair folks, but it's right.

  474. Can that man? Be a Christian?

  475. Yes. Can that man, go to heaven?

  476. Yes. Can that man be a teacher in the

  477. local congregation? Yes.

  478. Can that man? Be an evangelist and preach the

  479. gospel all over the world? Yes.

  480. But if he does not have faithful children, he can't be an elder

  481. in the Lord's Church, simple as that.

  482. Simple, as that. The only way that an elder can

  483. serve free from distracting questions pertaining to a man's

  484. qualifications to be an elder is if he continues to have faithful

  485. children. Okay, here's a big question.

  486. Here's a big question. I did not come to the conclusion

  487. that I have today without much study reflection and prayer.

  488. But here's a big question. If a man only has one child does

  489. having one child disqualify him from being qualified to be an

  490. elder. Doesn't disqualify him.

  491. Well, let me just say this, I will say that a man that has a

  492. plurality or multiple children in their home and he raises a

  493. plurality of children and he has a plurality of children that are

  494. Christians and are faithful. That man, really has,

  495. demonstrated greater that he can deal with multiple personalities

  496. in the church, because he has dealt with multiple

  497. personalities in his own home. So, do I think think it is

  498. better for a man to have a plurality of children.

  499. Yes. The question, isn't that?

  500. The question is, if a man only has one child?

  501. Is he disqualified? All right, let's answer it like

  502. this. Let's find out in Titus.

    Titus 1 chapter mention

  503. Chapter 1 in verse 6. Again, it says, having faithful

  504. children. Now, the word children is the

  505. word Tecna. Now, take Nia is the plural form

  506. of the noun, for child, which is taking on now.

  507. Now in this passage, it says, take NE.

  508. It is the plural form of the noun for child, which is

  509. translated in the English language as children.

  510. And it is, obviously plural. The question is, what does it

  511. mean? What does children mean in a

  512. plural sense in this passage does it mean the number of

  513. children that they have? Well, let's look the word teak.

  514. NE is actually translated is actually defined as the word

  515. spring. So Titus Chapter 1 and verse 6

    Titus 1 chapter mention

  516. by definition would be having faithful offspring.

  517. Okay, let's go further. What is plural mean here?

  518. Plural means plurality, here means plurality of class.

  519. What does that mean? It means the plural containing

  520. the singular. That's what that means the

  521. plural containing the singular. And not necessarily, they

  522. plurality of children or more than one.

  523. Okay. I didn't go off the reservation.

  524. Stay with me. Let's look at Some Bible

  525. examples that prove exactly what I'm talking about.

  526. Same exact word and moved 29:28. Watch this saying teacher, Moses

  527. wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife

  528. singular and he dies without children teak.

  529. NE chloro, containing the singular, his brother should

  530. take his wife and raise up Offspring for his brother.

  531. Same exact word. Let's go further, though, let's

  532. look at another one. How about this then, This is one

  533. that we know about this is the perfect example of the singular

  534. contained. In the plural word, it's talking

  535. about words that Sarah said in Genesis chapter 21 and verse 7,

    Genesis 21 chapter mention

  536. watch this who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would

  537. nurse children, Tecna plural, containing the singular.

  538. Then what did she do for? I have borne him a son singular.

  539. In his old age. Let's talk about another one.

  540. How about this first, Timothy Chapter 5 and verse 4. but if a

  541. woman has children, Tina The plural containing the singular

  542. or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and

  543. to repay their parents for, this is good and acceptable before

  544. God, now in this passage the word children is used without

  545. regard to a specific number. If a widow had only one child,

  546. the use of the word children would in no way have relieved

  547. that person of their responsibilities.

  548. Here's another one. And this really hits home to us.

  549. Father's, watch this. This Ephesians 6 and 4.

  550. And you fathers, do not provoke your children, plural,

  551. containing the singular, taking us a word to wrath, but bring

  552. them up in the training and admonition of the Lord, bring

  553. them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. now

  554. folks, that is a requirement of Father's when you have one child

  555. or 10 children, whether you have one child or whether you have 10

  556. children, Now, here's another one.

  557. First, Corinthians 7:14 for the unbelieving, husband is

  558. Sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is Sanctified

  559. by the husband. Otherwise, your children teak.

  560. NE plural containing the singular would be unclean but

  561. now they are holding. So what's my point?

  562. Folks, listen, I do think I do believe that it is better for a

  563. man to have and demonstrate the he can raise multiple children

  564. in the house. Then he can raise them in the

  565. training and admonition of the Lord that they could all be

  566. faithful members of the body of Christ, that he can have, the

  567. kind of reputation that shows that his influence, is more

  568. important than his authority. And he has demonstrated in his

  569. life that he could deal with multiple personalities.

  570. And they could be children of God as I think that, that is

  571. better than a man that has one child.

  572. For example, in demonstrating that a man that has one child

  573. does not disqualify him for being an elder.

  574. Does in that. Passage the word, Tecna their

  575. teeth. NE is the word children, which

  576. is plural containing the singular, and Paul.

  577. The entire point is this, he wasn't saying how large your

  578. family is, he was talking about what the status of your family

  579. is. He was talking about the status

  580. of your offspring. Are they faithful?

  581. Or are they not? Plural containing the singular.

  582. That's exactly what he meant in. Titus 1 in 6.

  583. That's exactly what Tina means. Now, it's the kind of family

  584. that a man has and so what is a man to be in closing?

  585. He's to be a one woman, man. He is to be the husband of one

  586. wife. He is to have faithful children.

  587. He would be a man that rules. Well, his own house.

  588. He will be a man that has his children in subjection.

  589. He will be a man that has the desire for the office and more.

  590. So even the desire for the work, he will be blameless.

  591. And there will be no sustainable charges against him.

  592. He will be the husband of one wife, and as McGarvey said, if

  593. he can't have more than one, then he can't have less than one

  594. a married, man, he must be one that has faithful children, and

  595. that means that they are all Christians.

  596. I'm going to tell you. There's some hard

  597. qualifications, folks? Not tell you Faithful children.

  598. Probably disqualifies the majority of the men in the

  599. Lord's church today. But folks, if we don't take a

  600. literal interpretation of the requirements, then we can just

  601. add any kind of Lux position. We want.

  602. We can explain it all away and we could say that the

  603. requirements don't even matter. The qualifications don't even

  604. matter, we can throw them right out the door and we can add in

  605. whatever we want to add in. We don't interpret anything else

  606. in the word of God doctrinally that way.

  607. And we can't do it regarding an elder.

  608. Listen folks, we are teaching on the subject so that we have at

  609. some point in time at some point spiritually minded man, that

  610. desire, the office of an elder and are fully qualified to be so

  611. These for we've already talked about next time.

  612. Two weeks from today before Sunday morning, my next turn to

  613. preach. We're going to talk about the

  614. elders demeanor and the elders Behavior.

  615. Now, let me just add one final thing in closing here.

  616. One final thing. except for being the husband of one wife,

  617. Are all of these requirements and qualifications, great things

  618. for a Christian to Aspire to have in their life.

  619. Absolutely. A Christian needs to be mindful

  620. of these things. He needs to be blameless.

  621. These are great qualities for the child of God.

  622. So a sister that might be watching and studying with us on

  623. these subject on the subject matters can also apply the

  624. things that would apply her life will be better in her life too.

  625. And one final thing. If many strove to do that and

  626. aspire to be an elder one day and never made it.

  627. Let's say they never made it. Don't you think they'd be better

  628. for the cause of Christ in ever could have been They would.

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