Character is the Qualifier | Jason Gore

How are doing?

We're so,

and we,

this is what freedom feels like.

This is what heaven, like we,

this what, this is

what freedom feels like.

This siz heaven. Like

What? Heaven

You freedom.

Hope it is so good to see you tonight.

Um, we're gonna actually, um, continue in worship, but

before we do, why don't you turn to your neighbor

and say hello

And welcome,

who the hope,

and in Jesus, he won't

for

bless God, bless God in the fields

of bless God in the dark.

Every chance I get Bless, bless God.

Bless God. Praise that. Bless God.

Yes, he,

yeah.

Come on, you can give God some praise today. He's worthy

Of all of it.

Amen. I just love that song.

Um, bless God in the fields of plenty,

but bless God, when my hands are empty,

every single chance we get, would we just praise

His holy name?

And that's what we're gonna continue to do together today.

Um, and I just wanna encourage you today, wherever you are,

if you're in the room today

or if you're watching online, I just encourage you

to just close your eyes for a moment.

I just don't wanna breeze by another moment

in worship together.

And I just, I just invite you

to just make your praise personal today.

And so, while our eyes are closed,

just all across the room today, I just invite you

to begin thinking just about your story.

What has God brought you out of?

What are you thankful for today, guys?

He's worthy of all of our praise

that we could ever, ever bring.

And so just with your eyes closed, I just invite you

to just, to just tell him he's worthy.

Just tell him you're thankful, but be specific today.

Lord, I'm just thankful just for the life

that you've given me.

The breath, the very breath that's in my lungs today.

Lord, I'm so thankful for my marriage, Lord,

I'm so thankful for my family.

Just begin to tell him, maybe you're thankful for your kids.

Maybe you're thankful for healing in your life.

And as we worship together today, just tell him he's worthy,

Lord God,

Hallelujah.

For the Lord. News,

holy,

holy, are you

sing,

throne

are

You,

Are You

sing

you all

of it, all

you worthy of it.

Thank you.

You deserve the glory.

Come that He's worthy

of it all, every situation you see,

he's worthy of it all.

All for you

who deserve one

More time. Tell him today

That is worthy of it All.

It your voice,

you worthy of

It all. Thank

You. Thank

the for

hits you, you

who,

who? Come on. He

Deserves the glory church.

He's worthy.

Oh, you love me,

Lord, we love you.

You are worthy of all of our praise, of all

of the adoration we could ever bring.

Lord, we just say thank you today.

Thank you for your son Jesus,

and for the sacrifice that he made on the cross, so

that we could walk and live in your freedom.

Lord, we just say thank you. We love you, Lord.

We praise your holy name in this place.

And the church said, amen. You may be seated today.

Oh, come on. Let's give God some

praise for our time in worship.

Yeah, Listen, welcome

to Hope Community Church.

Uh, if you are new to Hope, welcome.

We're glad that you're here.

If you've been attending here for any amount

of time, welcome back.

Uh, we hope that as you spend time here today,

worshiping together that you feel like even more of a part

of the family than when you first showed up.

And we pray that that family feel is what you experience,

because I believe that the church was always supposed

to be the family of God at hope.

We like to say that we are a family who loves God,

follows Jesus and shares hope.

And all three of those things are extremely important

as a part of that family.

And so we really do try to genuinely live that way

as the body of Christ.

And the way that we do that is by taking steps of faith, one

by one of following Jesus closely.

Uh, as we hear songs, we hear the words

and we sing them out.

Uh, they remind us of steps of faith.

As we hear the word of God preached.

It reminds us to take steps

of faith in following Jesus each day.

Now at Hope Community Church, we have an area

that's been set up and designed at each

of our campuses just to assist you.

In doing that, we actually call it the next steps area.

And before you exit today,

we would love it if you would be our guest.

And stop there if you have any questions to ask.

If you'd like to know how to get connected here at Hope,

is there anything that we can do to serve you?

Next steps is your right next step.

If you're watching at home at Get Hope tv, uh,

just chime in on the chat, let us know how we can serve you,

and we will help you in any way we can

to take your next step as well.

Now, we have been in a series, uh, since last week.

Uh, last week we heard from Jason go, our lead pastor,

and this week we get to hear from him again

as we explore verse by verse through the Book of Titus.

So let's all prepare our minds and our hearts to hear

and respond to the word of God.

Welcome to hope. We're glad you're here,

Paul, A servant of God

and an apostle of Jesus Christ

to Titus my true Son in our common faith.

I write to you now with instructions on how to equip

and establish a local church fueled by God's grace.

We must strive to be equipped

and established in sound doctrine, qualified leadership

and godly living

Well, what is going on?

Hope family, glad to be with you this week.

Man, I don't know what just happened at whatever campus you

were if you're listening to this online,

but Maddie, who was leading worship, she just said, Hey,

just wherever you are, I wanna give you a moment just

to close your eyes, sitting quiet and,

and to, to have a personal moment of worship, thanking God

for what he's done in your life.

And this led us in this chorus.

Think you, you deserve the glory from you all.

All things that threw you are all things

that I just found myself like undone over here.

I told Dwayne, I said, you need to buy me a minute, man.

I don't know I'm gonna go out there.

Uh, but God is on the move here, thankful for

to get the time, some time to spend with you all this week.

Um, turning your Bibles to Titus chapter one.

Uh, we'll pick up there in a moment.

Uh, I wanna remind you, so we're in this series,

we're calling field notes.

We've got a subtitled, uh, good doctrine,

leads to Godly living.

And that can be kind of a big word,

but we said last week, Hey, theology, it's not really a,

it's a big word, but all it really is, is the study of God.

And then our, our theology, our study of God should inform

our doctrine, which is just about

how this theology works itself out in our lives personally,

how it works itself out in the life of the church.

And really what we're doing in this series

is we're just walking verse by verse

through the book of Titus.

And, uh, I'm telling you, there's things

that you see when you just walk verse by verse

through the Bible that you don't pick up if you just do like

topical sermon series.

And one thing I'm incredibly proud of, uh,

with our church right now with our teaching team

is we've said, Hey, we're gonna move a little bit away from

just topical teaching.

Like, hey, this is a series on marriage

and this is a series on pan parenting,

and this is a series on finance.

All that stuff's good. We're gonna continue to do that.

But when you do that, you miss out on some really rich stuff

from scripture, uh, that otherwise, uh, you wouldn't catch.

And I'll tell you, this week is one of those weeks

because we're moving into Paul's charge

to Titus, and he's really talking

to him about the importance for,

for if a church is gonna be healthy, there's gotta be

faithful shepherds that are put in place.

And so you've gotta appoint elders

and what are the qualifications of, of elders?

And I'll tell you, I've been in

and around church for, uh, uh, hope for over 20 years.

And I can't think of a time

that we've ever just opened the Bible

and sat in like, Hey, these are the qualifications

for an elder, and this is why you need elders.

And before you tune out

and say, okay, well, I don't know

that I'm ever gonna be an elder, and so I don't know

how this gonna apply to my life.

Two things I would say to you.

Um, one, if the church is the family of God, which it is,

uh, and the church is overseen by spiritual fathers,

which are elders, uh, you should probably know

what scripture says, needs to be true

of those spiritual fathers of those elders.

Because the reality is whoever you follow in your life is

going to dictate where you end up and where you're heading.

That's number one. Number two,

when we look at qualifications of elders, which we're going

to, what you're gonna see is these are must haves

in the life of an elder.

But as a Christ follower, these are things

that every single one of us should aspire to in our lives.

And so, uh, I think I, we're gonna get something out

of this together, but before we jump in, I do want us

to reflect just for a moment on an event that took place

in the history of our country.

1972, Richard Nixon was reelected the president

of the United States by one

of the largest landslides in American history.

He was brilliant politically unmatched.

The guy was a master strategist on paper.

Nixon was one of the most capable leaders

that our country had ever seen.

But just two years after being reelected, he was resigned.

Why? It wasn't because of a lack of talent.

It wasn't because of a lack of intelligence or gifting, but

because it, because of a character crisis

that we know as Watergate.

Uh, it started with a few men breaking into an office.

Okay, not a good idea. I don't recommend it.

Probably not the end of the world, but it started spiraling.

One coverup led to another,

and eventually the cracks in his integrity,

it unraveled his presidency.

See, skill got him to the top,

but character brought him down.

And that gap in character,

like it didn't just cost him his job,

it didn't just cost him something.

It actually shook a nation's trust. And here's the reality.

Just as we know, the character

of a leader matters in politics, it's even more

so true in the household of God.

And so we've gotta pay attention to this,

but I want you to know, God cares more about

obedience than optics.

Uh, our God is a God

that cares more about character than charisma.

And listen, this, this fit,

this speaks directly to you in your life.

God cares more about who you are than what you can do,

because the reality is God can do whatever he wants to do

through whoever he wants to,

whenever he wants to do it, period.

But it's about our heart's posture

and is our, are we willing to submit

and to approach God with humility

and say, God, you know better

for my life than I know for myself?

Or do we go before God thinking

that we actually have all the answers?

And so what we're gonna see this week is when it comes

to the household of God, character is the foundation

for spiritual leadership.

We're in the book of Titus. Uh, we saw last week that Paul

and his understudy, Titus, they had, uh,

spent time setting up these churches on the island of Crete.

And then Paul had gone away

and he's writing this letter back to Titus

to help him establish and really

to give him a survival guide.

But these field notes for how to establish a healthy church.

And what we saw last week was he said, Hey, I'm writing this

to you so that God's elect, so that God's family, the family

of families that is the church, would have faith,

that they would have the knowledge of the truth,

which leads to godliness.

So it has the ability to transform our lives,

and so that we could have an eternal hope, so

that we could have hope and the gospel in our lives in spite

of whatever situations or circumstances

that we find ourselves in.

But this week, he starts out by saying,

listen, the job's not done.

We're just getting started. But first things first, you have

to choose leaders that are actually going to be faithful

to shepherding the family of God.

And in a world that tends to flock towards influencers

and flash and personality,

what Paul shows us is there should be a different

playbook inside the church.

So hopefully by now with that intro,

you're at Titus chapter one.

Uh, we're gonna pick up, we ended last week in verse four.

We're gonna pick right up in verse five.

This is what Paul says to Titus,

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.

So Paul's saying, Hey, our responsibility in Crete,

we're not finished right now.

These are young churches and they're in a dangerous place.

Like culture is gonna lie to them.

They're gonna deceive them, they're gonna pull them away

from the direction that God would have for them,

and they need leadership.

And the first step in doing that is to appoint elders.

Our first field note this week is healthy churches

need faithful shepherds.

And you could hear that word, elder, uh,

or shepherd for that matter.

I might be like, okay, uh, am unfamiliar with the word

that could be confusing.

What exactly does an elder do? Like, does an elder preach?

Do they boss people around? Um, are they old?

How elder do they have to be to be an elder?

Uh, in the Bible, the word elder, the words elder, pastor,

overseer, uh, often used interchangeably, okay?

Different words, same roles and responsibilities.

Now, the people who fill those roles

and responsibilities might do it in different ways based on

their own personal gifting or the needs of the community.

But in the New Testament, elders are spiritual leaders

who care for the church

and their responsibility is to shepherd the church,

the spiritual fathers, they're not just decision makers.

Uh, they're not just figureheads.

They're spiritual fathers who teach lead, protect.

They ensure the care is happening for the family of God.

Now, you all know this on li in life,

like you don't send a tornado through a junkyard

and just an airplane magically appear like you,

you don't drift into health.

You know, healthy things don't just happen.

Healthy churches don't just happen. They're shepherded.

It takes a skillful shepherd.

And Paul's saying, if we're going to be, if they're going

to be shepherded, if the churches

and Crete are going to be shepherded,

it's gonna require leadership.

And so healthy churches need faithful shepherds.

Then he says that you should do this in every town,

appoint elders in every town.

Why do you think he says to do this?

I mean, we just have one president for the us, right?

Like, can't can't there just be one elder?

Can't there just be one overseer?

And the answer to that is no,

because the role of elder isn't about being a

totalitarian dictator.

It's not just about getting up on a stage preaching

to a bunch of people, and they're going, that's not

what should happen inside the family of God.

It requires care. And so elders are appointed

because there's a level of care

and oversight that needs

to happen in the life of the church.

And Paul's saying, Hey, we need elders in every town.

We need the elders who are close enough to the family of God

that they can ensure spiritual growth.

They can ensure that care is happening in their lives in

light of what is going on in this unique town,

in this unique community.

I'll give you an example of this at Hope.

Uh, we say that we,

we are one church in multiple communities.

Um, and so within your church family

and that you are a part of, you have multiple campuses.

Well, one elder could not properly el

or shepherd, um, all of those individuals.

And so at your campus, you have a campus pastor,

and we've already said this term, pastor, overseer, elder,

same word, same roles and responsibilities.

And so out of Fuqua, uh, you've got Matt Curtis.

And so if you're Fuqua right now,

you're probably cheering at Garner.

You've got Sean Sullivan, Northwest Kerry,

you've got Eugene, uh, here at Raleigh.

You've got Dwayne Calvin out at Apex.

You've got Doug Stride, you've got Jamie McDonald.

But they are there to actually ensure

that the flock is cared for, to protect,

to lead God to shepherd.

Another thing that we gotta realize is it relates to elders,

uh, that what we see throughout the Bible is

that elders is always plural.

Like it's not a singular leader.

It's not one person that that's doing everything.

It's a team of biblical shepherds that are working together.

They're accountable to one another,

they're accountable to God, they're living lives.

Listen to this word of mutual submission to one another,

to guard both the doctrine of the church

and the health of the church, uh, at hope.

Just to give you some context here, uh, outside

of our pastoral team

and our pastoral staff, we have a team

of eight directional elders.

Okay? So there's eight men on that team, of which I'm one,

and as the lead pastor,

I'm the only paid elder, uh, on that team.

So when it comes to voting, if it comes to anything

that we need to vote on, I get one vote just like

everybody else gets one vote.

Um, these men do not work for me,

that they're not on my payroll.

They're not on the payroll here at Hope.

So their responsibility is to oversee, um, with a,

a different level of accountability.

In fact, our shared leadership

and shepherding is marked by mutual submission.

Um, I am, uh, I am accountable to each one

of these men individually

and collectively as any one of them would be

to me as an individual.

Um, I will tell you at hope over the years, like

what elders has looked like here has changed quite a bit.

And I've, you know, I first started coming

to Hope in like 1997.

I think I was the first college student, uh,

that ever showed up around here.

But, uh, we, uh, back then we had elders that I would argue

probably shepherded that church.

I mean, it was probably only about 200 people.

And so we had elders in place,

everybody knew everybody's names.

And then over the years, what happened,

this explosive growth happened

and quite honestly

Wanted to save your ears there for a minute.

Uh, quite honestly, uh, it grew so fast faster

that we than Hope was able to actually develop other leaders

and to raise up other elders.

And so over time,

and our, our current elders would agree with this,

I'm not throwing anybody under the rug in any way, shape,

or form, probably shifted to a little bit more like a board.

Um, hey, we're here to make decisions.

We're here to approve a budget, but you know, we pay pastors

and you know, they kind of go and do the thing.

Uh, and that led to some challenges.

I mean, it led to some disconnections in areas

where we probably needed to be more disconnected.

I would argue that it probably had a little bit to do

with our church family as a whole, not being

as mature as it should be.

I mean, one day the Bible says one day, as elders we're our,

we're gonna have to present the body of Christ

that God has entrusted us with back to Jesus

and say, Hey, look where we are.

Look how beautiful we are.

And, um, we're gonna be held accountable to that.

That's a heavy weight.

And so for the last three really four years, myself

and the elders and a couple

of other pastors on staff have been going through scripture

and really seeking goddess to

what should an elder look like in today's world in,

in this body called Hope Community Church.

And how in the world do we get there?

And I'm telling you, we've moved to a place like men,

we gotta up the game a little bit.

And this group of eight isn't gonna be enough.

We have to raise up other leaders.

And so, um, we,

there's this preferred future out on the horizon

that we would have community elders at every single campus

that kinda serve under the alongside of,

and the, the, the headship

of the campus pastor at that campus.

And so energy needs to put in, needs

to be put in this direction

because healthy churches need faithful shepherds.

And so you're gonna see some changes,

you'll be hearing about stuff along the way.

So Paul says, appoint elders in every town.

So the next question would be, okay, that sounds great.

How do we do that, Paul? And

so I'm gonna read a couple verses, um, just straight

through, and then we'll come back and we'll unpack it.

But I want us to hear all of it together.

So, so how do we, uh, appoint an elder?

He says, 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.

For an overseer is God's steward. He must be above reproach.

There's that word again, must be above reproach.

We'll talk about that in a second. He must not be arrogant,

quick tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

but he must be hospitable.

A lover of good, self-controlled, upright,

holy and disciplined.

I'll probably mention this again later,

but I want you to know that I had to sit in this text

for over a week, and this is one of the most, this is one

of the most humbling list

of qualifications I've ever read in my entire life.

That's a big list. It's incredibly important.

But I want you to note this. There is nothing on

that list about talent.

There's nothing on that list about gifting.

Remember the Nixon story? Like talent got him in the role,

but his character brought him down.

So our field note here is godly character is

what qualifies leadership within the church.

It's godly character two times. Paul says above reproach.

Just to be clear, that does not mean perfection.

The reality is there is no human on this side of eternity

that's actually gonna be able to say, Hey,

I got all my stuff together all the time.

Uh, the Greek word here, it literally means blameless.

It's like not open to accusation, uh,

not open to accusation.

Cannot be called into an account regularly.

Uh, no charge can stick consistently.

This is really about consistency and integrity.

It's saying there is nothing

that defines their character in their everyday, regular life

that goes against the life that they should be instructing

and shepherding the church towards.

Must be above reproach.

He goes on the husband of one wife,

and his children are believers.

So husband of one wife literally translates

a, a one woman man.

That's what that means. Uh, in the first century,

Greco-Roman world, sexual immorality was a big thing.

Polygamy, concubines, uh, casual affairs normalize.

And Paul saying, Hey, not so in the church.

That's not how things operate inside the family of God.

Period, end of discussion. That's not how God created us.

That's not what he calls us into.

You go all the way back to Genesis, God created Adam.

It took him about two minutes to be like,

it's not good for that guy to be alone.

And so then out of Adam takes a rib, he creates eve,

and he says, okay, no, no, no, no, this is very good.

Now you guys be fruitful and multiply.

But you go all the way through scripture,

like God's heart is for man

and woman to be together for one family.

It says, children are believers. This is a big one.

Believe it or not, there is some theological, um,

disagreement out here in the world

around us about what this means.

But the word for believers, uh,

that was used in the Greek was this word, um, pasta.

And it's debated.

You know, some people say, Hey, believer, like that means,

uh, a follower of Christ.

So they need to be a follower of Christ.

They need to be baptized. But another translation is really

faithful or trustworthy.

And so if you take that interpretation, uh,

that really reads, children must be faithful, um,

or well-behaved.

And this is, in my opinion, take it for what it's worth.

I think this is more likely, uh, a faithful interpretation

because Paul immediately clarifies by saying, uh, not open

to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

So he's pointing here to behavior, uh,

to character, not belief alone.

So this is about, is the man leading his household

and leading his family in a biblically sound

gospel centered manner?

Like, do his children follow him?

Do his children respect him?

So here's the field note here,

and this is a big one, um, leadership in the church.

It starts in the living room, not on the platform,

not in the spotlight within the family of God.

Everything starts in the home.

And these two qualifications are important all throughout

scripture because you see throughout scripture, God's desire

for healthy, thriving families

to be the foundation for his people.

And not only that, there are incredibly strong parallels all

the way through scripture for

how our household should operate underneath our roof,

and then how the household

of God should operate the family of families.

It is the church. It's really

the same way all the way through.

So Paul's saying, listen,

if a man isn't faithfully loving his wife

or intentionally raising his kids in the way of the gospel,

how can he be trusted to shepherd God's family?

Because that's what it's about.

It's about saying it the same way that you would love

and care for your family,

like you are now a spiritual father for this church.

And you look out in the world right now,

and the world needs shepherding.

And so if you're not gonna do it in your home,

how in the world can we trust you to do it

with the bride of Jesus Christ?

And I told you I had to sit in this thing for a whole week,

but you're looking for a man whose family respects him

because he's been faithful for

how he loves them, for how he leads them.

And man, I wanna say this, men, men,

I, I wanna talk to you for a minute.

Uh, by the way, next week, it's Father's Day.

If you're a father, um, I want you to be here.

Uh, and I'll say it like, uh, my wrestling coach used to say

to me in college, um, this is a voluntary workout.

I can't make you be here, but you better be here. Okay?

So we want you here on Father's Day.

Uh, if you're, if you're dad, if you're any man,

we want you here, but especially for Father's Day,

go golfing on Saturday or take Monday off.

I gave you permission. Um,

but listen, I say what I'm about to say, just

as Paul opened this letter at the beginning, he said, Paul,

a servant of the living God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.

I'm not an apostle of Jesus Christ,

but as a servant of God, I'm sharing this with you.

From God's word is a slave to the word of God,

not my personal opinion,

but sound doctrine, which this series is about, says

that whether you are an elder

or not, you have a God-given responsibility

that nobody else can do

but you, for which you will be held accountable for,

to love your wife and to be faithful to your wife,

and to shepherd your children

and to point them towards Jesus.

And I know that can be intimidating,

and I know that could, um, in today's world,

that could not sound politically correct.

Um, that's not my job to worry about that.

It could be incredibly tough to balance, man.

I know what it's like. I feel like, hey,

we gotta put food on the table.

We gotta work hard, and we gotta go and we gotta grind.

And how many people wanna sit around

and hear a man complain about

how tired they are or how they're feelings are?

Nobody, they don't, they don't wanna do that.

So we feel like we carry this weight,

but I want you to know that as your church family, we want

to be here to encourage you if you need help.

And the reality is you need other men

in your life to encourage you.

And so if that's you, I want to, I wanna encourage you, go

to your campus pastor this weekend

and let 'em know you need help.

Go to one of your men's gatherings, man, I've been

to the men's gatherings out at the Fuqua

campus, out at the Apex campus.

There are men there that would love to come alongside of you

and to encourage you in the roles

and responsibilities that God's given to you.

Okay? I'm gonna step off that soapbox now, by the way,

I say that looking in the mirror.

And I'll tell you, you know what I, I'll,

I'll be very transparent with you.

Um, my wife told me this week, she said, I love

that you are so intentional about praying

with our children every morning before they go to school

and every night before they go to bed.

I mean, I'm on this thing, she said,

but can I be honest with you outside

of like praying at dinner, I can't remember

the last time we prayed together.

I was like, it wasn't that long ago, but it,

but it's too long like that.

That's not me shepherding my family the way

that God's called me to shepherd my family.

Um, okay, what else? Where are we going?

I don't even know where the heck I was. Verse seven.

Okay, for an overseer as God steward must be

above reproach the word, again, 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.

So what Paul does there is he gives five things

that elders must not be.

And then he gives us six things that elders must be.

And because it's in the text, we're gonna talk about it.

We're not gonna talk about it

long, we're gonna go through them.

So five things that elders must not be.

One must not be arrogant.

We've all known that person that thinks

they know everything, right?

Like an elder should not be the person

that thinks they have the answer to everything that thinks

that if people don't do exactly

what they think they should do,

when they think they should do it, like, oh,

doing the dumb thing again.

Like, that's not the posture of an elder. Quick tempered.

Does anger control them?

Like, are they quickly triggered into anger?

Um, a drunkard does, does one escape through alcohol,

through substance abuse, through excess?

Um, John Stot,

a theologian and pastor, uh, he's quoted as saying, um,

not all must abstain, okay?

Not all must stay completely away from alcohol.

Um, but all must use in moderation.

And what this is really about is,

is there something else in our life that is controlling us

that we have to turn to regularly outside

of being controlled by the spirit of the living God?

If so, that's an issue. Violent. Is he harsh?

Is he domineering? Um, it, uh,

this could be translated into the word ignatious.

If you're really smart, if you're a journalist, you,

you might use that word, but you could

translate, is he a brawler?

Uh, if, if the kids were saying this, they would say like,

is he quick to throw hands?

That's literally what it means.

Like, is, does he, does he, is he looking for a fight?

Greedy for gain? Can't be greedy for gain.

Does one have a tendency to, to use ministry

and their platform for power, for influence,

for game, financially or otherwise?

And the reality is, if we find ourselves in leadership

and we're already tempted by those things, being in a,

in a place or in a role of responsibility of leadership,

you're just gonna have an opportunity for that to grow.

These aren't red flags.

God's word says, these are disqualifiers.

I mean, could you imagine someone marked by those things

as a regular part of their

character trying to lead their family?

It's gonna show up. If he can't lead his family towards

health, how can he lead in the context of the church?

And you get to verse eight, what elders must be six things

Here, let me just say this before we move on.

That's not saying that someone can't

lose their temper, okay?

All of us lose our temper every now

and then, especially if we have kids.

Um, but how quickly are they to repent?

How quickly are they willing to own it without turning

around and saying, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, I'm sorry,

I shouldn't have done this, but, and then

turn around and blame someone else.

That's what we're talking about here.

Is there a repentant humble heart? Okay, six things.

Elders must be hospitable.

Does he invite others into his home?

Does he love other people as followers of Christ?

We should love other people. This doesn't mean that you have

to be extroverted, okay?

Um, you can be introverted and still love people.

Do you invite people in your home? If you're not gonna be

hospitable at your home, how in the world are you gonna be

hospitable and welcoming people into the family of God?

Lover of good? Does he genuinely enjoy what is right?

And what is life giving? Do we love that in our life?

God's word tells us what's good

and what's right and what's pure.

Do we love those things? Do we,

do we encourage those things?

Do we, do we, do we call other people into things

that are good self-control?

Uh, do we lead ourselves before we try to lead others?

John Maxwell, uh, he wasn't a disciple of

of Jesus in biblical times, though lovers

of John Maxwell might, would think that you'd think

that they thought he was, when you hear him talk about him.

But, um, he said, Hey, look, all of us are leaders, okay?

Leadership is influence,

but the most difficult person to lead is ourselves.

Are we self controlled? Are we upright?

Is he fair, honest, dependable in his relationships?

Is someone upright? That just means,

does this person ask the question regularly?

What is the right decision?

Not what's the most cost effective decision?

Which decision take saves us the most time?

Which decision is gonna benefit me the most? No. No.

What is the right decision in my

relationships with other people?

Holy, this is a word that man, man, when you want

to talk bad about somebody

that's a little bit snobby, oh, he's a holy roller.

Like this word has a negative connotation.

We are called to holiness. It means set apart.

And where upright might be talking about like our

relationships and how we interact with others around us,

holiness has to do with how we interact.

Um, our heavenly Father.

I'm just telling you like, it would be a blessing someday.

I don't want it to be tomorrow, okay? Or for a long time.

But on some day when I step over into the other side

of eternity that maybe my wife

and kids would say, um, man, he was, he was holy.

Like he didn't carry himself arrogantly or snobby,

but like you can just tell he's had an

encounter with God in his life.

And then the last one is discipline.

Does he does, does one pursue what matters?

Even when it's hard? Well, what areas are you looking

for discipline in all of them.

And that doesn't mean perfection,

but you know, you're not disciplined if you do

what you're supposed to do in the areas

that are easy for you, right?

Like, and we know this stuff spills over.

Like, do, do you eat the foods that you should eat?

Do you not eat the foods

or drink the things that you shouldn't drink?

Do you take care of your temple?

Do you take care of the body that God has given to you?

Do you, do you maximize the minutes that God has given

to you in every day to accomplish the things

that he is set in front of you?

Does your yes mean yes

and people know that your no means no?

Are you dependable? Are you disciplined?

Character's the first qualification, it's not charisma,

it's not clout, it's not content creation.

It's, it is possible to have impressive theology,

to have multiple doctorate degrees, to have wild gifting,

be able to preach the paint off the walls.

Listen, it's even possible to be able to be able to,

to fill an auditorium with the words that you can say

and have rotten fruit what's going on on the inside.

And God's word says it's not how the church is to be led

and shepherded, godly character qualifies leaders.

Um, I'll

give you an illustration here.

Um, I was working on this this week

and I just had this visual in my head of, of an iceberg.

And you, you've probably heard people say like, 90%

of the iceberg is underwater.

What sinks ships isn't usually what's visible.

It's what's beneath the surface.

Character is the part of our lives that very few,

if anyone ever sees,

but it impacts every aspect of our life.

Um, godly character qualifies a leader.

Uh, we're gonna wrap up here with verse nine.

Kind of brings it home. It says, he must hold firm

to the trustworthy word as taught.

He's talking about the, the

apostles teaching the word of God.

He must, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught

so that he may be able to give instruction

and sound doctrine

and also to rebuke those who contradict it, to hold firm

and to clinging to the word of God.

It's how elder shepherd, how do elder shepherd

by holding tightly to and clinging to the word of God?

Because it's through the word of God that we shepherd.

It's not personal opinions, it's not even through gifting.

I will say though, this is, this is the only skill that

that Paul highlights here,

and it is rooted in, um, in, in conviction.

He says that an elder must be able to give instruction.

I mean, that is a skill. How, how

to speak the truth to someone in love.

And he says that we do it in two ways.

One, by teaching what is true,

and then secondly, by correcting what's false.

But elders must be able to instruct through the word of God.

And I started this, this whole time by saying this, like,

why, how does this impact you?

You know that that's what elders are supposed to do.

Thanks for letting me know.

But again, it's because the kind of leader

that you follow will shape where you end up in life.

And we talked last week about, Hey,

what kind of map are you following?

And God's word says, within the family of families, this is

how the family is to be shepherded and cared for.

And the church needs elders who can rightly divide the word

of God and to teach and to lead and to correct

and to care for the flock through the word of God,

through sound doctrine, which leads to godly living.

Which by the way, if you don't know, like

that godly living is important

'cause that's how we were created to live.

Jesus said, I, I came

that they would have life and have it abundantly.

There's an abundant life that is available to us

that we will not experience

unless we're trusting in the word of God.

And so, what does this mean for us? Um, three things.

Uh, three things I would ask for, for all of us

who call hope, community, church, home.

Um, one, I would say pray for your elders.

The task is weighty.

I've told you this has been one of the heaviest weeks,

like spiritually for me, um, in my life, like having

to look in the mirror and study this stuff

and say, man, how in the world do I match up

against these things?

Knowing my own heart

and my own proneness of what I'm, what I could be, uh, prone

to chase after in life.

But pray for your elders.

They will answer to God for how they lead that.

That's a weighty responsibility.

Pray for their families, for their humility,

for their perseverance.

Uh, and you might say, I don't,

I don't know all the elders that you mentioned.

That's okay. I I you most likely know your campus pastor.

Pray for them by name.

Good gosh, pray for me, pray for my family.

And you can pray for them and not know their name as well.

But your campus pastors, they, they,

they know the elders, but pray for them.

Uh, secondly, I would say pursue this kind of life.

This is not a life that's just for pastors and elders.

It, these are qualifications

that must be present in the life of an elder.

It's a high standard. They must be present again,

doesn't mean perfection, but they must be.

But they're, it's also a pretty good picture

of what all of us as followers

of Christ should be aspiring to in our lives.

Like the knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness

so that we can have an eternal hope in the life

that we're in right now.

Not perfection, a life marked by repentance

and integrity, Dependency on the Holy Spirit.

And then lastly, I would say follow

leader's worth following.

Don't be impressed by flash. Um, look for fruit.

Ask. Is this, is this person, uh, shepherding

or are they self-promoting?

Does this leader live like Jesus?

'cause I'm telling you, the leaders, the shepherds

that you follow, it is going to dictate

and have an impact on where you end up in life.

Uh, we live in a time where,

where church scandals make headlines.

Okay? Um, spiritual abuse has left deep wounds.

I want you to know if that is you.

I am very well aware

that any talk on church leadership can be

incredibly triggering.

And there's probably like 10 plus things in this message.

It can be like, ah,

but I, I want you to hear me say, I, I understand.

Um, you name it, I've probably experienced it.

Um, I was in middle school when I found out

that my pastor at my church was having an affair

with my dad's wife, with my stepmom.

And, um, that's like the start.

I would love to say that's the only thing

that I've experienced from unhealthy unbiblical leadership.

Um, but I can tell you as one who somehow by God's grace

and mercy managed to stay in the game.

It doesn't have to be that way.

It's not supposed to be that way.

Those are, those are men

and women just like all of us who

are prone to step off the path

that God's laid in front of us.

But that does not mean that God's word is not true.

That does not mean that God's word is not right.

That does not mean that God's word is

not, is not best for us.

God's word says in a chaotic world,

this plan hasn't changed.

Godly churches are led by godly leaders.

And so my prayer is that would we as Hope Community Church,

would we be a people that that study and honor

and live the word of God?

I'd encourage you go through this book of Titus every day,

let's study and honor and live out the word of God.

Would it be be a people that uphold godly leadership?

And would we be the kind, uh, of followers

of Christ whose character preaches louder

than any sermon on any stage could ever preach?

Let's pray together. Father, uh, I thank you for your word.

I thank you that we can open it up

and just walk through verse by verse

and that it can come to life

and help us see how you designed us

to live life and experience life.

Lord, I thank you that you have shown us a clear picture of

what shepherding the church and what leadership looks like.

Your way. Father, my prayer would be

that we would be a church that would take seriously the

calls that you have placed on our lives,

that we would stand strong on the foundation

and the theology and the sound doctrine that you have said.

This is how the church should be shepherded, Lord,

that our elders here would continue to step into the roles

that you have set, uh, in front of them.

And Lord, I know there's some that have said, you know what?

That's the right way to go.

But I don't know if I can give everything that

that takes in this moment.

And Lord, when that's the case for them in their lives,

I feel that they would experience grace and peace

and for the new men that are coming on, Lord, I thank you

for them, father, um, I pray that you would protect them.

And for the men that are in, uh, going

through training right now, Lord, I pray

that you would watch over their lives,

that you would protect them.

We know that when we're chasing

after the things of God, we have an enemy.

And Lord, I pray for the men and women

and students who call hope community Church home.

Lord, this is not just a call, um, for the spiritual elite.

This is a call for the followers of Christ, um, that,

that you have called your elect, that you desire to come

to know the knowledge of truth, which accords with God,

godliness and leads to the hope of eternal life.

We love you. We pray these things in Jesus name.

And everyone said, amen.

Hey, I wanna say one thing before we turn the cameras off.

I was supposed to say this in the message.

Um, right now across all of our campuses, we have 15 men

who have said, Hey, I want

to jump into this elder training program that's 18

to 24 months long, where they're going

through hundreds and hundreds of pages.

They're, uh, going through the accountability, sharing

what it's doing in their lives.

We're having conversations with them and their wives

because they've said, I want to be a, a shepherd

at Hope Community Church.

I love this church and I wanna invest in this church.

We've got three men who are about

to roll on of what you all will get to.

They'll be presented before you soon.

And then we've got another 15 that are in that 18

to 24 month pipeline, which I think is a beautiful thing.

Can we just celebrate that

and thank them for what it's that you're putting in?

Yeah. Okay.

Love you guys. Father's Day next weekend.

We wanna see you there. I know you're gonna hear

from your campus pastor now. See you next week.

Hey, Jason, don't head out yet.

Come on back over here with me.

Hey, can we just take a moment

and, uh, lift one of our elders up before the Lord?

Um, this guy, um, I've seen him go

through a lot over the last few years

and I'm thankful for his leadership.

And so I just wanna take a moment to pray for him right now.

And so if we would, as a church, let's just lift our hearts

and our, and lift him up before the Lord.

Father, I thank you for, uh, my brother in Christ.

I thank you for a man who desires, um, to shepherd well,

to follow you closely, to be an elder in your church,

and not of a sense of haughtiness,

but not of a sense of duty, uh, a sense of honor

and a sense of obedience.

And so, father, God, I pray. I pray for our lead.

Pastor, I pray that you would help him

and strengthen him for the road ahead.

I pray that you would help him to follow you and you alone.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Come on, y'all, give him some love.

Listen, as we close out our time today, um,

we talk about steps of faith here at hope

and the steps that we take, come

through the decisions that we make.

You know, it's one thing to talk about

taking steps of faith.

It's a whole nother thing to move foot to pavement.

And God is ordering those steps.

And so if he's encouraged your heart through the word of God

or through worship today, uh, to take a step of faith,

again, I wanna remind you about the next steps area.

And if you're watching online, make sure you chime in

and if you have questions to ask, ask those questions.

Uh, we are all supposed to be walking

by faith and not by sight.

And the steps of the journey are ordered by God.

And so I want to encourage you as we end our time together

to be the kind of church

that loves God follows Jesus.

And I also want to encourage you to share hope.

God bless y'all. We'll see you next week.