Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Timothy 3:1-7

The Overseers of the Church

 

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.[1]

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y this point in our studies dealing with the need for elders for the congregation, I trust that you have become convinced of one great truth—namely, that the Bible makes no distinction between the terms elder, pastor and overseer.

A pastor is an elder, and an elder is an overseer.

An elder pastors, and a pastor is an overseer.

These three concepts are applied indiscriminately to the same individual throughout the New Testament.

Elder refers to the maturity expected of these spiritual leaders, and points also to the dignity of the office.

Pastor speaks of the spiritual responsibility entrusted to these gifted men, and overseer speaks of the administrative responsibilities of the office.

Moreover, I pray that you now realise that a plurality of elders appears to be the norm for the New Testament model of the church.

Clearly, the churches established from earliest days by the Apostle to the Gentiles enjoyed a plurality of elders.

These elders were colleagues, each serving as a shepherd of the flock.

The elders never functioned merely as an administrative board.

There is no concept of “board” elders or “ruling” elders to be found anywhere in the New Testament, but rather we discover servant elders, modelling their service after that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Furthermore, those elders who served the congregations were raised up by God, sought out by other elders, and received by the congregation as God’s appointed leaders over the churches.

The thought of “calling” a pastor is foreign to the New Testament.

Rather, God worked within the congregations equipping men for spiritual leadership and service to the congregation.

For the sake of emphasis, I remind you that each congregation was responsible for the education of individuals, equipping them for eventual oversight.

Elders are responsible to prepare leaders within the church, providing sound education for future leaders.

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also [*2 Timothy 2:2*].

The requirement for seminary education, while beneficial in ensuring an educated eldership, is unnecessary in the eyes of the New Testament.

Each congregation bears responsibility for training future elders in doctrine, in practical theology, and in administration of the church.

One grievous result of the contemporary emphasis upon the necessity of seminary education is a near universal transition from seeking out men on the basis of character and calling, relying instead upon credentials and connections.

This brings us to yet another study of the overseers of the Church.

Join me in exploration of what is perhaps the most exhaustive set of criteria provided for assessing the character of these gifted men.

This passage which comprises our text cannot be studied in great depth in this one sermon, but it can be reviewed so that each of us know the dimensions of biblical character to be discovered among those individuals appointed to this spiritual service among the churches.

The Aspiration for Eldership.

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

At the outset, Paul affirms that the desire to be an elder is good.

In fact, Paul speaks of this as one of the trustworthy sayings, a series of statements found in the Pastoral Epistles [see *1 Timothy 1:15*; *3:1*; *4:8, 9*; *2 Timothy 2:11*; *Titus 3:8*].

These statements chronicle affirmations current during the formative days of the churches which had become so common that they were in effect Christian proverbs.

Those whom God raises up for eldership will have received an inward call to eldership.

They will have a desire to fulfil the will of God by moving toward eldership.

They will prepare themselves by making special effort to address the required conditions for acceptance as elders.

I pray that if any man hear my voice and find within a desire for eldership, that he realises that he aspires to that which is good.

An overweening desire for authority disqualifies an individual from eldership, but the desire to be mature in Christ qualifies for eldership.

There is no dichotomy in these affirmations, but they represent a cautious statement that one must have a call from God.

That call will be demonstrated as the individual’s life progresses toward maturity.

Settle in your mind one great truth—not everyone who is “ordained” as a pastor has any business being a pastor.

There are individuals who have no moral~/ethical qualification for the role of elder, though they have met an artificial standard related to academic qualification.

Others, though perhaps having met the moral~/ethical standard, have no sense of call or commitment.

Elders who honour God and who bless the church in which they are raised up will reveal a sense of call through a life marked by godly character.

Those who aspire to eldership desire a noble task [καλοῦ ἔργου].

Elders are engaged in a task which is honourable, excellent and glorious.

That is the thought behind that word which is translated noble in the text.

Pastor R. Kent Hughes states that it is perhaps better stated in order to capture the apostolic intent to speak of the desire for eldership as being the desire for a beautiful task.[2]

It is an excellent task because the virtues required of one who would pursue that task are excellent.

What does appear apparent is Paul’s hope that men will aspire to be overseers of the church.

Make no mistake, the aspiration may be noble, but it is nevertheless work to which the man aspires.

Elders are to labour at preaching and teaching [*1 Timothy 5:17]*.

The work of an elder is a demanding, lifelong task.

The Apostle commanded Timothy, as an elder, to do the work of an evangelist [*2 Timothy 4:5*].

He admonished the Thessalonian Christians to respect those who labour [from κοπιάω—“to work to the point of exhaustion”] among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you [*1 Thessalonians 5:12*].[3]

Eldership is not a nine-to-five occupation which permits one to walk away each evening.

The task of an elder is ongoing.

If a man is unprepared to be wakened at four o’clock in the morning so he can sit with a family whose child has just been rushed to hospital following an automobile crash, let him stay out of service as an elder.

If a man is unwilling to be inconvenienced by a request to work with a family in crisis, let him keep himself from eldership.

If a man refuses to be available to those who are hurting, frightened and ill, let him refrain from offering his service to the church as an elder.

Those who accept appointment to the eldership engage in a serious undertaking which is beyond the ability of any mere mortal.

Without divine equipping, the task of serving as an elder will be greater than the strength and wisdom of any man.

Those whom the church will set apart for this ministry must give evidence of a call.

When they have given such evidence, the church is then privileged to recognise their giftedness, virtue and service by the standards which follow this verse.

The sign that this recognition has occurred is through the laying on of hands by the elders of the church.

In this, the elders show unity and solidarity with the one appointed to this office.

They also give the one appointed their commendation, support and affirmation.[4]

The Qualifications for an Elder.

An overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Time constraints dictate that I cannot consider the qualifications for eldership in the detail they perhaps deserve, but I can summarise them, commenting on the more pertinent aspects of qualifying characteristics.

Overarching the qualifications which have been provided in the Word of God is one great requirement that the elder must be /above reproach/.

I am prepared to contend that the reputation of the elder with outsiders is at least as important as his reputation within the congregation.

The first criterion provided both in our text and in *Titus 1:5-9* is that an elder must be above reproach.

Following this overarching criterion for appointment are fifteen characteristics in either the passage to Timothy or the passage in Titus.

Of necessity, there is some overlap in these characteristics.

The elder~/overseer is to be the husband of one wife—literally, he must be a one-woman man.

This simply means that he must be devoted to one woman.

He must be one who honours marriage, keeping his vows inviolate and devoting himself to his wife.

The term does not mean that he must have been married once, for that would exclude widowers who are remarried.

Neither is the intent of the qualification merely to exclude bigamists.

Rather, the emphasis is upon commitment or devotion to his wife.

Elders must be sober-minded, or as some translations have it, temperate.

The concept points to self-control or balanced judgement.

Similar to the word here translated sober-minded is the word which is translated self-controlled, or prudent.

Other related words would lead us to look for a man who is discreet or sensible.

This is an essential quality for an individual who must exercise discretion is dealing with people.

Elders must be respectable, or well behaved.

Likewise, an elder must be hospitable.

The necessity of confronting error demands that an elder must be able to teach.

The requirement assumes that an elder be knowledgeable in the Word.

Later, Paul will insist that an elder must not be a recent convert—he must have time to have been instructed in the Word.

In his letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul will add the requirement that the elder must hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught [*Titus 1:9*].

The reason for this requirement is so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

An elder must be above reproach in use of stimulants or drugs.