Paraphrase: (1/12/03)
5b Appoint elders in each city, as I have told you. 6 These elders must be above all reproach. They must be husbands but once. They're children must also be among the believers, not rebellious youth caught up in worldly pleasures.
Key Verse: (1/12/03)
1:6 - Above reproach: having kept his wife, and having trained up his children well. This is the foremost prerequisite for leadership. Without it, the best of character traits are insufficient to the task.
New Thoughts (1/13/03-1/15/03)
The qualifications for leadership are quite revealing, as they are laid out here, and in 1Timothy. What I find particularly striking is that this leadership quality must first be established in the home. Notice that in this passage it's the first thing that is brought up, the mark of a man who is above reproach. His house is in order. He has not walked away from the challenges of married life. He has not traded in one wife for another because of some displeasure. He has maintained a covenant faithfulness to the vows of marriage.
Furthermore, his leadership is to show in his children. Children will follow our example, whether for better for worse, whether we want them to or not. If people want to know what we're really like, a look at the children will tell them a lot. So, here God lays out how his children ought to be. They ought to be believers. If they don't believe, it suggests that their father's faith may be no more than show. A true leader, who truly believes what he is doing will be a strong influence on those he leads. Look also at the other characteristics his children are to have: they are to be so well behaved as to be beyond accusation, in them, there is to be nothing for which they might be called to account.
Finally, they are not to be easily tempted. They are not to be such as are quick to provide for their own desires. They mustn't be given to excess and extravagance. How would they get this way, except that this be the example given them by their parents? If we wish our children to be well mannered, we must be well mannered ourselves at all times, but especially in their presence. Our words will not teach them nearly as well as our example will.
As we saw last night in our home group, what God seeks from His leadership, He models in His own leadership. He expects leaders who can love enough to discipline, because He loves enough to discipline. He seeks leaders who will not allow those they lead to be lost, for He loses none who are His own. He will not suffer them to be lost. He will go after them, rebuke them, discipline them, harass them, until they return to their senses and come back. This is what He seeks in His leaders. God warns His family that discipline must begin in His own house. This is also true for us. Until our own house is in order, our effectiveness in ministry will be minimal. If we cannot learn to deal with issues under our own roofs, we will never be able to cope with the issues that arise in the larger family of God, and we won't even stand a chance with those outside the family!
This year, Table Talk is looking at the books of 1Samuel and 2Samuel. This week, that study has been moving through the story of Eli and his sons. This is a prime example of the requirements of leadership, as well as the discipline of the Lord. Eli failed as a leader. My pastor has pointed out that even in his reaction to Hannah he showed that he was failing in his judgment. He no longer felt the pulse of God, he simply reacted by his own limited senses. Then we hear of his sons' actions as priests under his leadership. They had most thoroughly corrupted the proper worship demanded by God. Even the people they theoretically served knew that what they were doing was wrong, and tried to correct them, since Eli wouldn't. But, they would not hear of it. They were quick to satisfy their lusts, bringing the practice of temple prostitution to the house of the Lord. They were extravagant in their excesses, forcefully taking the Lord's own share from the sacrifices.
Where was their leader in all this? Where was Eli? In God's accusations against him, it seems evident that he was sharing in the extra food that his sons were extorting from those who came to worship legitimately. Oh, he gave them the occasional swat on the hand when the people complained loudly enough, but he didn't lead. He didn't insist on righteousness, nor did he love them enough to do what was necessary to bring them back into line. His house was out of order, and God had to begin in the house as He reestablished right worship. The sons were beyond reclaiming by then. They would not hear correction, and so were lost. With them, the honor God had given to Eli's family was lost; not only to Eli, not only to his sons, but to his posterity. They had been the line from which the high priests were chosen for years, but that was coming to an end. The high priest would come from elsewhere, still in full accord with God's promise to Aaron, but no longer from the line of Eli. It was over.
What shall we say of the state of the Catholic church today? In the news recently, I heard it reported that there was pretty much no diocese in the country that had not been effected by this. Daily, the reports come out of moral corruption amongst the servants of the church of God. Where has the leadership been? What have they done to correct the course of things? The evidence seems to show that they did nothing. They tried to keep it quiet, rather than expose the issue and heal the wound. What can be expected to come from this but the same thing that came to Eli? If the leadership will not lead in righteousness, it will be removed, and all that it has influenced will be taken out of service, lest the corruption continue. God will not be mocked. He will be honored before the people, and served in righteousness. Judgment begins in His house. I pray that His judgment will lead to repentance in this case, that He will move to restore this portion of His church to true holiness, to true understanding, that their influence for the kingdom of God will become greater than their influence amongst the kingdoms of man has been.
There's one other thing that jumps out at me in considering the qualifications of church elders as laid out here and in 1Timothy: nowhere does it say they must be savvy in business. Here, the focus is clearly no the example set at home, a steadfastness in leadership that is always in evidence. The qualifications hinge on two things: character and wisdom. The character of leadership, so evident in the ways of those led, must show self-control, a commitment to righteousness, the fruit of the spirit. Wisdom will be required, that the leader can teach, and teach truly. He must be sound in his understanding of the doctrine of God, and capable of teaching others what he himself understands. That's it! Nothing about management techniques, nothing about investing wisely, just proven character and knowledgeable teaching.
Lord, how do I measure up in this? I know I've come far since You first brought me out of the world. I am so much more in control of myself than ever I was. Yet, I also know that old habits are not fully dead, but continue to be just below the surface. I suppose that's why it's called self-control. You have slowly taught me to lead myself, to set myself a better example. But am I free of being excessive? Am I given to indulging my desires with little thought? You know I am! How easily I still give in to temptations that I know have so little to offer but pain.
Freedom! The call this year has been for freedom. Father, I pray that You move to bring the deliverance once and for all from my habits. I pray that You accelerate the course of Your training as You move to make me a leader in my own house. You have done so much to increase my understanding of Your ways. You have been working on me as far as my ability to give from that understanding to those You have put me over. I am so thankful that You have made of me something that can be of service to You. I am so thankful that You have blessed me with opportunities to truly serve. Yet, I would that You would continue the molding of this character until it fits the description You have given here.
I pray that, whether You choose to put me in such a position or not, You would at least make of me a fitting candidate. Help me, oh God, to establish the proper ways of a leader in this house of mine, to model for my daughter what it means to be a godly man. Oh, I pray that she would not have to look elsewhere to understand what a good father is supposed to be! So many I hear in my generation, saying that they have difficulty accepting You as a loving Father because they have never known their own father's love as they ought. Don't let me leave my own daughter with that same problem to overcome! Let it end here. Establish Yourself in this family, oh Lord, the only legacy that matters. Let this be a house established on Your word, established firmly enough to continue as long as generations continue.
