Acts 20:25-31
English Standard
Version (ESV)
25 And now, behold, I know that none of you
among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face
again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day
that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I
did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay
careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of
God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know
that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not
sparing the flock;30 and from among your own selves will arise
men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.31 Therefore be
alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or
day to admonish every one with tears.
Paul is departing from
Ephesus and is speaking to the Elders, telling them his goodbyes. I find this an interesting passage and one
that I think should be included when we talk about eldership. It gives clarification to the passage that we
find in Titus 1: 6 – 9 which gives
us detail as to the qualifications of an elder.
5 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— 6 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. 7 For
an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be
arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or
greedy for gain, 8 but
hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and
disciplined. 9 He
must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may
be able to give instruction in sound doctrine
and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
I have heard this passage preached on more than
one occasion but never in conjunction with the verses in Acts. When we compare these two scriptures we have
a clear picture of what an elder should be and why these qualifications are in
place so important. We also see why they
were even placed in such positions.
Elders must be blameless because they are going
to be confronting others who are not blameless.
Paul speaks to these men and tells them that after he leaves there will
be others who will come in and try to destroy that which has been established
for the purpose of giving glory, praise, and honor to our Savior, Jesus Christ
the Lord. People will come in and try to
make the church something that it was not intended to be. People will try to bring glory to themselves
rather than to God. If the church did
not have strong Christians, discerning Christians, bold Christians, upstanding
Christians, the church would fall apart.
These men had been appointed to take care of the body of believers. They had been charged with guarding the
church from these wolves. If they did
not have the qualifications as set forth in Titus the church would be no more:
1) Be above reproach – if they were doing wrong,
how could they tell others that they were wrong?
2)Husband of one wife and children walking the straight and
narrow path – our family reflects who we are when we are not in the public eye
3) Not arrogant or quick-tempered – I have seen the testimony
of believers ruined because they were arrogant and treated employees
poorly. They have been mocked by
unbelievers and placed on high alert with believers. Such people could not be in an eldership rule
because they need guidance themselves.
If you do not live the life how can you tell others how to live it? Also in this category is that of being drunk,
or out of control. Simply said, you
can’t live a double life. 4) Greedy for gain. Sometimes people get put in
leadership positions because of what they can do rather than who they are and
then sometimes people want in leadership so they can get their way. They work
their way into such a position because they are greedy. I was once told by a friend that he came to
the church that we were attending because he saw the men chosen to be deacons
as men of integrity not men of wealth.
You should not be able to buy your way into a leadership position. Often times people associate wealth with
greediness which is not always the case but we need to be cautious that those
who are chosen are not chosen because of their wealth.
5) Why do you think they needed to be
hospitable? These were men who were
going to be involved in the lives of many people and they needed to be
welcoming to them. They needed to be
prepared to have them in their homes and in their lives because that is where
they would teach, guide, direct others to do as the Lord would have them to
do. They would be investing much of
their lives to these people not just on Sunday morning or at a mid-week
service. In all of this he may need to
practice self-control when there was a knock at the door in the middle of the
night. When the family had an outing
planned and plans change because of the interruption of another brother, he
would need to control his tongue and welcome them in. The list goes on, stuff would
happen and you would have to be willing and able to confront the issues with
self-control, being upright, holy, and disciplined because those with whom you
would minister to would not have such characteristics.
6) They must be able to teach others the true road
to righteousness. This did not mean that
they needed to teach in the Synagogue necessarily, in fact they did not even
meet there. They didn’t need to know how
to prepare a sermon but rather how to minister to others in a moment’s
notice. When someone came to them with
questions about their faith they should be able to sit down with them and share
personally and from the Word of God the answers to their questions. They needed to know the Word and know the
Lord in order to instruct those with whom they came in contact. They needed to be aware of false teachings of
others so they needed to be discerning, knowing what they believed and why they
believed so that they could direct others in the direction in which they should
go. If they could not do this, they would
fall into the trap as could those they were leading.
How does all of this apply to us? If we are followers of Jesus Christ then we
all need to be elders in a sense. We
should all be living lives of the calling to be more and more like Christ in
our actions. Many people who have
claimed forgiveness through the grace of Christ have caused others to stumble
and fall because they did not live their lives as an elder. They have ruined their testimony and caused
others to mock other believers because they were hot-tempered, arrogant,
unrighteous people. Today our churches
can be attacked by those who are false teachers, we need to all be ready to
defend our faith. Someday the church may
be broken up and we may be on our own (without other believers to support us)
we need to be ready to defend the Word of God.
The early church was just forming, elders were there to help those new
believers know how to live the Christian life.
Today the church has been here for over 2000 years, if we are still
drinking milk, we better start working on solid foods because Christ is coming soon. Maybe in another 2000 years or maybe it will
be tomorrow but He is coming and we need to be ready when that trumpet sounds.
Eldership is not a position that
needs to be elevated by man. In fact, if
man would elevate God like they do the position of elders, we would not even
need to have elders. We will always have
those who are new believers, just think what our churches would look like if
any of the so-called “mature Christians”
would act as the elders and be able to minister, teach, and grow these
Christians to maturity. We should all be living our lives as an elder
does. As I said earlier, our testimonies
can be ruined when our actions don’t match our words and you don’t have to have
a title for that to happen. We should
all be grounded in the word and ready to confront false teachers and we should
all be ready to defend our faith when it is put to the test. The church should have grown up by now but
yet we are still attacked just as the early church was. When Paul is writing to the churches in
Galatia he encourages them to live by the Spirit, he is speaking to the church
not elders when he says, Galatians 5:16-26 English Standard Version (ESV)16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires
of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to
keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity,
sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger,
rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I
warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.25 If we live by the Spirit, let
us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one
another.
(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205:%2016%20-%2026&version=ESV)
As you seek Him today, ask Him to open your eyes
to His Words and prepare you to take action in such a way that others can see
that Christianity is not a religion but it is an amazing life with Jesus Christ
our Lord. Live by the Spirit.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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