1 Peter 5:1-4 (NIV) To the Elders among you, I appeal as a fellow Elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one, who also shall share in the glory to be revealed. Be Shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers; not because you must ,but because you are willing as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory, that will never fade away.
In these verses we see Peter giving instruction to the organizational head of the church, the Elders. Some people have said well he is talking to the Deacons, some have said the “Deacon Board”, but to truly find out who he was talking to all we have to do is to do a little research and it becomes very clear as to who Peter is speaking to in this letter. You see, in the Greek text, the world ELDER is the word PRES-BOO-TER-OS, or translated into our modern day English, PRESBYTER, which has the definition of the “leader of the local Christian Congregation. In other words, he is speaking directly to the Pastor, the Preacher, The Evangelist. He is speaking to those who have been licensed, ordained by the local church as the one who God has called to bring forth the message of the Gospel. They have been Called of God, and then examined by the body to see if they posses the necessary evidence of a life that qualifies them to be a minister or ELDER of the church.
But what are the qualifications that the Church should be looking for in an elder? Well in Titus 1:6-9 we are given a list of things that an Elder must be in order to be qualified by the Spirit. But if a man is called, should not that be enough. Well Matthew 22:14 states that “Many are called, but few are chosen.” You see many a man has been called to serve in the church, but not all are “chosen” by the Spirit to be Preachers, Pastors, and Evangelist. If every man, or woman for that matter, who was called to serve was also chosen to be an “Elder” then how much more confusion would there be in the Church. If that many voices were called to preach there would be no followers, just leaders, for you see all are called to serve in the Kingdom of God, just not all in the same positions.
So what should we look for? Well let’s look at Titus 1:6-9 or our answers:
1) An Elder must be blameless---Now this is kind of funny because Romans 3:10 tells us that “as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one”. And we know the scripture is never wrong, so how can a man be blameless? Well what the writer is talking about here is he must have a good reputation within the community. I mean you wouldn’t go out and make a known drug dealer who is living a life of sin an ordained minister and out him over the church now would you? But what if that same man had been saved and living a changed life for say the last 8 years after his salvation. Now that would make a difference wouldn’t it?
2) The husband of one wife------Now here is where we get into a sticky situation with a lot of churches. Many believe this to mean that a man cannot be divorced and become a minister of the Gospel. But I disagree. When Paul was writing this letter, Polygamy, where a husband would have more than one wife, was practiced widely. Also what a man or woman does before salvation is under the blood, never to be brought up by Christ again, so how can we who have been forgiven, tell someone that because of the sin or divorce in his life before coming to a true saving knowledge and relationship with Christ, he can not be a minister of the Gospel. I believe that a man who has been divorced can and will be called of God to minister, especially if that divorce was during a time of darkness in his life, where he was not living a life pleasing in the site of God, as a believer of Christ.
3) A man whose Children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient---Does this mean a man who’s adult son or daughter is shall we say living in sin, maybe in a homosexual relationship, cannot be a minister of the Gospel. No what it does mean is that as a father of children at home, he as much as is possible, has taught them the ways of the Lord and has held them to certain standards. If he has done this yet still they have chosen to walk away, I believe this man has done exactly what the bible command him to do in Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers do not exasperate your children, instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”.
4) Not overbearing---In other words , he must be willing to listen to others ideas and take others into consideration, not just having tunnel vision and only seeing his way. He also must not be arrogant and have a me, me, me attitude.
5) Not quick tempered---This is self explanatory. He cannot have a short fuse…..
6) Not given to drunkenness---Here again we get in to an area that a lot of churches stay away from with their congregation. How would you feel if one Friday night, you walked into a sports themed restaurant to have a few wings and watch the game and there sitting at the bar, was your Pastor with a beer in his hand? Better yet, what if you had the guy you have been witnessing to for 3 weeks with you, and after all the things you have told him about being a Christian, getting him to church last Sunday and him listening to the Pastor preach about how sinful walking in that nightclub is, he sees your Pastor at the bar, drinking? Need I say more,….NO, I don’t think so.
7) Not violent—again pretty self explanatory. The last thing we want is to have to pull our Pastor out of Jail on Saturday nights so he can preach on Sunday Morning.
8) Not pursuing dishonest gain—Again the local drug dealer
9) He must be Hospitable, one who loves what is good, self controlled, upright, Holy and disciplined.------Here we have secondary ingredients for an ELDER. A man who will give you the shirt off his back if need be. A man who even if the enemy spits in his face, has enough control to tell them God loves you and walk away. A man that people look up to, without putting him on a pedestal, yet know that whatever he tells them, they can believe.
10) But mostly a man who will hold FIRM to the message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it---He must be a man that you know when he steps into that pulpit, or stands to bring forth a message, has heard from God and is going to share that message, regardless of the toes it steps on or the feelings it hurts, because he knows it is from God and he will deal with those toes and feelings.
These are the qualifications that we must use as a guide to see if a man is truly Qualified to be a minister of the word, but then we must take that to another level when deciding who to choose as a Pastor of the Congregation. Not only must he meet those, but there are a few more that Peter reveals to us in our main text 1 Peter 5:1-4.
A) He must WANT to serve. This has to be a man who not only has God called and Chosen, but he has to WANT to be an overseer of the flock. Not in the fact that he feels he must do it because he has the well Christ died for me the least I can do is be a Preacher for him. That is a wrong attitude. A true Desire must reside in his heart to see others come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He must have a yearning in his heart, the same yearning he had when first saved, to go out and tell others, not only what Christ has done for him, but what he can do for them as well. He has to have sincerity in his heart to want to serve.
B) He must want to serve regardless of what he shall receive for it. Most ministers I know will tell you, they did not get into the ministry to get rich. The work of a minister is very similar to that of a soldier from what I have seen. There are many a nights on guard duty alone with no one to talk to but God. There are the countless hours away from family dealing with others problems. There are thise times when they are going to have to hold a dying mans hand and watch them slip out of this world after taking that last breath. And there are going to be no Oscar nominations, no Grammy awards. No Tony’s, no Emmy’s, no VMA’s, CMA’s. They will be lucky to receive a thank you from the stranger they pass in the road, and they will also have to deal with those who will spit on them and call them worthless.
C) And by doing those things above, he will be an example of the Love that God has given to each and every one of us through his Son Jesus Christ, who came and willingly gave of himself that we may have eternal life. He will do more than what is required of him, not because it is expected, but because he wants to. He knows that just good enough is not going to cut the mustard, and because of that he WANTS to give more than is expected, and work as hard as he can to make sure the flock and the church move forward.
And he does all of this so that when that day comes and he meets the Lord face to face he will not hear the words “But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' Luke 13:27. Instead he will hear those word from Matthew 25:21 “Well done thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter thou into the Joy of the Lord.”
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