Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Qualified Leadership

0 If the elders have a contentious spirit, the people will inevitably become contentious (1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 1:7).

0 If the elders are inhospitable, the people will be unfriendly and cold (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8).

0 If the elders love money, the people will become lovers of money (1 Tim. 3:3).

0 If the elders are not sensible, balanced, and self-controlled, their judgment will be characterized by ugly extremes, which will cause the people to be extreme and unbalanced (1 Tim. 321,2; Titus 1:8).

0 If the elders are not faithful, one-woman husbands, they will subtly encourage others to be unfaithful (1 Tim. 322; Titus 126).

0 If the elders do not faithfully hold to the authority of the Word, the pe0ple will not hold to it (Titus 1:9).

Much of the weakness and waywardness of our churches today is due directly to our failure to require that church shepherds meet God’s standards for office. If we want our local churches to be spiritually fit, then we must require our shepherds to be spiritually fit. Third, the biblical qualifications protect the church from incompe tent or morally unfit leaders. Some people push themselves into posi tions of church leadership to satisfy their unholy egos. Others are sadly deceived about their own ability and character. And some are evildo ers who are motivated by Satan to infiltrate and ruin churches. The public, objective, God-given qualifications for church leadership pro tect the congregation from such unfit people. These observable, objective standards for elders are especially im portant when churches must deal with dominating, stubborn church leaders who are incapable of truly seeing their sins or heresies and yet must be discharged from office. The elder qualifications empower each congregation and its leaders with the right and the objective means to hold back or remove unfit men from leadership. To refuse to remove a sinful or doctrinally unsound elder, however, is willful disobedience to God’s Word that will eventually undermine the moral and spiritual

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