But As For You O Man of God... Pt. 3
About a year and half ago I caught some of ‘An Officer and A Gentlemen on one of those UHF stations. That’s the movie where Louis Gossett Jr. earned a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. At one point in the movie Gossett’s character catches Richard Gere’s character with contraband. After sending the rest of the squad to their first weekend pass Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Gossett’s character) does his best to get Zack Mayo to voluntarily quit.
He puts Mayo through every onerous duty he can just to get him to drop out but Mayo is determined to hang in there. At one point with Mayo exhausted from doing push-ups and laying on the ground covered in mud Gunnery Sergeant Foley gets right in his face and asks why he’s putting himself through all this. When Mayo yells the canned response (to get jets sir) Foley says that’s horse hockey! He then says something very insightful. Looking straight at Mayo Foley said that becoming a Navy pilot isn’t about skills its about character. The U.S. government had no intention of entrusting a multi-million dollar machine to a man without character.
In other words, becoming a Navy pilot wasn’t about glory and glamour, it was about character. Our last post emphasized the value and significance God places on character in the ministry. In 1 Timothy 3 Paul defines what that character is. The man of God must have a life and lifestyle free of the practice of sin. From Scripture we know that neither he nor anyone else will be completely without any form of sin whatsoever. But the man of God can and must have a life that is not ensnared with ongoing, unrepentant sin. Moreover, he must be a man who deals with his own sin with integrity. He does not look past, rationalize or minimize his sinful issues. When an issue or issues of sin come up in his life he confesses, repents and seeks to grow in holiness. This is crucial because sadly the church has been affected by our consumerist, commercial culture. In our quest for bigger, better, more and more the church can too easily look past moral failures just because a brother can pack the seats and move the troops.
The bishop (that is local church elder) must be the husband of one wife. I don’t think that means that elders must be married and haven’t come to the conclusion that they must be men who’ve never divorced. I am convinced that the elder must be a man who consistently, actively loves his wife. His wife can’t be a satellite in a life that revolves around the church nor can she be another cog in the wheel of the mission. As important as preaching, teaching, leading, shepherding and theology is (and they are) I’m becoming more and more convinced that in a culture of broken homes and fractured relationships that one of the most important aspects of ministry is how I love, care for and relate to my wife.
God’s men must grow to be men who carry themselves as those who represent the king of kings and Lord of lords. The virtues of self-control, good judgment, respectfulness and hospitality aren’t ones we generally associate bold, cutting edge, innovative and ‘manly’ leadership but they are vital to the biblically grounded, Christ-centered leadership that God cultivates and values. It’s interesting and insightful that the aforementioned virtues are the kinds of qualities nurtured and displayed as it were in the background. God’s men aren’t looking for ways to be seen and noticed, but to allow our character to put the focus on the Great Shepherd of the sheep.
The man of God cannot be addicted to wine, food, shopping, or Madden. (and you Madden players know exactly what I’m talking about!) The man of God must have and use self-control. He must exercise it in the use of his time, recreation, relationships and gospel graced freedoms. (sorry my Baptist brothers but the Scriptures just don’t condemn having an occasional drink).
He cannot be someone who loves picking, engaging in and dominating an argument. Paul mentions this a few times (see 1 Tim. 1:5-7, 2:8, 6:3-5, 2Tim. 2:14, 23-25; Titus 3:9). Clearly it was a big problem for many of the church’s elders and it could have easily been a huge distraction to Timothy. I can speak from personal experience because in my younger (and much more foolish days) I relished a good argument. I can tell you that during those times my goal wasn’t to correct a true error, but just to be right. We don’t engage in long unproductive arguments about the truth. Being argumentative is a sign of immaturity, arrogance, self-centeredness and possibly insecurity. God hasn’t called us to break people down but to build them up. If too many people leave a conversation with us feeling stupid then we may have certainly won an argument but we have in no way served the cause of our Lord.
The man of God must have a well run household with children who respect him, our Lord and the church. Though we can’t guarantee our children will come to know the Lord we can attempt to raise them in such a way that they know that we take the Lord, His church, our calling and THEM seriously. We cannot be about the business of winning the world and neglecting our children. I want to especially appeal to young men with young children at home. Please, please don’t allow ministry to swallow your every waking moment. Take the time to raise, play with and enjoy your children. Trust me should our Lord tarry you’ll have more than enough time and sinners to win for the kingdom. But you only have one time when your children are young. Pay attention to them.
An elder must not be a recent convert for the obvious reasons that Paul wrote. Bestowing ordination on someone just because he completed seminary, a few papers and a couple of test is a bad idea. Let him grow some first. Give him the opportunity to fall flat on his face when his neat little theological grid becomes unglued in the face of trial. Allow him to walk with the saints as they traverse sickness, unemployment and death. Let him learn to watch himself and depend on the Lord in temptation and learn from his failures. Afford him the chance to demonstrate that he can really grow to love his wife as Christ loves the church before we put him in charge of God’s people. Before he preaches to raise the dead, convert the lost and pack the church let’s see if he can get some God in himself first!
Finally, an elder must have a good sound reputation among unbelievers. We already have too many brothers who’ve carried on a double life, fallen into Satan’s trap (it doesn’t matter what you are, just how good you perform) and brought disgrace to our Lord, His church and the truth.
Brothers, being and becoming a leader in God’s church isn’t about fame, glory or glamour. The issue isn’t skills, charisma or talent it is and always will be character.
For Christ, His church and the truth.
LL