THE PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

     You see, this passage about overseers and deacons is ultimately about Jesus Christ: His gospel and His glory and His Church. Chapter three in its entirety teaches us that God has ordained the offices of elder and deacon for His Church, His household, for the preservation, protection, and proclamation of the truth of the gospel within the life of the Church and throughout the world. God has ordained the offices of elder and deacon for His Church, His household, for the preservation, protection, and proclamation of the truth of the gospel within the life of the Church and throughout the world.

                Verse 14 gives the reason for Paul’s letter to Timothy: “(so that) you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth.” The Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, wrote to Timothy concerning overseers and deacons so that believers would know how to live together as the household of God, as a well-ordered family.

                The image or metaphor of the church as the household of God is very important to our understanding of the church and the ministry of elders and deacons in the church. We’ll come back to that a little later. But right now, think about our own homes, or of families in general: if children are not instructed, nurtured, disciplined, and enabled to live as happy, peaceful, obedient, loving members of the household, and if husbands and wives do not live together as happy, peaceable, mutually supportive spouses, then families end up in chaos and sometimes destruction. Chaos and destruction in family life leads to all kinds of other problems, as we know. The same is true in the household of God, the Church. Paul wrote these instructions about elders and deacons in order to protect the household of God, in order to promote the peace and health and spiritual strength of the Church.

                But why was the Apostle Paul so concerned about the corporate life, the family life, of the church as the household of God? Because it is the church, the household of God’s people upon the earth, which is a “pillar and buttress of truth” (v.15). Now we’re beginning to see what’s at stake here. Just as a building has a foundation upon which it stands, or just as a pillar or butt

ress supports the roof of a building, so the church — the household of God — has been divinely ordained and appointed to support and uphold the truth of the gospel in a world of idolatry, heresies, sin, and evil.

                And in this passage, the word church is not used in a general, abstract, vague sense, generally referring to all individual believers everywhere. No, this passage refers to the church as a very definite, local, visible, particular, incarnational, real-life expression of the Body of Christ; in other words, the church lives on earth lives as congregations of real people in real places in real life bonded together as a family, the household of God, under the oversight and leadership and service of elders and deacons. This passage teaches us that the church as a visible, real, corporate entity with ordained leadership is “the pillar and buttress of truth” established by God to support and uphold the truth of the gospel of Christ in a lost and dark world. And so the Apostle Paul concludes this portion of the letter with a declaration of the truth of the gospel:

                He (the eternal Son of God)was manifested in the flesh; as the Gospel of John says, “...the Word became flesh” (John 1:14); in order that, for our salvation, He could offer  up Himself to death as the atoning sacrifice for our sins; (He was) vindicated by the Spirit in His resurrection from the dead, proving Him to be the Son of God; He was seen by angels as the One to whom the Father had given all authority in heaven and earth; He was (and is) proclaimed among the nations (for He is the Savior of the world); and He has been (and is) believed on in the world because the Holy Spirit causes the gospel to be effective, bringing people to faith in Christ and building up His Church and advancing His kingdom in the world; and He has been taken up in glory, the divine glory which He enjoyed with the Father before the world was ever created.

                Verse 16 is, in fact, a very brief creed of Christian faith, a creed of the truth of the gospel, a creed of the church, by which the church of the living God confesses its faith and lives as a “pillar and buttress of truth” in the world. So, you see, chapter three in its entirety teaches us that God has ordained the offices of elder and deacon for His Church, His household, for the preservation, protection, and proclamation of the truth of the gospel within the life of the Church and throughout the world.

                So then, with the end in mind, we can look now at the beginning of the passage. First of all, a word about church government in general. In various denominations today, there are differing forms of church government, and the titles of offices (bishop, elder, deacon) are used in differing ways within various denominations. Church government today —  in any denomination—  is not an exact replication of church government in the first century, but there are nevertheless important Scriptural principles that must be followed for the sake of the health of the church, and those principles are what we should keep foremost in mind.

                “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” The Greek word translated “overseer” is the word episkopos, and is sometimes translated as “bishop.” When we compare this verse with other passages related to church government, we see that the terms “overseer” and “elder” seem to be used interchangeably, referring to the same office. First Timothy 5:17 speaks of elders ruling the church, using the very same language as this passage in reference to the leadership of the “overseers.” Titus 1:5-7 refers to “elders” and “overseers” as though the terms are synonymous. For example, for the sake of illustration, sometimes we refer to a police officer as a “policeman”; but we might also refer to the very same person as an “officer of the law.” Policeman / officer of the law: basically the same category. Likewise, in the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition of church government, based on our understanding of these passages, we see “overseer” and “elder” as virtually the same office (or category of office) in the church, though perhaps there may be some distinction in specific function.

                The qualifications of the overseer, or elder, and also the deacons, focus on the character and spiritual maturity of the person. The general attribute is that elders are to be “above reproach.” This does not mean “sinless,” or “perfect” or “without flaw” — for then the church could not have any elders — but it does mean that the known reputation of the elder is one which brings no shame or blemish upon the church; his pattern of conduct and general reputation should be one that is worthy of respect. More specifically, the overseer and deacon is to be “the husband of one wife” (literally, a man of one woman), emphasizing marital commitment and sexual fidelity within marriage. In the Greco-Roman world of the first century, sexual immorality ran rampant. Welcome to the Greco-Roman world of the first century; it is where we live, in twenty-first century America . It is as though we don’t know what sexual immorality is anymore, because it has become normalized. But it must not be so in the household of God. Elders and deacons are to set the highest example of marital commitment, sexual fidelity, and healthy family life.

                What we see in this passage is that the church, the household of God, is to be modeled and ordered along the life of the covenant family household. The key verse in understanding the main point here is verse 5, “...if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” precisely because, as verse 15 says, the church is the “household of God.” There’s the connection. The social structure and social fabric of the family household is carried into and reflected in the life of the church, so that the church is basically seen as God’s household made up of believing families. In order for the church to be a spiritually healthy and well-ordered household, the leaders of the church should be able and respected leaders of their own happy and spiritually healthy households.

                It’s important to note that in this passage, as well as in Titus, the emphasis is not simply on the elder as a “man” (as male, as though being “male” were the main qualification) but rather on the kind of man he is, in general character, and more specifically as a husband to his wife and as a father to his children. If we get hung up on the gender issue and think that being a male is the most important qualification about being an elder, then we’ve missed the point of this passage. The basic assumption of the text is that husbands and fathers are the heads of their families, so it would naturally follow that those husbands and fathers who are respected as men of exemplary character and have demonstrated true Christian leadership and service in their own families, in relationship to their wives and children, would be chosen as the leaders and rulers of the “household of God.”

                The normative, operative paradigm, therefore, is that, as the overseers of their own covenant households, particular men will be chosen as the overseers of the household of God , not because they are men per se but because of the kind of men they are — men who are exemplary in loving their wives as Christ loved the church, and raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

                Whether there might be exceptions to the normative paradigm is a question which can be considered in light of the fact that within both the Old and New Testaments there seem to be occasions in which women were raised to particular positions of leadership within the covenant community^[1]         Note also the role of Priscilla, wife of Aquilla, who was active in the instruction of Apollos (Acts 18:24-28), and whom Paul mentions first in Romans 16:3-4, perhaps indicating the prominence of Priscilla (Prisca) in the shared ministry of this married couple.. That is one reason that the EPC permits the ordination of women as elders and deacons; there may also be evidence of women deacons in the New Testament^[2]).^[3] But this passage, and the whole issue, must first of all be understand with the structure of the covenant family in mind, or otherwise it is misunderstood and is seen only in the light of modern-secular American gender controversies, men versus women, which misses the main point altogether. Male-eldership in the church has nothing to do with male power or dominance, for the example and model for Christian husbands is Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, His Bride, whom He loved and for whom He gave up Himself unto death in sacrificial love.              

                Now, that gives us not only a particular perspective about the qualifications of elders (and deacons), but it also gives us a particular perspective about role of elders as the overseers of the household of God, and it give us a particular perspective about what the life of the church should be like. It shows us that the role of elders is not that of simply running an organization, but of leading and overseeing the life of a family. That’s a paradigm shift we’re working on here in Rivermont EPC. That involves knowing the members of the family, knowing and caring about the needs of the family members, being involved in and supportive in the lives of the members of the household. Our elders (and deacons) are taking strides along these lines to develop ways of ministering personally to the members of the congregation, and we are going to continue to pursue that calling. It also means providing correction, guidance, and discipline in a context of love. All of this is spiritual leadership. It needs to happen in our own homes, and it needs to happen in the life of the congregation, as the household of God. In your membership vows, you promise to submit yourselves to the spiritual oversight and discipline of the Session of this congregation; the Scripture calls believers to respect the spiritual leadership of elders. This is all part of what it means to live as the household of God.

                And this shows us, then, that the church is not a place that we come to, not a religious grocery store, not a private chapel for our personal spirituality, not an organization to which we give some of our time and money, but a family, a household, built upon relationships with one another through our relationship with Christ; a household, in which we live together, work together, share the fullness of life together, all for the glory of God, who has called us to be His people through His Son Jesus Christ. Ultimately, it’s all about Him — His gospel and His glory. That’s what our life, as the church, is to be all about: Jesus Christ, His gospel and His glory. God has called us, His household, to be a pillar and buttress of the truth, that the truth of the gospel may be upheld and supported, preserved, and proclaimed, here and around the world.

Amen.