An elder must control his alcohol. He must control his anger and his tongue. He must control his money-loving nature. He must be gentle and not quarrelsome. He must be free from the love of money. What does it look like to be a lover of money? It is evident in a man's words and lifestyle. The sermon concludes with a consideration that the way churches generally choose pastors is deeply flawed. Even if a church knows that 1 Tim. 3 gives us standards that need to be adhered to, even if a church is serious about following 1 Tim. 3 and wants to ensure that their elder or elders meet those qualifications, there is yet another problem. The candidacy model does not allow a church to really know the man they will call to be their pastor. If a search committee listens to sermons of a prospective pastor, does an interview with him, and then invites him to come and "candidate", how does this provide adquate knowledge for the congregation to determine if the man is "above reproach, temperate, prudent, An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money, managing his household well, etc.? The answer is that there is no way the church can know these things. We are way off track and desperately need to reform our ways. We either need to appoint elders who are already part of our congregations, me we actually know and observe, or we need to do much more time-consuming home-work when we call a pastor from outside the congregation.
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