Dennis Tuuri

through the end of the chapter and we talked about how it provides us a pastoral manual in the New Testament, Paul’s charge to the Ephesian elders upon his departure from them in which he says he probably shall never see them again. And so this is important to see how he finally charges them to fulfill the responsibilities as elders and overseers of the flock. And we said that at the end of when we’re done considering this passage, probably another week or two, we’ll talk about the fact that it does give us a job description for the office of elder.

And so last week we began a consideration of that with speaking about some of the specific functions of what the elder is to do. Last week we spoke about a summary of the elder’s position in terms of being a guardian and a shepherd to the flock. We said that in order to do his job, the elder had to realize the danger that was imminent to the flock both from external sources and from internal sources.

We said that the elder had to feed the flock by teaching them the whole counsel of the scriptures of the word of God to the whole flock, not just to portions of them. We said that the way they taught the flock, feeding the flock that word was in public exhortation, but also from house to house and in private admonitions as well. Additionally, the elders to guard himself. Take heed to yourself, Paul warns them that they not fall into sin and temptation.

And he’s also to guard all of the flock. Then the fifth element that he’s supposed to do is he has to understand the judgment that is due to him if he fails to fulfill his responsibilities as an elder. And finally, he has to rely on God and his word for the action and the support of the people. And he commends the Ephesian elders to God and to the scriptures to be able to build them up in the faith. So those six points we talked about last week to know the danger, to feed the flock, to guard himself, to guard the flock, to understand the judgment due upon those who fail to do these things, and then to rely upon God and his word.

We ended up last week by taking the charge that I had read to me and pledged my obedience to at the ordination service several weeks ago and taking most of those questions and inserting language that would make it applicable to fathers because we know that the term elder is a familiar term and that if these things are true of the eldership of the church, it’s also true of the individual men in their own households.

This is a charge that you have to bear if you’re a husband, if you’re the head of a household here in this church. These things aren’t just applicable to the elders, they’re applicable to ourselves and our families as well.

Now, this morning we’re going to turn from a consideration of what the elder does in terms of the function more to the consideration of the manner or how the elder conducts himself in his job.

In particular, we’re looking at the first at verses 18 and 19 when he says that you know you know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons serving the Lord with all humility of mind with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. So we’re going to consider the manner which Paul served among the Ephesian elders.

And of course, he’s reminding them of that, that they’d be examples to the flock by their manner as well, how they fulfill their function as elders. And we’re going to talk about some personal characteristics, I guess, or qualifications of the eldership. And it was interesting to me this week to have the example of Gary Hart and how what many people think is a very personal matter was brought into the public arena.

As a result, Senator Hart had to bow out of the presidential campaign. It was very interesting watching that develop. It is astounding that a man who almost everybody concedes is an adulterer can somehow think that’s part of his personal life. Now we can have people across the nation saying that shouldn’t be an area in which people are concerned has nothing to do with how he fulfills his office. Well, what we’re going to talk about this morning are personal characteristics of elders.

And also we’re going to apply it to heads of households as well and to every person here that hears the scriptures. And what we’re saying is that, and we talked about this before, then the qualifications for elder, not many of those qualifications have to do with intellectual attainment or how they’re necessarily going to specifically address how they’re going to teach their flock. Many of those, most of the qualifications are personal qualifications having to do with one’s personal life because the scriptures don’t see two men, a private man and a public man.

The scriptures talk about one man. And what a man does in his private life will affect his public performance. This is particularly true, of course, in a sin of adultery. It’s easy for us in a nation day where we have AIDS as we see a direct judgment upon homosexuality, sodomy, and the terribleness of that crime before God to tend by comparison to treat adultery somehow lighter or it isn’t such a big deal anymore.

And that’s the way this country has come to think of adultery. But the scriptures are clear. Adultery as homosexuality is a capital crime. How would we like to have a president trying to fulfill his duties as a president with a death sentence from God hanging over his head? And AIDS of course is becoming also a judgment against adulterers. It was interesting too watching the news reports of Gary Hart. They said, “Well, if these things had been brought up in the past, think of the implications for our society.

We never would have had presidents Roosevelt, Kennedy, or Johnson as presidents.” Isn’t that a terrible thing? They said that trying to convince us that this wasn’t supposed to be considered. I don’t know. It worked the other way with me. I thought that would have been just great. But any event, the manner in which a man leads his life, his pride of life so-called affects his performance in office. Scriptures say we are one person and so it’s important to go into a consideration of how the elder is to run his life.

It was also interesting by the way to hear people equate adultery in the sense of Gary Hart in that case. I saw Jesse Jackson on Nightline the other night talking about this and he said well if we’re going to start complaining about the way a man parts his hair or expecting him to walk on water we’re going to have a lot of trouble in this country. See that’s the lightness with which that sin is held now in this country.

And I only bring that up one of the reasons I bring that up isn’t as an admonition to everybody in this congregation. Adultery is a terrible crime against the family. The family is the foundation for our society. The scriptures are clear on that. Why are we involved in this child abuse thing so much? Because it’s a direct attack on the family by statist organizations. And you, if you’re going to try to battle that attack and yet entertain adulterous thoughts or enter into adulterous actions, are completely being a traitor to every cause that you’re supposed to be defending by defending your family.

Adultery is treason against the state, against God’s state, and so demands the death penalty.

Well, let’s move to consideration of how the elders perform his function. This is important because Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, he says that I’ve laid the foundation that another man may build thereon, but let every man take heed how he builds and the foundation that is laid, how he builds his life and the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Again, in 2 Thessalonians the third chapter, For yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly among you. How they ought to follow the eldership. The manner in which that following the eldership is conveyed is important and has part of the qualifications for elders. So let’s deal then we’re going to deal basically with three things found in verse 19. Paul said that he was servant of the Lord and really an elder is a servant of Christ.

And so these characteristics of how one is to serve are characteristics of the elder as servant. What is a servant of Jesus Christ? He goes on to tell us that he served the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears, and with much temptation. And those are the three points we’re going to talk about this morning. The elder has to have humility of mind. He must have compassion for the people that he’s serving in the midst of.

And he must have perseverance in the face of temptations before God.

Humility of mind. The word here, we’ve talked about this word before, I think, in this congregation. It means two words put together, dealing with the mind and then with lowly a lowly estate lowminded I guess is what the word humility of mind refers to here I don’t mean lowminded in the sense of Gary Hart it’s a different loneliness of mind at work there no I don’t mean that there’s other things that don’t we that the scriptures don’t say also about humility that sometimes we think of it as humility it’s interesting that Paul here says that he had humility of mind before him and he’s saying that in defending his own character before for them, isn’t he?

He’s almost boasting about his own humility of mind and his tears and temptations. And he goes right through this passage and says, “You know how I performed well. I’m innocent of the blood of all men.” A lot of people would say today that he wasn’t very humble. He was boasting of what he’d done in the congregation. So, we know that for a man to thank God and to affirm what God has done in his life is not a denial of humility.

Humility isn’t abasing yourself or saying that God hasn’t done something in your life that he has done. If God has done something in your life and you have reason to be thankful to him for that, it’s not wrong to speak of those things. That’s not a denial of humility. Humility also is not a self-centeredness. It’s not a saying, “Oh, poor me. I’m no good.” Or putting on that front to other people. Often people who supposedly have humility are people actually instead who are drawing attention to themselves by being self-centered and saying, “I can’t do certain things. I don’t want to do certain things.” That’s also not what we mean by biblical humility.

What do we mean by biblical humility? Well, the scriptures of course give us a lot of good information there. By the way, Paul wasn’t the only one who could talk about the value of his work before God and still say he was humble. Remember Nehemiah said, “Remember me, oh Lord,” when he prayed, “Remember me for my work. Bless me.” He said he recognized that God had accomplished a thing in his life. He was thankful to God for it. And he called God to remembrance for what he had done in the life of Nehemiah. Humility doesn’t mean a denial of what God has done.

Some verses, first of all, that tell us what humility does mean then first of all in context of others it’s interesting to see how this word loneliness of mind and lowliness what it’s associated with in scripture in Ephesians the 4th chapter verse two Paul could we see Ephesians are commended to be to have all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering forbearing one another in love liness is associated with longsuffering and forbearing of one another in love again in Colossians 3:12 We are told to put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, same phrase, meekness, longsuffering.

So you see that in relationship to other people around us, lowliness of mind is put in the same category as having bowels of compassion, being merciful to other people, as being kind, put on put on kindness, put on longsuffering. So lowliness of mind has to do with our relationship to other people. It says that the one who is lowly in mind will be compassionate toward others, will be kind toward others, long-suffering toward others.

Okay, so there’s a relationship between lowliness of mind and other people. In Philippians 2:3, we read, “Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem another better than himself.” Lowliness of mind puts the needs of other people ahead of your own needs. Okay? Consider other people more important than yourself. That’s a direct reversal, of course, of what most churches are teaching these days in terms of self-esteem.

They say you can’t love other people till you love yourself. Well, the scriptures take your love for yourself as a given and usually a sinful given. You have too much love for yourself and so you put yourself above other people. It’s not good to try to build up one’s self-image in an attempt to serve others. The scriptures put it the other way around. Esteem other people as more important than yourself.

If you do that, you have lowliness of mind in relationship to other people. It’s also interesting, you’ll notice in these verses, there was a link between lowliness and meekness. In Ephesians that we just read, the verse from Colossians, he relates the humbleness of mind we’re to have with meekness. Our Lord himself in Matthew 11:29 says the same thing. Christ says, “Take my yoke upon yourself and learn of me, for I am meek and I am lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Jesus also and his saying and his admonition to us to take his example refers to our lowliness in heart being linked to meekness.

And we’ve talked of course about meekness before. It means to be able to put the bit of God in your mouth to be broken to harness as it were for God’s purposes. And there’s a relationship then between the humbleness of mind that we’re encouraged by Paul to have here and actually as elect of God have to put on and the meekness that we have before God which allows him to use us for his purposes to take his bit in our mouth and not to spit it out.

Now there are more instances in scripture that relate not just humbleness to our relationship to others but in relationship to God as well that the meekness hints at. Specifically in Matthew 18:4, “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” The scriptures say that we’re to humble ourselves as a child before God, which is the child’s relationship to Jesus Christ here, as one. On the basis of that then will be great in the kingdom of heaven.

An excellent example to keep in your own minds and humbleness of mind of course the scriptures give us was the Pharisee and the publican who went to pray before God. And the Pharisee was proud of his own walk before God. The publican said forgive me for I’m a sinner. That’s lowliness of mind because it’s relating yourself to the holy characteristics and standards of God’s righteousness. In relationship to God, we are incapable of approaching the righteousness of God.

We stand humbled if we understand the person of God and then take an honest look at ourselves and reflect. In the scriptures, we are humbled before God and are lowly in mind. On the basis of our relationship to God and understanding our humility before God, then we become meek and we become servants of God, not complaining about the task that he gives us to do. And then on the basis of our relationship to God and understanding that relationship, we then see that we have to serve others the way that he has instructed us to in scripture and to place the needs of others before our own needs.

And so we have humbleness of mind also in relationship to the people that God has called us to serve in the midst of.

Now these things are very important and there’s judgment spoken throughout the scriptures of the one who isn’t humble. In Matthew 23:12, “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. He that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” James 4, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Then in verse 10 of that same passage, humble yourselves therefore in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 1 Peter 5:6, humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. The scriptures say that if we have pride which is the opposite of humility in these verses that God will bring that pride to not he’ll bring us low. But if we understand our true position in terms of a relationship to God being one of humbled in Jesus Christ brought to salvation only through the merits of Jesus Christ then God will lift us up.

So the opposite of humility of course is pride.

Now remember, we’re talking here about characteristics of servanthood. And there are some people who affirm that the clerical collar is a sign of the yoke of Jesus Christ. And if that’s true, then you would expect people who wear that yoke and who affirm that they’re servants of Jesus Christ as examples to the other servants of the flock serving the royal priesthood that he’s been called to serve.

Those people then to be true to that collar have to exhibit this characteristic of humility before God in service. That means therefore that if you’re called to do a particular task and the task you think is somehow beneath you, it’s a denial of that collar that you wear or it’s denial of the truth that you’re to be as individual servants before God humbled before him. Can you imagine having a servant on a leash as it were which supposedly the collar represents a dog leash as it were servant of Jesus Christ.

You imagine having a servant who if you told him to wash the dishes said I’m not going to do that’s below me somehow. He doesn’t understand his relationship then to his master. does he? And if we chafe at the task that God has given us to do in our lives here at the church, in our service in our family, in our service in our jobs, if we chafe at the responsibilities we’ve been given through the providence of God as servants of him, then we’re also being bad servants, being prideful servants and not humbled before God.

Humility is an important characteristic of the eldership that one has to have in order to function correctly. Paul didn’t have that kind of problem. He understood his life was to be given over to service of Jesus Christ. And in verse 24, he says, “None of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel to the grace of God.” Paul doesn’t say, “My life is nothing.” That’s not what he’s saying here.

To do so would be to deny the great gift of life that God has given to us. He says his life is nothing in comparison to or if it detracts from the ministry and service that God has called him to in Jesus Christ. That’s humility of mind. Understanding that God has given us life. He’s given us characteristics. He’s given us abilities as people. And he’s given us those talents to serve him in however he calls us to serve him.

That’s humbleness of mind. And so Paul says that’s what we’re to have in our own minds as well to count our life nothing in terms of the relation the ministries that God has called us to do. Our life our own desire should not detract from the ministry that he has given to us. And if we allow that to be characteristic of our life, we’re fulfilling that quality of humbleness before God.

But secondly, Paul says in verse 19 that I serve the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears, many tears.

And when I thought about this week, I kept thinking about how in the qualifications for elder that we’ll be returning to in the next few weeks that we started this whole this whole thing with several months ago, remember one of the things that we were not to be was macho men, brawlers is what I think the translation is in most of the versions you’ll use. And this certainly is true that it’s a demonstration of that the elder cannot be a macho man, a brawler.

An elder should have compassion for the people he’s serving in the midst of should move to tears for those people when they have hard times obeying the word of God and suffer the consequences of God in their life and have various temptations and trials which almost overwhelm them. The elder as The characteristic of a service for God has to have compassion for others. And that’s clear in this verse. It’s also clear in verse 31 where Paul said that therefore watch remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone, not just some of you, everyone night and day with tears.

He warned the people with tears because he had compassion for those people and wanted to serve them as God had called him to do.

Verse 35, I have showed you all things how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord. Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive, support the weak. Now, he’s talking right there in the specific context about how he labored with his own hands, he wouldn’t have to take money from the church.

But the point is there’s a general idea there that were to support the weaker in the church. The elder cannot, if he has some people that seem a little weaker than the other people in the flock, can’t despise those people, can’t look down on those people. He has to have compassion for the entire flock. And he has to recognize he’s been called by God to support those people. He’s one of the very instruments God has given to the church that those people be built up in the faith, not cut off from the flock and left to dangle behind as the rest of the flock moves forward.

He’s called to go after that one and to strengthen him and move on, move that person on to maturity in Jesus Christ. Compassion is another characteristic that has to be characteristic of the eldership and indeed of all of us as well. We’re all to have compassion for one another. The scriptures tell us that first of all that God had compassion upon in Jesus Christ. Mary and her Magnificant says that he hath helped his servant Israel and remembered in remembrance of his mercy.

Remember we went through Psalm 22 about Jesus taking upon himself the sin of mankind and suffering the wrath of God as a result of that. Brought down to the dust of death and cries out to help for God. Jesus became lowly in that sense. He became distressed and poor in spirit. And God then answered his call and showed him grace and compassion and mercy and raised him up. Jesus was helped by God. He was supported in his weakened state as it were.

And Romans 15 tells us the same thing about how we’re to treat one another. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. We can’t look at the people in our church that we think are somehow weaker in faith as somehow detrimental to the body. We’re to go out of our way to support those people and recognize we’re to strengthen them up. Now, it’s important that passage goes on to say in verse in the next verse of Romans 15:1 and in verse two, it says that we’re to strengthen in the infirmities of the weak for his own good and for his edification.

So there isn’t the idea here of just putting up with it somehow and letting him continue weak and to continue to have God’s therefore to leave him in a state of rebellion against God and infirmity before God. No, we’re to strengthen him up for his own edification for his own good. And so there’s a balance there in terms of our compassion. It’s not biblical compassion to leave a person in a sinful state and not address that state.

Biblical compassion has us reach out to that person seeking strengthen him with tears because of our own compassion for that individual. Paul epitomized this well in 2 Corinthians 11:29 when he said, “Who is weak and I am not weak and who is offended that I burn not.” He was talking about his obligation to all the churches that he’d served in. What he was saying was that there’s people in those churches that are weak, I am weak, and I have an obligation to serve those people.

I have compassion for those people. I am one-minded to those people and I have to go out and help those people. That should be our attitude toward each other in this covenant community. If there’s a person among us who is weak, who is struggling in an area, who is having difficulty, who is hurting, we all should be hurting. And we should have that kind of compassion to reach out to that person, to encourage him in the faith for his own edification, to build him up to where he’s no longer in a weakened state before God.

Of course, Paul was just imitating Jesus Christ here, wasn’t he? Jesus said, you know, if you don’t feed the people that are hungry, if you don’t clothe the people that are naked, if you don’t give the people water to drink when they’re thirsty, you who offended me in that I was among you,” he said, as one who had who needed water and needed bread and needed clothing. Jesus identifies with the flock and the elder is to identify with the flock in that same sense.

And Paul did here and elders of your church are to do the same thing. And of course, that’s also true of the individuals in the church as well. After all, these passages we’ve read haven’t just referred to the eldership, they’ve also referred to the entire congregation. And of course, that is immediate application for the family, too, doesn’t it? If we have one child who is struggling and having problems for whatever reason, we don’t just sort of cut them off somehow.

We have compassion for that child. We have to build them up in the faith. Well, it’s the same thing in terms of the congregation that we’re called to serve in. We have to have that same sense of compassion for the weak, compassion for others that moved Paul to tears or to have that same understanding of our relationship to the rest of the flock at this church.

Paul goes on to say that he served amongst the Ephesians with humility of mind with many tears and with temptations.

He doesn’t say here trials and tribulations necessarily uses the word temptation and that’s really what the word means and throughout the scriptures it means that thing. It means that to be tempted to fall into transgression. Now in the same manner in verse 24 Paul said that none of these things move me. But he goes on to finish the course that God had given him. That’s an element of his perseverance before God to persevere through the times of temptation that come upon him as an apostle and as an elder.

And so perseverance being in the face of temptations is the third characteristic of eldership we wanted to talk about this morning.

Perseverance is important. Temptations are real. Temptations will occur in our lives. There’s no doubt about it. In the Lord’s prayer, which we is a model prayer for us, one that we could pray every day and mean it. One of the things we’re to plead in that prayer is to lead us not into temptation.

Temptations surround us and are very real in our lives. Additionally, the scriptures tell us in Luke 8:13 when he’s talking about the parable of the sewer of the seed, he says that some seed will be sown upon rocks that temptations of the world, people will give into those temptations and therefore fall away. They have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. We know that temptations will come upon the visible church of Jesus Christ that some men will fall away from the faith as it were by showing that they had no root at all to begin with.

In 1 Timothy 6:9 we read, “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and snare into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Temptations have the capability of destroying us in essence is what’s being said here. Those temptations not successfully resisted in the power of Jesus Christ have the possibility of destroying us and demonstrating our lack of electness.

So we are definitely told that temptations will occur and to resist those temptations and to persevere in the face of them. It’s interesting that in 2 Corinthians 13, we’re told to examine yourselves to see whether you’re in the faith or not. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates. That word for examine yourself there is the same word, tempt yourself, trial yourself, temptation yourself, if you will.

And so that tells us another element of temptation is that God through that temptation is proving our work before him, refining it somehow, making it demonstrable both to us, to the people around us, and to himself. And we know this is the case. We know that scriptures repeatedly say that throughout them in let’s see, for instance, in John 6, Verse 5, Jesus lifts up his eyes, and he saw a great company come unto him.

And he said unto Philip, “Where should we buy bread that these may these may eat?” And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. God sets up situations for us to prove us temptations to demonstrate our perseverance in the face of those temptations. And of course, we have the great example of Jesus Christ as Jesus Christ was the example of our humility before God, was the example of compassion that we’re supposed to have for one another.

Jesus Christ also is the example of how to resist temptation. In fact, we have the great high priest Jesus Christ, of course, who was tempted in all things as we were and yet didn’t fall. And so, he’s able to succor us in times of temptation, to strengthen us, as it were, to resist those temptations, and to have compassion for us in the midst of them. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, there hath no temptation overtaken you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted.

Above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. So we should recognize that’s a promise from God. If we’ve been given a temptation by God, he’s given us the ability somehow to resist that temptation and to demonstrate our perseverance in the faith of those temptations. Now this is also important to recognize it’s not just a matter Jesus doesn’t just give us the example of how we can resist temptation.

He also gives us the example of the reason for the temptation. We’re told in Hebrews in the book of Hebrews that the prophets of old signified or testified before him the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Jesus Christ was suffered in his temptations and as a result of that God blessed him for his perseverance and so the glory follows that. And that’s a biblical principle that if you persevere in temptation the end result of that temptation you’re on a better state before God.

You’ve been refined as it were by the and come out a better person because of it. Now in James 1:2, we read that very explicitly. My brother, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have a perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So the scriptures tell us that these temptations come upon us not just as some kind of test whether we’re going to fail or not, but also to prove us in the sense of refining us as well that the end result of those temptations successfully resisted by the perseverance of the saints will be that we’re perfected before God.

And so we can count it joy when we fall into temptations knowing that God will perfect us as we persevere through it. Now this is such an important aspect of the Christian’s life. This idea of perseverance in the face of temptations. As I said earlier, temptations are just rampant in our world. God puts these things in front of us for a purpose. I have seen in the last three or four years in this church so many instances where there have been stumbling blocks as it were tests set up before people in this church.

You can see it hap sometimes God shows you how this happens in the life of people. Sometimes he shows it to you in your own life and you can just see you pray for people they’ll be able to resist the temptation that’s been put before them by God. Specific instances will occur that you know are going to tempt individuals within the church to fall into sin. And you want to be able to tell them persevere.

You should tell them that but you can’t really do it for them can you? They have to persevere in that themselves. What I’m saying is that all of you the life in your life over the next couple of weeks are going to fall into various temptations. Know that it’s coming. Expect it. When you see things going bad or you have a presupposition about the reason why somebody may do something, for instance, or what this portends for the future, the life of the church or the life of you as an individual, don’t fall into those sort of traps.

Don’t give way to those temptations. God has put them there before you not to trip you up, but to demonstrate your perseverance. So, persevere in the faith. The elder has to do that. Paul had various trials and tribulations thrown at him and he said that he persevered through those temptations because of the ministry that he’d been given by God.

Now, it’s important to recognize that one of the reasons for that perseverance then is that ministry itself to recognize that we have ministries as individual before God. In a family, that’s somewhat obvious. With single people, it’s not as obvious, but believe me, the scriptures say that you’re a minister of his. And that means you’re ministering in the to God, and in the context of that, you’re serving other people as well, and you’re helping other people. So, if you’re single, don’t think this doesn’t apply to you. Don’t think that if you fall into temptation and and deny your responsibilities before God that it won’t have impact upon other people in this church or in your neighborhood or in your own in your extended family or whoever.

It will have an impact. Paul recognized the value of his ministry, the importance of what God had given him to do. It was a call from God first and foremost. Because of that, he persevered in the faith. Paul also recognized the value of the people that he was ministering in the midst of the doctrine of the atonement is spelled out clearly in verse 28 that God hath purchased the church of God with his own blood.

the fact of the atonement and that the people you’re ministering in the context of have been redeemed by God with the precious blood of Jesus Christ is another inducement to Paul and it should be to us as well to persevere in the face of temptations. Paul found himself under compulsion then to the Holy Spirit and that was one of the ways that God gives us to resist temptation to understand that we’re bound by the spirit.

In verse 22 Paul says now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing not knowing the things that shall befall me there. Paul had a recognition that his life was bound up by the Holy Ghost. That God in his spirit was putting him under compulsion to serve him. And so he was bound in the spirit and as a result of being bound in the spirit and compelled by God, he could resist the temptation to not follow through with that ministry to go back to Jerusalem where chains awaited him.

Now, it’s interesting Paul and the idea of bondage is a really interesting thing to trace through here in the book of Acts. You may not remember for this. But remember Paul when he was Saul was on the other end of the rope as it were in Acts 9 verse two verse well starting at verse one. Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went under the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus for the synagogues that if he found any of this way Christians in other words whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Saul starts off his career in the book of Acts as wanting to bind Christians and bring them to Jerusalem in chains. Verse 14 of that same chapter, Acts 9., speaking of Paul here, he hath authority from the chief priest to bind all them that call on thy name. And then in verse 21, they’re afraid of receiving Paul once he becomes ace becomes a Christian. But they’ve heard of him they said, “Is not this he that destroyed them which called on his name in Jerusalem and came hither for the intent that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests.

Three times in this book of Acts, Acts the 9th chapter, this one little chapter, we’re told that Paul or Saul wanted to bind Christians and bring them back to the high priest in Jerusalem. And we’ll find and we go through the scriptures, of course, we see that just the reverse happens. God binds Paul as it were, converts Paul and leads him back bound into Jerusalem himself. And he then will undergo the chains that he himself was going to originally put upon Christians.

In Acts 12, verse 6, Herod is going to persecute the church here. The same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And what happens of course is that Peter’s chains fall off. The chains of man can’t bind the gospel of Jesus Christ and those that God would have be free before him. And that was Paul’s experience as well.

And so Paul then goes forth to Jerusalem being bound by the Holy Ghost instead of going back leading forth people bound by the chains of Herod or of the of the Pharisees and of the high priest. Paul then relates this later on to his ministry as a servant of the word in 2 Timothy 2:9 wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer even unto bonds. Paul himself was in bonds of course at this point in his time.

He actually did get the chains put upon him but he says the word of God is not bound. The bonds that Paul encountered were not going to bind the word of God. And the word of God was propagated even while Paul himself was in bonds. But the point of all this exercise is that I’m trying to demonstrate here and probably not in a very good fashion is that the bonds of men are not the determining elements of what will occur in people’s lives.

It’s the bonds of God. It’s the bonds of the Holy Spirit that compelled Paul to go on with his ministry and as a result persevere in the faith and resist the temptations that came upon him. So, Perseverance in the face of temptation is also a characteristic, one of these three characteristics of eldership.

So this verse in verse 19 here we have the three marks or characteristics of the service that elders are to have for toward the people they minister in. And as you’ve noticed as we’ve gone through this, these things don’t just relate to officers of the church. But most of the verses I read relate to individuals members of the elect community of God as well.

Those three things again are the humility that we’re to have before God, a low-mindedness, tears indicating the compassion we’re supposed to have for the people that we minister in the midst of and temptations which indicate the perseverance we’re supposed to have to resist the temptations that God will in his providence put in our path.

As I said, this applies to all. And that’s why the charge to the elders to be faithful in these things in terms of humility, compassion, and temptations also, of course, is a charge to individual members. How important is all this though to what we’re doing in this church?, this can sound kind of not quite as exciting as talking about how we’re going to go down and take control of some of the laws in Salem or how we’re going to go and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as it relates to the political arena or how we’re going to go out and have dominion over the world.

How important are these elements of humility, compassion, and perseverance in relationship to the preaching of the kingdom of God and to what we’re trying to do in this church? Well, I think that remember I said before that this farewell speech is one of many in the scriptures, final charges to people. And I told you last week that in St. Luke in his gospel in chapters 21 and 22 we have Jesus doing the same thing with the 12 apostles or the 12 disciples and so let’s look at that for a minute and see how important these characteristics are in Luke 21st chapter 34 as we said last week he warns the disciples to take heed to themselves lest at any time your hearts are be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares Jesus in his final in the final week here that he’s going to spend with his disciples warns them that there will be damnations coming upon them that they’re going to have to persevere in the face of those temptations.

And then chapter 22 relates the really the commencement of the kingdom of God or at least the foreshadowing of it with the communion feast. Jesus says that in verse 16, I will not eat and drink any more thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And that’s an announcement of the kingdom of God that will come through his resurrection and ascension because what he goes on to institute then is the Lord’s supper, the covenant in his name, which is the establishment of the kingdom.

It would be really fascinating if he had the time to traced us through with the other farewell talks. Joshua as we mentioned last week in Joshua 23 and 24, 1st Samuel as he turns over the kingdom to the king that they the people of God have selected Saul in the book of 1st Samuel and how the covenant is renewed at that point and how the the kingdom is initiated in a sense there. it would be interesting to show parallels but we don’t have time for that right now.

But I do want us to look in terms of the importance of this at verse 27 in Luke the 22nd chapter. Now this is right after the as I said the institution of the Lord’s supper which points to the consummation of the beginning of the new covenant and the consummation of the work of the covenant keeper to come covenant keeper to Jesus Christ that consummation will occur in the coming days as he undergoes death for his people and then resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the father and the reign of his kingdom then begins so he starts all this stuff in motion in this context then that the scriptures go on in Luke 22 immediately to talk about the necessity of humility before other people The disciples begin to inquire of themselves in verse 23, who should be first in the kingdom?

A strife arose among them in verse 24. Which of them should be accounted the greatest? And he says unto them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. They that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors, but ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you, let him be the younger. He that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that siteth at meat, or he that serveth, is not he that siteth at meat.

But I am among you as he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom as my father hath appointed unto me. Jesus transferring as it were the reigns of the visible kingdom over to the leaders of the church to come. The 12 disciples here in transferring that over does so contingent upon two things. Humility in terms of service which indicates compassion as well and perseverance in the faith.

of temptations, the very things that Paul relates to as he turns over the reign of the church as it were, the oversight of the church in the areas in the area of Ephesus and Molitus. As he turns those over for administration to a new set of overseers as it were to take his place overseeing the whole church in that area, he says the same thing. He reminds them of the importance of the manner in which he served.

The manner involving humility before God and before man, compassion for your fellow man, serving them, and being firm in resisting temptations to persevere on the resisting of temptations. These scriptures tell us real clearly that the kingdom of God and participation in the leadership of that kingdom is contingent upon these very characteristics we’ve talked about. They’re not somehow of secondary importance in all this.

Characteristics for eldership do not begin with academic qualifications. They don’t begin with other factors. They begin with these elements themselves of humility before God, compassion, and perseverance in the face of temptations. That’s the conditional requirement of participation in the leadership of the kingdom.

Now, it’s interesting to me if this is what the scriptures say, and I’m convinced they are, then it becomes a yard stick that we have to use when we consider elders in this church, when we consider leaders in the the reconstruction and reformation that’s going on in this land. When you look to leaders, when you look to men that you want to follow as examples to you, which is a godly thing to do, a good thing to do in light of what we’re reading here in terms of Paul’s charge to the Ephesian elders, look for these characteristics. Don’t look for something new and novel in the way of doctrine or some kind of interesting hook in terms of a new book written or something. Look for these characteristics.

Humility, compassion, perseverance in the face of tribulation. You know, at the reconstruction conference, a week and a half ago was interesting to me. Reverend Rushdoony ended that conference, the seventh conference, the same way he ended the first conference, almost the exact same talk. And I thought at the time, well, that’s kind of interesting. You know, he was talking about serving people, feeding the poor, martyrdom in the face of persecution.

Told the story about one of the early church fathers who said, “Turn me over. I’m done on this side.” When he was being grilled on the stake, and how he had given away money to the poor, how Christians had built hospitals, had helped tremendous amount of people during the Middle Ages and calling us back to an understanding of the faith that apprehends all these things. Well, somehow after you talk about, you know, economic collapse and political involvement, this sort of stuff, it somehow seems kind of like you say, well, I’ve heard all this stuff before.

But the point is that’s the essence of the advance of the kingdom. He was correct in bringing us back to a humility in terms of wanting to serve others, to a compassion for those people in our community that are sick or dying or somehow weaker than us somehow in some infirmity a compassion for those people and wanting to build them up and build them up in the faith for their own edification and to a perseverance in the face of temptation such as the saint who said turn me over I’m done on this side those are elements the necessary preconditional elements to leadership in the kingdom of God as it moves forward into history that kingdom will move forward with or without our participation leaders that depends on how we respond to these three things Now, we began this with talking about Senator Hart and his problems.

His problems, of course, are indicative of the problems we have in this country. They’re not somehow an isolation to those problems. We have terrible times coming upon us in this land. The church is in desperate need of leadership. The church is in desperate need of men who apply these characteristics in their life and then live them out. And I’m convinced that in the providence of God, there are people in this congregation who are going to provide the leadership for the future.

And what I’m trying to do this morning is to see have help you to see these priorities and then be encouraged to persevere in the face of the temptations that will draw us away from these priorities. Now, I want to give you as we close here a couple of inducements to perseverance in the face of tribulation and in the face of temptations that’ll come upon us.

It’s interesting that the passage of scripture I just talked about in Luke that gives us these priorities of humility, compassion, and perseverance. Goes right on to say in verse 32, verse 31, 32 to talk about Simon, how Satan has asked for mission to sift Simon and that Jesus has prayed for Simon and that when he be converted that he would that he would strengthen then his brothers and then it goes from there Jesus leaves this meeting with the disciples goes into the garden and what do the disciples do they persevere in the face of temptations well they don’t do they fall asleep in the face of temptation they enter into the temptation and Jesus refers uses that very word to refer to what’s occurring to them in the garden the initiation of this group as being holders of the keys as it were the kingdom and of the advance of the kingdom into the future is then followed with failure on the part of the people to do right in terms of these very characteristics we’re talking about.

If you’ve understood what I’ve said this morning, hopefully each one of you will think of areas in your own life where you’ve failed in those areas. If you don’t, if you don’t recognize that you’ve fallen short somehow of these requirements of God’s word in terms of humility, compassion, and perseverance, I’m not sure what I can tell you this morning. But if you recognize that you have come short in your life somehow in this past week which I think if we understand these scriptures we will all recognize that fact.

Then the other thing that we need to have is encouragement to persevere.