Dennis Tuuri

# Sermon Transcript – Reformation Covenant Church

Psalm 15 describes how to behave in the house of God. Let me read 1 Timothy 3, the entire chapter.

“This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, and not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.

For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and snare of the devil.

Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved, and then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husband of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well, purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

Let us pray. Father, we do pray that your Holy Spirit would illumine these texts to our understanding. And we pray, Lord God, that the end result of this would not be simply that we know more about how to behave in your house, knowing that essentially this whole world is your house. But help us, Father, to behave more and more as those who are indeed members of the king’s house. Help us then, Lord God, to learn so that we might do.

May your spirit do this work in our hearts. In Jesus name we ask it. Amen.

The qualifications that we’ve just read are familiar to us. We spoke about them in passing a couple of weeks ago as we led up to the congregational or head of household vote on the candidates for deacons. And we intend, Lord willing, to have the ordination service for Howard L. and Dave H. as deacons at Reformation Covenant Church next Lord’s Day.

Reverend H. is coming down from Seattle toward the end of this week for meetings with myself and Richard relative to our covenant between the two churches. He’ll also meet with the deacon candidates, and then we’ll be here at our service next Lord’s Day. So that’ll be good as a visible manifestation of the relationship we have with Christ the Sovereign Covenant Church in Seattle.

These qualifications are somewhat familiar to us, and you should have looked at them somewhat a couple of weeks ago as you moved toward a consideration whether your household would affirm the calling of Dave and Howard. So you should be somewhat familiar with them, but I want to be a little more personal with them today. I want to look at the overall context of this book and see that there are applications to these lists of qualifications that go far deeper than just the officers. It’s my belief that these qualifications all apply to all of us.

Now, you have the single one that people make an exception to: apt to teach. But even there, if you’re the head of a household with children, you had best be apt to teach. Perhaps not as apt to teach as elders or preachers of the word, but nonetheless familiar with the word and able to communicate it.

Remember that the context of all of this is what’s going on as Paul writes this letter to Timothy in terms of his care of the churches in Ephesus and the greater region. And remember the first thing he talks about is discipline, church discipline. He gives them a charge to give other people a charge not to teach such. That’s the reason he left Timothy there—the reason he left him there was discipline.

And after the discussion of discipline and the Ten Commandments, the goodness of them in chapter one, he moves in chapter 2 to prayers being made for all men. He gets to the worship of the church. And he follows that up with a section saying that he wants men to pray and women to adorn themselves in a particular way. And then he says that he does not allow women to teach or exercise authority. So he talks about discipline. He talks about the worship of the church. And then he talks about how women are not to lead in the worship of the church nor in teaching.

And then this section flows from that—this is who should be officers and these are characteristics of men. Now, they’re not all characteristics that apply to women as well, as we’ll see as we go through. But what he’s doing is setting up the context for these officers who will conduct worship and who will exert discipline in the context of the congregation.

But remember that the purpose of the discipline, the purpose of the charge is love from a clean heart, a pure conscience, and faith unfeigned. Okay? So the end result of the discipline exerted by the officer is that everyone might indeed exhibit the characteristics of a spirit-filled life.

If you go back to Acts chapter 6, they were to find out men for themselves—we believe deacons—who would have marks of the spirit in their life. You go back to Deuteronomy and Exodus and the men that were called as assistants to Moses in the distribution of the food, or the men who were called to be the heads of tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands—these men were to be spirit-filled men. That’s basically what it talks about there.

And we have here a list of qualifications of the evidences of the spirit’s work in a man’s life. Okay. So we have here tests for officers, but I think by way of application, we can certainly say that they’re tests as well for the congregation. They’re a reminder to us to not simply look at these lists and say, “Well, do these men meet these qualifications?” but to use these qualifications as a diagnostic tool for yourselves.

And that’s what I want to encourage you to do with the content of today’s sermons. Take these outlines home. Put them someplace safe. Keep them, and then regularly evaluate your life—and particularly you men—using this what we could call diagnostic tool, a debugger for your life. It shows up all the difficulties, all the shortcomings, and shows as well the positive attributes of Christian character that the spirit will manifest in your life and you’re to give yourself to.

Okay. Now I can say this with a great deal of certainty because these characteristics are listed for general men—and women as well, most of them. But it’s important too to maybe just look at Ephesians 4. Turn there with me if you will. Ephesians 4:11-13.

Why do we have officers in the church? Why do we have deacons? Why do we have elders? Ephesians 4, verses 11 through 13, says that “he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. And why does he give these gifts to the church? For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

And that edification, Paul says, is the end result of the proper use of the law. According to chapter 1, you want to have godly edification going on in the context of the household of God. Okay?

“Till we all come, not just the officers, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man and the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now we don’t be children and immature, but we may mature.”

So the purpose of the officers that you’re going to ordain next week is to equip you along with the elders that your life might be characterized by these particular qualifications that their lives must be marked by to be considered for the office. Okay.

Now that doesn’t mean that all Christians are to be officers. See, these are a list of general qualifications of character, you could say. But added to this, a man must exhibit the particular calling to a particular office and then the giftings for that particular office. You see what I’m saying? This is not a comprehensive list. If you meet the qualifications on this list today, praise God. And you should if you’re a mature Christian man. But that doesn’t mean you’re called to be a deacon or an overseer. See what I’m saying?

These are general characteristics, but these are characteristics that must be met in large part by a life characterized by normal subscription or demonstration of these character qualities. They must be met by the officers, but they’re to be strived for amongst all people. They’re your qualifications to dwell in the house of God. They’re how you should behave in the house of God.

Now, deacons are to assist the elders. Where do these fruits come from? They come from the spirit’s work in your life as he ministers the word, as he writes the law upon your hearts, as he brings conviction, as he brings maturation.

The law is given to a saved people. The law was given after deliverance from Egypt. The law is given to teach us how we’re to conduct our lives. The end result of what God tells us in the scriptures is that we might obey his precepts.

I heard Pastor Boyce on KPDQ this morning and he was preaching on one of the psalms. I probably should have written it down, but he made that same point: that the movement of the psalm is God has called out a particular people for himself to praise him, to be his people, but then to obey his precepts.

See, so the end result of our salvation is that we might exhibit a general conformity to the law of God. Now, so it’s important to recognize our shortcomings, but it’s also important to recognize that your life is to be characterized increasingly as you mature in Christ by these Christian characteristics which are in agreement with the law of God.

And the officers of the church, the elders, are given to minister the word to you, to pray, and to lead you in worship. Worship is essentially what changes you—the preaching of the word, partaking of communion, and then that model being set up throughout the rest of your lives. The elders do that.

And to the end that they can do that, the deacons are given as assistants to them, that they might govern the affairs of the church that would otherwise distract the pastors or elders from their work. And so when we ordain deacons next week, we’re ordaining men who will assist the pastors to the end that we all might be encouraged to exhibit these characteristics.

Now, in the demonstration and oversight of some of the temporal affairs of the church and the management responsibilities, those deacons will be exhorting you to practical conformity to the law of God.

Remember in the Old Testament, the shoter—the officers, the priests—would say, “Well, the word of God says if you’re cowardly, you should go on home and not go out to battle today.” Or if you’ve taken a new wife, go on home; don’t go out to battle. And then the officers would go through the ranks and they would find guys who were not up to speed in terms of courage or who had been recently married and they’d tell them, “Go on home.”

Now, see, so it’s a team effort to move God’s people to obedience to his law and to the demonstration of these character qualifications. So it’s a little different tack, but I want you to look at these lists today primarily as a diagnostic tool for yourself.

Let’s start. First of all, let me say—but we’ll look at the outline just a second. But first, by way of overall introduction, you know, when I get to these lists in scripture, I tend to kind of get lost in them. If all I did was to read these lists, somehow it helps me to take them and categorize them and see what the flow of the list is and the way that God has in his providence ordered the way they particularly flow out.

I’ve given you an outline which is not the end result. I mean, I’ve seen several other outlines this last week. Mine is unique from those, but it’s an outline that helps me to remember. Just like I remember talking about 1 Corinthians 13, patience and kindness as opposed to hostility and self-centeredness—and then those characteristics underneath it. You don’t want to forget about those. That’s an outline to help you remember their particular elements underneath each one.

Well, a large outline here is that the test of these men has to do with Christian character inside and it has to do with deportment in actions on the outside. Okay. Both things are really addressed. Christian character consists of an attitude, a series of attributes of God essentially that characterize who you are, and then the outward working of those things.

So there’s character and there’s deportment. And that character and deportment is tested in the context, I believe, in the list first relative to all men in the church, secondly relative to your families, and then third relative to outsiders. That’s the way the list for elders goes. There are these summary statements at the front and back end of the interior description of Christian and non-Christian character and deportment. Okay.

So what we’re talking about is you should regularly be evaluating yourself according to God’s word that we read here in terms of your character and then in terms of your deportment or actions. And you don’t do that in isolation from people. You do that in relationship to how you work with people in the church, people in your family, and people in the world.

Yeah, pretty simple stuff really. I mean, it’s a nice package we have here.

Now, let me say one other thing. We’ll see as we go through this that wine has a big part to play in these lists. It’s funny, but there are several characteristics that are listed here that have reference to wine. And you’d think—but then at the end of these lists, and we’ll get to it here in a minute (I probably should have done this a little later), but just you understand where I’m going: there are references to wine at several places in the list.

And staying too long at wine, which makes you petulant or irritable, which can make you be a striker—you know, and so staying long at wine is bad. And then it also has, at the end of each of those lists, toward the end after wine is mentioned, covetousness thrown in, which has to do with being a lover of silver.

And so wine is a good thing. He doesn’t say don’t drink any wine and don’t have any silver. He says don’t stay too long at wine and don’t have an inordinate love for money. Okay?

The wine is a picture. Why did God give us wine? To give us joy in our hearts. It’s a good thing. But a good thing abused becomes a bad thing.

What’s the picture? Why does God give us honey and sugar? Not to avoid—but to eat in moderation, lest you throw up or get diarrhea or something. That’s what the scriptures say happens. You eat too much honey. Wine, the same thing. Silver, the same thing.

Silver is a representation of the glory of God. Wine, of course, in communion is a picture of Jesus, and silver is a picture of the weightiness, the value of God, and his brilliance and luminosity—and how he shines. And so it’s a good thing, but we become too into the silver instead of what it represents, too into the wine instead of what it represents.

And I think that when we get to the list of qualifications for deacons, particularly in terms of double tongued but also in these other things, God also looks at the way we relate to people. You see? Do we relate to the images of God in wine and in silver correctly? And do we relate to the primary image bearer in our families, in the church, and in the outside world correctly?

Okay. So I think that this test of character—the inside and outside—and these three spheres of our life—church, family, and world—have to do with these images of God that he gives us that can be abused. Okay? Either by striking out at them in terms of people or loving people too much and as a result becoming double tongued, being a people pleaser.

So that’s the way I think it flows out.

If you look at outlines again—hopefully this can help you to see the overall. Let’s look at the overall thing first. And notice that under there’s one A and B, and then there’s two C. And you see how they’re stuck out there on the left hand margin. That’s because there’s summary qualifications.

At the beginning of the list of qualifications for elders, there is this statement that a bishop must be—how does it say in the King James? He must be blameless. Okay. And at the end of that list for elders, it says that he must not be a novice. He’s mature, and he must have a good testimony of those outside—blameless relative to the church, I think, is the first indication. And a good testimony from outside the church as well.

And then as for deacons, there’s a summary statement listed in the deacon qualification in the middle of the set of qualifications for the deacons. In 1 Timothy 3:9, we read the deacons are to “hold the mystery of faith in a pure conscience.” Now that’s a summary statement. The mystery of faith is what salvation is—it’s your Christianity, it’s the mystery of godliness, the mystery of Christ. The term mystery is applied to various elements. It’s things revealed to the elect.

Mystery of faith has to do with our profession of faith and what we understand about our relationship to God. And that a pure conscience has to do with the working out of that relative to our actions.

So it’s a summary statement of our character or faith—our orthodoxy, as well as our orthopraxy, our works. So there’s these summary statements relative to both things.

And then at the beginning and end of the list of the elder qualifications, there’s a reference to the Christian family. First, to being a Christian husband—husband of one wife. And then at the end, you got to rule your household well, having your children in subjection with all gravity.

Okay? So the beginning and end of how that works itself out practically is at the church, the world, and then in the middle of that the family. And then in the middle right after that we have Christian—and by the way, that also extends down to the deacon.

After the summary qualification of the deacon, we then have statements about him. His wives must exhibit these characteristics. He must rule his family well. He must be a Christian householder, okay? And then the third element ends: we’ve got the general summation statements of the world and to the church, the more specific application in terms of a man’s work in his family, and then how that manifests itself in either Christian character and Christian deportment.

So Christian character is talked about in terms of the elder list under a subpoint under “Christian husband.” It’s a number, so it’s not actually a subpoint, but I’ve indented it to show you it’s a different thing. And that relates down—you could draw a circle around one, two, point number one under A, number two, “Christian character.” You could draw a circle down that and then draw that in opposition to number five with X’s between it: not un-Christian in character.

Okay? And then draw a connective line down to point number 2, “qualifications for deacons,” “Christian character.” You see? So my outline, when I’m done with it, it looks like a football play. I have these links to these outside points to remind us that there are these summation statements. I have these links to the Christian household to remind us that’s common to both the overseer and the servant. Then I have this dotted line saying Christian versus un-Christian character in opposition, and Christian deportment versus un-Christian deportment. But then a correlation to Christian character in the top and Christian character in the servant, Christian deportment in the top, Christian deportment in the bottom half of the outline.

See the commonality of the theme here? Character, deportment, family, world, and church. And in the context of all that, things you shouldn’t do—pagan character, pagan deportment.

By the way, I titled this using the actual more literal translation of the terms. Elders or bishops and deacons are qualifications of an overseer. And if you’ve got a household, whether or not you’ve got a family, you have oversight responsibilities from God. You’re an overseer of that household. And if you’ve got a family, you’re a servant to people in the context of that household. And if you don’t have a family, you have an extended family here at RCC, and you’re a servant. You’re a deacon. You’re an overseer or you’re a bishop. Okay? The more technical translation of the terms means.

Okay, I guess I’m done. No, now let’s talk about the list. But hopefully, if nothing else, you remember these subsections as you evaluate your own actions relative to these things. Okay? And it looks like a long outline. We’ll move through it fairly quickly. Really, this stuff is pretty simple in one part. Okay?

First of all, then let’s now move through the specific qualifications of the outline. George Cyprian, by the way, he’s got a book on training manual for elders and he goes through these things and has questions for men.

And the first question he says is, “Have you ever used this list to evaluate church officers?” There’s a question to you. Have you used this list to evaluate church officers? And now you’re hopefully more likely to answer it “yes” because of our recent situation or, you know, a recent selection of officers. But if you answer it no, recognize that you fell short on that question.

And then the second question I would add to that is: Have you used this list to evaluate yourself? Or do you just think of it in terms of officers? And again, maybe you fall short and you don’t involve yourselves in self-evaluation.

The scriptures say that we wouldn’t be judged if we judge ourselves. There’s no need for exterior evaluations and judgments to be placed upon us if we’re evaluating ourselves according to God’s scriptures. And here is a list of Christian character. You should use it on a regular basis to evaluate who you are, to see the sin that the Holy Spirit will convict you of as you read through these lists, and to see the evidences of God’s spirit in your life that according to the canons admonish are part of your assurance of salvation—what God has wrought in your life.

If you find that you meet these qualifications, it’s not a cause for pride. It’s a cause for comfort and rest, knowing that those are the marks of the spirit that God has brought in your life as an evidence to you of the assurance of your salvation and election in Christ.

And see, you don’t have that if you’re not evaluating yourself. You just kind of drift along. Sin abounding, and you know, grace not abounding because you haven’t reminded yourselves of the good things that God built into your life. Okay.

So let’s use the list now today, at least in this next few minutes, to evaluate yourselves as a diagnostic tool. First of all: Are you above reproach?

“Above reproach” is a summary term. It means, can anyone lay a hold of you, lay a charge on you that sticks? Anybody can lay a charge, but could they lay a charge that sticks?

If I went to members of the church and said, “What charge could you tell me about so-and-so in the church that would stick?” If you think there’s something out there that would stick, you’re not above reproach. You’re not blameless.

And if I went to your employer or to the police and run a background check on you, are there things there that would stick? They could bring an accusation that would be correct against you. So it’s a general term, but it’s a good term to ask yourself: What would a background check on you reveal? What things are lurking back there that you haven’t dealt with? What sins are manifest in the context of the congregation?

Or if I went to your family, should they lay a charge—to you, can they lay a hold of you on a particular area? You see, you probably fall short in some ways. We all do in some ways. But our lives should be characterized by not having those charges out there that can be laid hold of with.

And then secondly, he goes on to say that you should be the husband of one wife. And so immediately it brings into the context of the family.

You should be a Christian husband. What does it mean? Well, the literal translation of the term means “a man of one woman.” And some translators have said, and I think it’s a good way to look at it: a “one-woman sort of man.”

You should be a good Airdale. The Airdale is a dog. Men are dogs. The Airdale is a dog that is called, referred to, I guess, among dog owners as a “one-man” or “one-owner dog.” He really gets attached to one person, not to a family. He obeys one man—a “one-man sort of dog.”

And husbands, you should be a “one-woman sort of man.” Okay? Really attached to one woman. No one else in thoughts or deeds.

Obviously, we’ve had a great deal of warnings over the last few months in the book of Proverbs about adultery. And adultery, scriptures relate to idolatry. Okay? And adultery is in the thoughts and minds of men as well as in their actions.

And I would challenge you here: Do you lust after other women in your heart and in your thoughts? And if you do, confess it as sin. Deal with it. If it’s begun to take form in actions, get help in dealing with it. Make yourself accountable to other men.

First qualification, general qualification—or more specific qualification: Are you a one-woman sort of man? Have you trained yourself? And are we training our boys to become one-woman sort of men who, when they do eventually end up marrying, they’re really committed to one person and one person alone? One woman—that is a real focus in terms of the marriage here, Christian marriage.

So check yourselves out in terms of impure thoughts. Job said he made a covenant with his eyes. Job was a godly man, but he said he’d made a covenant with his eyes not to look upon a maid. And we need to make those sorts of covenants.

Where does the greatest temptation to draw you away from being a one-woman sort of man lie? It’s a box in your living room that’s about yea by yea. Because regularly, I mean, you can’t watch that more than a couple three minutes without an attempt on the part of the producers or advertisers to have you look at a woman, compare your wife unfavorably with that woman—usually in terms of physical appearance—and to draw you away from being a one-woman sort of man.

Now I don’t believe that you should throw your television out. Maybe some of you should if you’re having real problems. No doubt about it. I’ve known guys to lock it up in the closet. I just did that for a while. Lock it up in the closet for a while—good thing to do. Sometimes throw it out. It’s not necessary. But what I’m saying is that if you’ve trained yourself to be a one-woman sort of man, those things will not be effectual with you.

I don’t believe we have to fall just because the temptation is put in front of us. But I am saying that be very careful for yourself and how you train your children in terms of the use of the television, etc.

George Cyprian gave this question to evaluate. It’s a real good one. It’s easy to talk about lust and that kind of thing. But he said, “Are you content with your wife?” He asked elder candidates, “Are you content with your wife?” That’s really good, isn’t it?

See, it’s not just negative—being discontent, wanting other women—but are you content with your wife? Do you compare unfavorably in your mind with other women? You shouldn’t do that. Are you content?

By the way, I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again: that lust, sinful lust, can occur in the context of marriage. And if you think about it just a little bit, you can see obvious examples. You can think of obvious ways to engage in the marriage bed in an improper way. You can think of it, and then think about the fact that that results from a discontentment with godly approach toward the marriage bed and your wife.

So, are you content with your wife? Are you content in all areas in your relationship to your wife? And have you trained yourself to be a Christian man? That’s the fruit of the spirit. And if you have the contentment of a godly marriage, praise God and rest assured that’s a fruit of the spirit in your life, a sign of your election.

Okay. So the first thing has to do with being a Christian husband. Secondly: Christian character.

Now we have three characteristics listed here in this next subsection. And on your outline, I’ve entitled them vigilant, sound of mind, and well-ordered.

The next three qualifications—husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, and of good behavior in the King James. Really quickly: vigilant means watchful. It means being prayerful. This is one of the ones that has reference to wine. It doesn’t mean—it means on the opposite of being drunk or sleepy because of wine drinking. And so it means to have a watchfulness or vigilance. Okay.

And the second word—being sound of mind—means to have a saved mind. It’s comprised of two words: “save” or “stor,” the base root word of soteriology, the doctrine of salvation. And so it’s a “saved mind” or having a sound mind. Are you of sound mind?

And then the third word here in Christian character is having a good behavior, and it means to be ordered. The root word is the word for “world” or “order” in the world or cosmos. Are you ordered in your thoughts and in your demeanor and in your outside activities as well? Okay.

So ask yourself: Are you vigilant, Christian householder, particularly of the dangers that lie to your family through that box, through school, through whatever it is?

Is your antennas up? “Are you diligent and vigilant relative to potential dangers to your household? Are you watchful, or do you just sort of drift along and not really know what temptations or difficulties might be lying out there for your family or for yourself?”

Over and over and over, the scriptures tell us, “Watch, keep watch, be prayerful, and keep watch over.” Remember, I preached on this a while back. It’s one of the basic elements of Christian character.

In 2 Timothy 4:5, we’re told to be watchful in all things. In 1 Peter 1:13, gird up the loins of your mind to be sober or watchful. Girding up the loins of your mind. “Let us who are of the day be watchful, putting on the breastplate of faith and love.” That’s a defensive mechanism.

I received an email yesterday about the song “Be Thou My Vision.” It’s called a breastplate song in the old Irish. It was a song that was based upon various scriptural passages. We’ve sung it here in this church. The Episcopal church sings in their hymnal, but it’s a song. It’s called a breastplate because you’re supposed to sing it and meditate upon it in the scriptures it alludes to when in danger or trouble.

Well, vigilance is recognizing, according to the scriptures in 1 Peter 5:8, that we have an adversary, the devil, who roams the streets. As a result, 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant.” That’s the same word here. Be aware. Be watchful. Be on your guard.

Understand that you’ve got an enemy out there. Understand that you need the breastplate. Understand the characteristics of God’s work in your life. Understand that your family needs you as a breastplate to them. Understand that the devil will attack the bride. The devil will attack your wife. The devil will attack your children. And the devil will attack you. Be vigilant. Understand the dangers of the world in which we live. And understand God’s provision.

This word is used as a general characteristic for all older men in Titus 2:2. But just understand that you have a requirement, Christian, to be alert, to be aware of the dangers, to be aware of the need for defensiveness based upon God’s word and characteristics in your life.

The word “vigilant” is interpreted, in my outline, as including the idea of wise caution in the context of deportment—watchful over himself and the souls of those whom he leads, alert to the ways of Satan, the dangers of false doctrine, and the leadership of the spirit of God. That’s the way one commentator reads that word.

To have soundness of mind, to have a wise, cautious vigilance as you keep your mind sound, and to be well-ordered as a result in your interior man and your exterior actions as well. A pastor’s whole makeup, according to Lenski, should be orderly—spiritually, mentally, and in habits of good behavior. “Behavior” speaks of order as against disorder.

And so the Christian pastor and the Christian householder should have a vigilance. He should have a soundness of mind as opposed to rash actions and decisions. And he should have a well-ordered demeanor in his character that leads to a well-ordered household and a well-ordered life in the context of who he is.

Lenski said, “We need pastors today who will conduct their own persons and then also their congregations with a safe, sane and steady mind in all matters of life and faith.”

Ask yourself this: Last week, what alertness brought you to the attention of a particular problem in the context of your family? Or are problems in the context of the household that you’re overseeing causes for you to retreat?

Far too often they are—in my case. Those difficulties are vigilance. Our antennas perk up and we don’t really want to deal with it at that time. But God says that’s the very reason why he set you there. One of the things is to exhibit this character of vigilance and protection of yourself and those in the context of your family as well. Aware of dangers, aware of the need for putting up the breastplate of faith and love—that in all things then having a soundness of mind and a well-ordered life.

And by the way, if we start there with wine: the first one has to do with an absence of wine making you sleepy or unvigilant. Wine, as you go from joy into the next phase of being long at your wine, reduces your sense of vigilance. You go off-guard.

I mean, you know, this is a common tactic in the business world. The two-martini lunch wasn’t just because people wanted to go out and whoop it up. It gives you an advantage. It dulls the senses of your opponent in business if you see it that way. It puts him off guard.

And so, as you drink wine and make proper use of it, understand that you do not want to lose vigilance in the consumption of what God gives us for joy. And if you do, you’ll go down a slippery slope here. Okay?

Because then you lose your soundness of mind as well. If you go off-guard, that’s when you start to move over to an insanity, there or a lack of soundness relative to the dangers and the decisions and evaluations that must be made in life.

I think there’s a progression here. And once you lose that soundness of understanding what’s going on, you become disorderly in your conduct and your demeanor and in your character. So there’s a positive progression here away—by a misuse of God’s gifts.

And I could say the same thing about silver. You can go off-guard desiring too much to get more silver than you want. And that leads to unsound practices. I’ve seen it in the life of men. I’ve seen it destroy, for all practical purposes, the faith of Christian men who begin to get that love of silver going. And it leads to a lack of vigilance relative to how God’s word orders our financial affairs.

It leads to almost an insanity relative to breaking off relationships with the church, and it leads to a disorderly life as a result.

Christian men, particularly evaluate yourselves on these three aspects: vigilance, a soundness of mind instead of rash actions, and a well-ordered demeanor.

We live in a world that is crazy. It rejects the knowledge of God and by definition is insane. Okay? And that is the world that we get sucked into when we lose our Christian vigilance and arm ourselves with the breastplate of faith and love.

You stop up faith and love, you lose the breastplate, you lose your vigilance, and you get pulled off and become sane again according to the world—insane according to the scriptural definition.

Evaluate yourself.

I had a friend, a missionary in Spain, and he was coming over and we were discussing reconstruction and God’s law and stuff, and he said that his wife told him—and he was in Spanish, but it was a Spanish phrase that means “don’t let him steal your cabbage,” and by cabbage they referred to the head. And see, that was good for her to tell her husband. It was good for him to be vigilant and be aware of entering into a theological discussion. It can have some big implications here that could lead to an unsoundness of mind.

Now, I was trying to lead him into a soundness of mind, but the point is, by way of illustration: Think that way, men. Don’t let the world steal your mind. Be vigilant, sound of mind, and have an orderly life.

And then it talks about the way this works itself out in relationship to people: Christian deportment, hospitality, and apt to teach.

If you are sound of mind and well-ordered, vigilant, then you’re going to love to entertain strangers. That the scriptures say you were entertained by God—he brought you into his house when you were a stranger, wandering Aramean. The scriptures say, but God saved you and rescued you and extended grace to you. And we should want to extend grace to others.

So it’s true in a general sense. The word means “lover of strangers.” To have hospitality, it doesn’t just mean liking to entertain. It doesn’t mean being a party person like to have lots of parties and invite people over who you like.

Originally, you know, there weren’t a lot of Motel Sixes down the line. What were Motel Sixes? Frequently, they came with hot and cold running maids or whatever it was. I mean, it wasn’t a good world in which the church found itself. It was a pagan world. And so when Christians would travel, Christian hospitality meant a big deal to them. It was a big deal.

Additionally, churches couldn’t meet in nice buildings like this for the most part. They’d start in homes. And the elders or pastors were, among other things, those who were willing to open their homes up and host people in the context of their homes and show hospitality that way.

And so there are practical implications to this. I guess you could say, by way of application: Do you like to have strangers over? Not “do you like to have your friends over?” Do you like to reach out to people that maybe don’t have friends or that are traveling through the area yet have a profession of faith or a man who needs a place to stay for a while as he gets his life together?

Now, you have to be vigilant. You don’t want to put your family in danger. I’ve probably done that myself too often, or at least once or twice. But you do want to be able to extend this grace in your actions—to let that vigilance, soundness of mind, and well-orderliness result in a missionary capability of reaching out and entertaining people who need help at a particular period of time.

And then: being apt to teach.

“Apt to teach,” you know, I mean, there’s a couple of ways you could air on this. Some people like to teach all the time. It’s all they ever like to do is teach. Ask them a question, they’ve got an opinion about everything. If you find yourself that way, that’s not what this verse means. Don’t find justification for your pride and your desire to tell everybody else what to do by this verse.

“Apt to teach” implies you have a knowledge of the scriptures and you’ve been teachable yourself. You’ve been taught, and as a result can impart biblical truth.

George Cyprian, one of the best things I learned from that man in terms of biblical counseling, was to not give ready answers to people. Was to listen to a problem and not immediately offer the solution. To listen some more, to ask some questions. You can’t teach if you don’t understand what the person needs to be taught. And you can’t know that unless you shut up and listen for a while. Okay?

Now, if all you do is listen, well, then you’re not teaching. See, if you’ve got this sound Christian character, you want to exhibit—in showing grace to people through hospitality—and you also want to exhibit it through showing the grace of God’s word and ministering that word to other people.

And men, in your homes, you should be apt, prone, and able to teach your children. That doesn’t mean “thus sayeth the Lord, do this. Boom. That’s the end of it.” No, there’s a lot more to it than that. There’s a lot more to Christian instruction and discipleship than a simple recitation of commands.

Now, there must be authority. We’ll get to that in a little bit. Maybe we won’t. We’ll get to it in a couple weeks. But there must be authority.

What I’m saying, though, is that what you want to be able to do—to teach—is different than to command. To teach is to impart biblical truth in relationship to God’s word wisely as it’s needed by a particular person. And so it’s slowing down a little bit.

And I’d mentioned this to several of you. We were at the coast a couple of weeks ago, and I realized I had slowed down, and as a result, when a conflict would happen with our kids, I had more time to instruct them. Well, think about this: “What about this biblical truth? How did this seem to the other person, do you suppose?” And get them to think about it.

You know, usually our conflict resolution is just getting people to back off from making these bad statements and trying to get them to make good statements. But we want them to think about that a little more. Otherwise, they get defensive and don’t move on to truth.

So: apt to teach. Are you as a Christian householder man apt to teach your wife? Wife, are you apt to teach your children? And men, are you apt to teach your children?

Do you take the time, or are you just interested in getting the beds made and getting the house clean? That’s good. You want to be well-ordered. But much more than that is to understand that these tremendous blessings from God of interaction with people is a care—is it an evaluative tool for you to see your love for God.

God said don’t tell me you love me if you don’t love men. And the love of men includes extending yourself in grace to strangers, and it includes extending yourself in terms of time to people to teach them.

Now, if you don’t ever—if all you do is listen and you don’t open up the mouth to teach—then you’re also not apt to teach. So you can air on either side of this: being too prone to teach or too reticent to teach.

The scriptures say that Christian deportment toward others involves the extension of grace and mercy through acts of kindness and through the doctrine of the scriptures.

Now, the contrary to that—non-Christian deportment—is then described for us in the next few characteristics: Not petulant by means of wine.

You know, I said before that’s what that word means. That we read it—”not long at wine.” That’s true. But understand that the way that word was used had this context of petulance to it. Seneca said that wine kindles wrath. And anybody who’s been around people that drink a lot of wine or a lot of beer knows that’s true.

Alfred in his commentary says of this word that it means “one in his cups”—a man rendered petulent by much wine. The word and its cognates were often used without reference to wine. The Expositor says the word means “violent temper, not specially excited by overindulgence and strong drink.”

You see what I’m saying? It was a word that originally had its connotation in being drinking wine too long, but it became used as a term to describe the effects of drinking wine too long: which is an irritability, a petulance, violent temper that would strike out.

You move away from joy to a lack of vigilance to a lack of soundness of mind to an unordered demeanor, and before you know it, your drinking buddies are being lashed out by at you or lashed out by you. Okay?

You move to this petulance. It’s a demonstration of what happens in the mind that affects and gives you a pagan deportment in the context of people. You’re not supposed to be those who lash out quickly at others.

And as I said, because this term is used in the context of the Greek at the time without reference to wine, don’t allow it to be restricted in your mind to wine. Don’t think, “Well, I don’t drink wine and then get mad, so I’m okay.”

Do you get covetous of silver and as a result does that cloud your opinions and attitudes? And does that then result in difficult statements toward men, irritability, passion, etc.? All kinds of things can be the cause of this irritability. But pagan deportment is characterized by being petulant and having quick anger—fits of anger and wrath against people—which then lead to the next cycling down, which is actually hitting people. You know, popping them. That’s what the word means: “not a striker.”

Officers aren’t supposed to hit people. Well, you know, I think that we can by way of application say that certainly Christian men are not supposed to hit their wives or hit their children in that way. Strike discipline is one thing, but hitting them is something else.

But I think we can also say that it means that we’re not supposed to strike out at each other with words as well. We can lash out at each other with words, and we shouldn’t do that. That’s un-Christian deportment.

And then we go back up the scale. Now, un-Christian deportment is a result of un-Christian character. Character that’s not patient but is indeed covetous and contentious is the next three verses.

I’ve gone on way too long already, but I do think this is important. So I’ll come back to this perhaps in a couple of weeks. But what I want to leave you with is that this outline is a diagnostic tool of the kind of character and deportment tested in the family, the church, and the world that is supposed to be exhibited by Christian men and women.

This is what you should look like, and for sure it should be what your officers look like. But those officers are here to train you and to assist in the edification of the individual believer, that we all might come to this maturity.

And I pray that as we move toward the ordination of officers next week, we don’t do so thinking we’re going to ordain guys and they’re going to do everything, and I’m just going to lay back. The end result of the ordination of deacons will be probably increased participation by the body.