09 Sep Examples to the Flock

Last Sunday, Pastor Will Jackson preached from Titus 1:5 and exhorted us to embrace the grace of God’s order for the church.

Read: Titus 1:5-9

This Sunday, Joel Smith will preach from Titus 1:5-9 and will show us that godly character is the primary qualification for Christian leadership. As you prepare for our Sunday gathering, let this excerpt from David Mathis further your understanding of this important truth and lead you to pursue this godly character in your own life.

Reflect: “Examples to the Flock”

We might say that “a model Christian” is essentially the other side of the coin as “above reproach.” This seemingly low bar for eldership does have some important truth to convey about our pastors, elders, or overseers (three terms for the same lead office in the church). First, as Don Carson has observed, the lists of qualifications, summarized with “above reproach,” are “remarkable for being unremarkable.” There is no requirement here for particular achievements in formal education, world-class intellect or oratory, or manifest giftedness above the common man. Rather, these qualifications are the sort of traits we want to be manifest in every Christian. What we’re looking for in our pastor-elders, in essence, is normal, healthy, model Christianity.

Fundamental, then, to leadership in the local church is an exemplary function. Pastors must not only be skilled teachers of God’s word and governors of his people, but also examples of the kind of increasingly Christlike life toward which the whole congregation is progressing. The pastors unavoidably are “being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3; also 1 Timothy 4:12). The pastors must be those we hold up to the church and say, in essence, “Be like him,” without having to make any qualifications.

“Above reproach,” as we see in Titus 1:7, also communicates a kind of modesty and humility in the very nature of the calling: “an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach.” Leaders in the church are not rulers in their own right. They are stewards, not kings, not stars, not performers. Pastors are “God’s stewards” of his word and his people, and church office is not a personal possession but an assignment to a steward. And part of stewarding, among other things, is not drawing inordinate attention to the steward himself while eclipsing the one to whom we’re called to point.

Excerpt from “Above Reproach: The First Requirement for Christian Leaders,” February 23, 2020 Article on desiringgod.org, by David Mathis.

Sing: Song List for Sunday

1. “Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb,” by People & Songs
2. “The Church’s One Foundation,” Arr. Perimeter Worship
3. “It Was Finished Upon that Cross,” by CityAlight
4. “Life Defined,” by Shane & Shane