Salt + Light Fort Worth

All right.

Glad to be with you today.

My name's Ben, if we haven't gotten
to meet and um, we're gonna walk

through a chapter of one Timothy today.

So if you have your Bibles, I'd love
for you to have 'em open, uh, 'cause

we're gonna dig into some words and, uh.

As we did last week, we intentionally
had a different translation read that

I'm gonna be coming from because there's
different translations and different ways

to approach different Greek words and
those differences matter for today's text.

So, um, but speaking of texts in
a different book, raise your hand

if you've read Lord of the Rings.

Raise, raise your hand if you've
watched Lord of the Rings, but

have ever told someone you read it.

A few of, yeah.

Yeah.

So, uh, what's the second book?

Second movie called?

Two tower towers.

Two towers Well done.

Um, it's a notable book for a
lot of reasons, um, but one of

the most notable reasons that two
Towers is, uh, was, was prominent.

It was made.

So, uh, notable at the
time, is that in literature.

Um, at the time it came out, anytime there
were two of anything, it was a contrast.

So it was a good thing
versus an evil thing.

It was a light thing versus a dark thing.

But in two towers, both of them are bad.

Yes.

I'm looking at some of you like Lord
of the Rings folks, to make sure that

I'm not, like, you're not gonna write
off everything else that I say today.

If I get this wrong, uh,
both of them are bad.

Um, if you haven't read it or watched it.

Uh, one of the towers, the Tower
of Soman, who was a wise wizard who

eventually fell from grace, that's
vastly overstated and generalized.

Lots of nuance in there.

I know.

Uh, but that's what happened.

The other though is the Tower
of Saron who's just playing the

embodiment of all things evil.

And the point of the book is
that neither tower was good.

Both towers need to fall.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Today is the second half of some
really hard verses in first Timothy.

Um, I, I'd like to hope, like we
said last week, if you, if you missed

last week, I hardly ever do this.

Like I encourage you to go listen
to it 'cause it matters and informs

today and, and walks parallel to the
things we're talking about today.

Um, but like last week, I, I hope that
if you've been around for a while, like

we're not announcing anything new today.

Um, we're just, we're just giving words.

To some of the experience that you've had.

Uh, if you've been walking with us
for 20 minutes or for five years

since we started salt and light, um,
we're just kind of giving words to, to

truths that we believe and live out.

Uh, but last week we saw the end of
one Timothy two, and there we saw

that, that God calls and empowers all
Christians, every man, every woman,

and every child to use all their gifts,
including the most controversial one,

which is teaching and leadership.

And most controversial of them,
uh, God uses, empowers all men,

women, and children to use their
gifts for mission and ministry.

Okay, that was last week.

To rightly understand the second
half of these hard verses to rightly

understand, first Timothy three,
there's two metaphorical towers

that need to fall in our minds.

Um, to be clear, neither of the
things I'm about to say are the pure

embodiment of evil, like so Andow.

Um, but there's two concepts that,
that are widely believed by churches,

um, that, that have become corrupted
over time and that have been

distorted, uh, and have distorted thus.

People's view of church and especially
people's view of leadership in church.

And so before we dive into
today's text, I wanna, I just

wanna name both of those things.

Um, the first tower that needs
to fall, metaphorical tower that

needs to fall, um, is a western
hierarchical view of church leadership.

Western hierarchy view
of church leadership.

Most church org charts, most churches
org charts look something like this.

In fact, this is a template that you can
download off of a church leadership site

to tell you how to organize your church.

Uh, org chart.

Um.

The pastor is, looks like the
CEO, the, the elders or board

look like a board of directors.

There's like mid-level managers,
which is like lower level pastors

or deacons, this kind of stuff.

There's directors or volunteers like this
looks like what you'd expect experience

in, in a lot of traditional businesses.

Yes.

For the past couple years.

I'm a huge nerd, y'all know this, but
I've been doing research for a book

on Thank you, um, for affirming that.

Um, I've been doing research.

For a book on restoring church
leadership, a right view, a

biblical view of church leadership.

And you know, when this became the
prominent view of church leadership

hasn't always been like this early 19
hundreds post-industrial revolution

into what was called the church growth
movement, um, in which efficiency and

management became the, the primary models
of any organization in the western world.

US and then.

We give away our best things
to all the rest of the world.

Um, you see that in politics right now.

It's cool.

Um, and, and then, and then if, uh,
bigger, better, faster, stronger

becomes kind of the goals, um, in
that mindset, in, in that era where

a bigger, better, faster, stronger
efficiency management became the goal.

That's, that's when this became problem.

Now, to be fair, starting as early
as the th like third century,

there were some Roman Catholic
bishops who served local priests.

Um, but a, that's a topic for another day.

Um, and, and, and b,
serve is the right word.

They didn't lord it over them.

They didn't dominate over local priests.

Um, so it's a very different
posture than what we see today.

Um, that hierarchy is the first
tower that needs to fall in our mind.

This is not how God designed
his church to be left.

The second thing that needs to fall, um,
is what we're doing right now is, is the

view of the sermon as the pinnacle of
teaching and discipleship in the church.

Um, the, the, the tower that needs to fall
is the view of a sermon as a pinnacle of

teaching and discipleship in the church.

Here's a fun fact for you.

There is no biblical word for
what I'm doing right now separate

from any other act of teaching or
equipping in the body of Christ.

Can I say that again?

There's no biblical word for what
I'm doing right now that is separate

from any other act of teaching or
equipping in the body of Christ.

So back to last week in, in a church, and
I wanna say this very carefully, there's

really well-meaning churches who do this,
but if a church where women teach Sunday

school and kids in groups, but don't let
them preach what we're doing right now.

There, there's zero biblical
theological ground for that to be true.

You don't wanna offer
that in a lot of humility.

The word preach, which is what
we assume I'm doing right now,

that does appear in the Bible.

But you know what
preaching is in the Bible.

Every time it's used, it's the
public proclamation, like out in the

streets of the good news of Jesus.

That's what preaching is.

So I'd like to hope I'm pro proclaiming
the good news of Jesus to you right now,

but, but we're not out in the street.

We're not, we're not evangelizing,
we're not, whatever words put on that,

evangel means the, the good news, right?

So preaching is declaring
the good news out there.

Anything that happens amongst any
group of believers is, is merely

called teaching or equipping.

That's what happens in here.

Why does that matter?

Because rightly grasping both those.

Towers that have been built up in,
in our minds, like a, a common theme,

two common themes in a western view
of church, rightly grasping both.

While it should not make us throw
rocks at, at anyone else, any other

churches, every church leader I know
is just trying to do their best.

So I'm offering this, again with
a lot of humility here, but it

changes our view of leadership.

Okay.

Um, a, a rightly grasped view of
these things impacts how we view

elders and deacons, which is a lot of
the, the, the chapter we're walking

through today, rightly grasping.

Both those view informs your view
of discipleship, and even if I

may, your role in discipleship.

So those are the two towers
that we gotta name, and they

have to fall before we dive in.

But we're not gonna leave them in rubble.

We're not gonna be like,
all right, let's pray.

Good luck.

Um.

We're gonna try to rebuild a right view
of church leadership and elders and

deacons and discipleship in your role
because it impacts the whole church.

Okay.

That's what we're doing today.

Um, we're gonna work through
first Timothy backwards.

Uh, and as we do, we're gonna see
three groups of people in the church.

The first, and this is coming from the
last versus the first Timothy three.

It's it's disciples, it's all of us.

Uh, disciples are called to pursue
holiness together with our eyes on Jesus.

Okay?

This is true of anyone who
calls yourself a Christian, um,

including elders and deacons.

Um, deacons.

Then in the middle verses of
one Timothy three are called

to be examples of holiness.

To the church with their eyes on Jesus.

And then the first verses and first
Timothy thief talk about elders.

And elders are called to equip the church
to holiness also with their eyes on Jesus.

So let me pray for us and will you
pray for me as we walk through this?

So Father God, thank you
for your, your truth.

Um, would you help us to be open, um,
to your truth, your authority, your way?

Whatever we think of these topics, will
you soften our hearts, um, toward every

church toward the Capital C Church.

These are some of the verses that have
caused hurt over the years, so I pray

that you bring redemption to that hurt,
and will you help us hear from you

and glorify you and your son's name?

Amen.

All right, so I wanna start today where
Paul ends his chapter, the first, the

first goal of elders and deacons, which
we'll see in a little bit, is to help

the whole church pursue discipleship.

The whole church pursued discipleship.

So that's where we're starting.

We're starting with disciples,
um, disciples or Paul's

word, the household of God.

What's a household?

It's people.

It's us.

That's us.

It's the the people of God.

Um, disciples are called to
pursue holiness together.

Here's the last verses
of one Timothy three.

I hope to come to you soon.

He wants to visit him, but I'm writing
these things to you so that if I

delay, you may know how you ought
to behave in the household of God,

which is the Church of the Living God.

That's a, that's a phrase
we could just dwell on.

The church of the Living God,
A pillar and buttress of truth.

Great.

Indeed, we confess is
the mystery of godliness.

And then in some of your
translations, this is a poem.

It was a song, it was a prayer.

You know others, it's just prose.

That's fine.

Um, he was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the spirit, seen by

angels proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in glory or believed on

in the world, and taken up in glory.

Disciples are called to
pursue holiness together.

So we'll talk in a minute
about how the church.

Is to be led and served.

But here Paul's explaining where
the church is to be led, where

God wants us to go together.

And it starts with this, the goal of
every Christian, each one of us, anyone

who calls yourself a follower of Jesus.

And no, not everyone in here does.

And no you don't.

If you don't follow Jesus, you
look at us and you're like,

y'all don't do this all the time.

Yeah, you're right.

We don't, we'll come
back to that at the end.

But the goal of every
Christian is to pursue God.

It seems that simple to pursue Jesus,
to pursue spiritness, to pursue

truth, to pursue embodied holiness,
that's the goal of every Christian.

And so we as a church and the
goal of every church should

be just doing that together.

We get to do this together 'cause you're
holy in areas that I'm not and I'm

holding like one area that you're not.

And so we, we need each other.

Whether Paul ever got to Ephesus or not.

What we see in these verses is
four different aspects of this

discipleship, and like Gabe said,
we, we make it more complicated.

These are not easy things, but we
can boil them down to this first part

of, of being a spiritual household
is to pursue Jesus as siblings.

Like that's, that's what
a household looked like.

A lot of household imagery in this text.

Paul's telling us we're a family.

As we say, every time in our
greeting knit together in Christ.

And so we get to greet
each other as family.

We get to pursue holiness with each
other as family, we get to serve one

another, care for one another, both
tangible things like meal trains.

Bless you.

We get to bless you together.

Thanks for a real time example.

Um, the Bible talks about all
these one another commands.

There's like 101 another commands.

Serve one another, love one
another, forgive one another.

If you're gonna forgive someone, you
have to have been close enough to

them to have them sin against you.

Like there's a, a tight knit
closeness of being a household of God.

We're called to serve
each other as family.

We're called to be a
family with one another.

Um, the second word that I circled
is that one of the, is the living God

part, um, the heart of Christianity.

Whether you follow Jesus or
not, you need to know this.

The heart of Christianity is
the resurrection of Jesus.

Crucifixion is massively important.

A lot of people were crucified.

Only Jesus could die for our sins
as the perfect person, but the

heart is that he didn't stay dead.

We believe that Jesus is a living God.

Paul talks about the
mysteries of the faith here.

That's the most mysterious
of all mysteries in history.

That God became flesh, lived and died for
your sins and rose to give you new life.

And then as the verse says,
he was taken up in glory.

Jesus is a living God.

He's present with us
now through his spirit.

So we're a family knit together
in Christ and we worship a living

God who guides us by his spirit.

The third aspect of discipleship
that we pursue is, is similar to

the angels that Jesus' birthed.

Jesus was seen by the angels, both
in his glory and in his incarnation.

Household of God is called to declare
the good news of Jesus to the nations.

And so that proclamation down in the
last verse there, that's part of what

we're called to do, to display and
declare the good news of Jesus as if

we actually believe it's good news.

And then finally back up to verse 15.

Yeah, we said in one Timothy one, we
said in our first week talking about

this book, this letter that every
disciple's called to pursue God's truth.

Paul, Paul says that, that the church
is the pillar and buttress of truth.

We're, we're called to
stand on a firm foundation.

That that truth impacts our whole life.

It changes our head and
our heart, and our hands.

It's not just some intellectual thing.

It Im, it impacts everything.

And that truth gets to
be lived out together.

These are, if you've, if you've been
through our, uh, missional DNA leader

training, these are, these are the
things we call all, all DNAs too.

Uh, we say we want to be formed
by God's spirit guided by God's

story known as God's family,
and focused on God's mission.

And you see those four things here.

That's, that's the heart of
what discipleship looks like.

There's a lot of different ways to say it.

There's more to it than this.

But at the core, that's, that's what all
disciples in every church are called to.

As we pursue Jesus with
our eyes focused on him,

that's part of pursuing
discipleship and holiness together.

That's what it looks like tangibly.

Paul will show us more of that
in the rest of his letter.

We'll, we'll get into that next week.

Um, but there's also aspects of
discipleship in, in the previous verses.

Um, because if elders and deacons are to
be examples and equippers of holiness,

then the things that they're called to be
show us more of those marks of holiness.

So while disciples pursue holiness
together, deacons are called to

be examples of that holiness.

Verse eight, if you're backing
up with me in your scriptures,

deacons, likewise like the elders,
but likewise, must be dignified.

Not double tongue, not addicted to much
wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

They must hold the mystery of the
faith with a clear conscience and let

them be tested first, and then let
them serve as deacons if they prove

themselves blameless their wives.

That's a different translation
than what Nicole read.

We'll come back to that.

Their wives likewise, must be
dignified, not slanders, but sober

minded and faithful in all things.

Let the deacons each be the
husband of one wife managing their

children in their own households.

Well, for those who serve well as
deacons gain a good standing for

themselves and also a great confidence
in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

All right, back to the org chart
that I put up here in the Western

hierarchical view of church leadership.

Deacons are middle managers.

Assistant pastors, directors of
different ministries, this kind of stuff.

Is that what you see in these verses?

Is that what you just heard us read?

No.

Deacons are called to be examples
tested and proven examples of pursuing

the holiness and the discipleship
together that we just said.

All, all Christians are called to.

So this passage doesn't give
deacons a job description.

It gives marks of character, of
exemplary disciples, of folks you

should look to and go, yeah, yeah.

What's they're worth noting.

They're worth modeling our life after.

It's all about character.

Be an example to the church
of pursuing life in Christ.

In fact, and again, geek out
with me for just a moment.

The word for deacon here shows
up 29 times in the New Testament.

There's only three times that
it's translated as deacon and

two of them are in this passage.

The word other, wear, other, other wear.

That's not a word.

Speaking of words, uh, in other
passages, that word is translated

as servant or minister, not
like capital M with a trademark.

Not like a a a title or
like just it's a servant.

And so it could be that it's not intended
to be like a title or office at all.

Again, that's up for debate and
that's fine, but it matters.

Be a servant, be an example,

be a minister, and then zooming in
verses eight through 10, I'll go back,

be dignified, not double tongue, not
addicted to much wine, not greedy.

These are things that that are true.

They're universal
qualities for every deacon.

But then verse 11 and 12 has tripped
people up for centuries, and it's

because the same word in the Greek for
a wife is the same word for a woman.

So Christians are divided.

Christians are divided
over a lot of things.

This is one of the things
Christians are divided over.

So some, some churches, some, some
traditions will hold to male only deacons.

In which verse 11 means that a deacon's
wife has some role to play in qualifying

her husband for his deacon role.

So if she isn't sober minded, if
she is a slander, that kind of

stuff, then he can't be a deacon.

We don't hold to that view.

Uh, there's a lot of reasons, but
especially since elders, which we'll

see in just a minute, who, who carry
a, a greater sense of responsibility.

They don't have a similar qualification.

There's no, there's no similar.

If your wife does X, Y, and
Z, then you can't be an elder.

And so if it's not true of the, this
is the logical argument, it's not true

of a greater than, it can't be true of
a lesser, it wouldn't make any sense.

Biblically, we believe, and other
traditions do as well, that men

and women can both be deacons.

And we don't use that as a title in
our church, but can both be servants,

can both be ministers, can both be
examples because as New American standard

version, if you have that, the NIV,
which Nicole read from as, as other,

uh, other, uh, translations say it's
a question not of wives, but of women.

Women who serve as deacons.

And so these verses this verse offers
a unique caution to females who are

going to be examples of discipleship
of, of female deacons in the same

way, verse 12 offers unique cautions
to males who serve as deacons.

So we did this last week.

We're not crossing out scripture.

I wanna be very clear if you didn't hear
that last week, uh, we're, we're showing

a a different and what we believe to
be more authentic translation of this.

Which is to say that women who serve as
deacons must be dignified, not slanders,

sober minded, faithful in all things.

Men who serve as deacons must be the
husband of one wife managing their

household well, et cetera, et cetera.

And, and in saying this, all we're saying
is that these verses are guardian against

common gender stereotypical temptation,
which are true in first century Ephesus

and are true in 21st century America.

This is very similar to what Paul was
doing last week in that culture, at

least, it was not uncommon for women
to be known as gossips in that culture.

At least it was not, not, not uncommon for
men to be promiscuous, to be wanderers,

to to give, summarize it like this,
more of their attention outside the

household than inside the household.

Again, it was true, at least then.

I don't think we've come all that far
of stereotypes of men and women today.

But even if we have, the point

is that if a deacon is to be the
example of holiness, then the

life of the men and women in the
household of God must look different

than the stereotypes of the world.

If,

if a deacon deacons to be the example
of holiness, then their lies, man

or a woman must look different
than the stereotypes of the world.

That make sense?

Again, there's a lot more
we could dive into today.

But bottom line, whether a deacon
is an official title or office

or not, and again, salt and light
doesn't, doesn't hold that title.

We're talk about that very often.

Bottom line, a deacon is a man or
woman who's a tested and proven

example of a holy life that every
disciple of Jesus has called to.

That's what a deacon is.

I Say it again.

It's Deacon is a man or woman who is a
tested and proven example of the holy life

that every disciple of Jesus is called to,

and so you're dignified.

You're not double tongue.

You have integrity.

You don't say one thing in the
light and one thing in the dark.

You're not addicted to wine or
any other things that we could

be addicted to these days.

You're not greedy men.

You're not promiscuous.

You're servant leading at home.

Ladies, you're dignified.

You're not slanderers.

So reminded you are sober minded
and faithful, and then there's a

testing and proving that happens
because you're called to be an exam.

Now, are there other marks of holiness?

Sure.

And at the core, holiness
is an inward thing.

It's not, you know, what comes outta
your mouth, it's not what you see.

Yeah, that's, that's true as well.

But, but as a and as, as an example
to the household of God, this is

the starting point character for any
man or woman who serves as a deacon.

Cool.

All right, disciples are called
to pursue holiness together.

Deacons are examples of that holiness,
and then elders are called to equip

the church for that life of holiness.

Verse Timothy three verse one.

The saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of
overseer, which is also translated

elder, he desires a noble task.

Therefore, an elder overseer
must be above reproach.

Must be the husband of one wife, must
be sober, sober minded, self-controlled,

respectable, hospitable, able to teach.

That's a new one.

Not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle.

Not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household
well with all dignity, keeping

his children submissive, obedient.

Four.

If someone does not know how to
manage his own household, how

will he care for God's church?

He must not be a recent convert, or he
may become puffed up with conceit and

fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Moreover, he must be well thought
of by outsiders who are outsiders.

This is the out there people, the
anyone outside of the body of Christ.

So, so folks who don't follow Jesus must
be well thought of by folks who don't

follow Jesus, so that he may not fall
into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

All right.

Again, in many church org charts in the
western hierarchical view of leadership,

where does the elder sit At the top, the
CEO chair, the senior pastor chair, the,

the power center of the organization.

Is that what you see in these verses?

No.

So the right view of an elder is a man.

Who takes on the fatherly responsibility
before God to cultivate the holiness

and discipleship together of the church?

I say that again and then we'll dive in.

An elder's, a man who takes on the
fatherly responsibility before God to

cultivate the church in its pursuit
of holiness and discipleship together.

And in saying that, I know that
in a sign, in, in, in, in saying

that God assigned eldership to
men makes some of you bristle.

Um, I'll be honest, I
don't love it either.

And there's great churches with
different stances and for 20 years

I've given more time to this topic
than any other topic in scripture.

It's been a, a consistent place where
I've gone to and study and prayer.

It's truly a passion of mine.

I need to know, this is not a position
we hold lightly, but it's a position we

hold to and there's many, many reasons.

And, and, and if I'm honest, like I can't
if I'm not gonna convince you of anything

other than what you believe today.

And that's okay.

Um.

We hold to it because of
Adam's own redemption story.

Adam was called to, to steward
and cultivate all of creation

toward God and failed.

Uh, we hold to it 'cause Jesus had
male only apostles while at the

same time giving counter-cultural
empowerment and rights to women.

Uh, Paul valued women as leaders in
ministry and in every other realm

of society and celebrated that.

Um, there's male language in
the Greek here that's different

than the deacon passage.

Um, Paul celebrates women as deacons
and church leaders in the same chapter

as he talks about male only elders.

Like, like, there's a lot of
reasons, but again, my, my goal

today is not to convince you, and
my goal today is to say it's okay

if, if you have a different view.

In part because my goal is today to try
to change our view of what an elder is

eldership.

Is not the highest title in the church.

An elder is not a CEO.

It's not a position or office or C-suite
kind of, you know, benefit to attain.

That's only open to to men
because God's not a sexist

God who gives a glass ceiling.

It only seems that way because
this is the water that we swim in

because of the western hierarchical
view of church leadership.

Because of who's allowed to preach in some
traditions rather, and hear me on this,

elders Eldership is simply one way to
serve a church among many other ways that

God empowers people to serve a church.

And eldership is only one role in a
church among many other roles that God

empowers his people to play in a church.

And to make it clear throughout
the New Testament, both

men and women are prophets.

Both men and women are pastors, which
despite what some folks are shouting

from the mountaintops right now is
not the same word as elder overseer.

Men and women are prophets.

They're pastors, they're teachers,
they're evangelists, they're apostles.

After Jesus' death.

Lowercase a apostles, if you can
call it like that, that actually

may be the highest authority
in the first century church.

For the record, they're the
folks who appointed elders.

You see both men and women in these
roles and others, and only in recent

history has, has the concept of
eldership becomes synonymous with

the top of the ladder, the, the place
that everyone's trying to achieve, the

highest pay, the pinnacle of power,
that that's only been true for the last.

Couple centuries, and that's
one of the towers that has to

fall to rightly understand all
of our role in discipleship.

Last week, we said the church is
the body of Christ and that God has

given every woman and man and child
gifts to serve the body of Christ.

Eldership is important, sure.

But it's not this image of like.

The couple of guys would go
into a dark smoky room and come

out and say, thus sayeth us.

They're not the only decision makers.

They're not the lords of the church.

You know who the Lord of the church is.

Jesus.

If we're gonna have a CEO and we
believe that we actually serve a

living God man, woe to the person
who tries to take that seat.

Jesus would've a lot of
things to say about that.

I.

So eldership is, is is simply a uniquely
fatherly role where, similar to the

father of a literal household, again,
Paul's playing with his household

family imagery a lot in this chapter.

So it's a, it's a unique fatherly role
where like the father of a household,

someone who is an example to an
example of holiness with humility and

accountability before God says yes to
equipping the household of God to hold.

To Fatherly role, who as an example
of holiness, humbly and accountably

before God says yes to equipping
the household of God for holiness.

In fact, there's, there's
lots of similarities in

this elder and deacon list.

I tried to list them out in, in, in
the, the order that they make sense.

So, dignified on one hand, respectable
on another, not double tongue.

He's full of integrity.

Um, sober minded self-control, not
addicted to wine, not a drunker.

Do you see these, these things show up in
both, not greedy, not a lover of money.

Don't be promiscuous, be
servant leaders at home.

That's true of both lists.

The, the key differences is that women
are only mentioned in the deacon list.

And that elders, this is the second
to last on the, on the right side

there, they have to have been walking
with Jesus for a while, lest the

power go to their heads and they
give into the snares of the devil.

And they're called to be an example
to, to not just the church, but to,

to the rest of the world as well.

And then the biggest difference is
that while deacons must be tested

and proven as examples, elders
are called to be able to teach.

Again, not able to preach.

That's a 21st century thing.

We said last week that teaching in
the church means to kind of set the

authoritative direction to kind of
be, be willing to correct and set the

broad parameters for theology in life.

Again, to be an equipper for holiness.

So one-on-one counts as teaching.

Developing gifts counts as
teaching different realms beyond

what we're doing right now.

Definitely count as teaching.

And more than that, elders are not called
to be the only teachers in the church.

Just 'cause they're called
to be able to teach.

Doesn't say therefore, it's, it's
limited to you like in a similar way.

Uh, one Peter five calls elders
to shepherd the flock of God.

But elders are not the only folks
who shepherd the flock of God in any

church as group leaders or counselors
or other teachers or this kind

of stuff equipped and affirmed by
elders to, to join them in that work.

Elders are called to serve.

We're not the only servants in the church.

This make sense?

Eldership is not this high and lofty
solo leader, unattainable realm of

leadership anymore than saying like
a literal father has to do everything

that a actual household is called to do.

That'd be ridiculous.

We never, we never say that.

Rather, in saying that an
elder's call is to teach.

What Paul is rightly saying is
that elder's role is to develop

every man, woman, and child
to thrive in their giftings.

Again, back to back to Adam, the
first person ever created who's

called to, to cultivate creation, and
help it thrive for God's purposes.

And then as you thrive in your giftings,
you get to train others as well.

And you get to serve the household
of God freely and in whatever

gifting God has given you.

Because the distinction between
deacons and elders that while deacons

are called to be examples of life
in Christ elders and being able

to teach Say Yes, to equipping the
church to live a life in Christ.

And so tangibly, let's make it
real personal for us and again.

I, I, I've spent a lot of time in prayer.

God, what do you make This not sound like
I'm throwing stones at other churches'.

Traditions.

We're unique in this, but for salt and
light, Matt and I get to get, to hold

the, the responsibility as elders.

Um, but since a key different
qualification of elders and deacons

is to be able to teach, to equip,
to train, we see a huge part of our

role as part of church leadership.

Not to sit above everyone.

I hope you've never
experienced that from us.

Also not abdicating our role and,
and sitting below everyone and going,

yeah, we, we don't wanna touch this.

Like, that's, that's not it either.

But rather, first Peter calls elders
to elder quote among the flock.

That's why we started by saying
everyone in the church is disciples.

And there are some who are
deacon qual, uh, deacon, deacon

character, and some who are elders.

And for us, if we have an org chart
ready, I'm gonna blow your mind.

It looks more like this is to say we
have a servant leadership team that

involves men and women who do some
of the shepherding and teaching and

serving, who are implementing the vision
for discipleship and fostering mission

and ministry across salt and light.

And a couple of us on that
team happened to be elders.

And we have a board of directors as
well who, uh, take care of the, like

the logistical parts of discipleship.

They keep us legal before the state
because we're called to submit

to the authorities put above us.

Um, so legal, finance, HR kind of stuff.

And a couple on that board are elders.

And then there's DNA leaders and ministry
team leaders that are fostering various

aspects of discipleship among different
groups of folks across salt, light.

And a couple of the folks
who do that are elders.

And so men and women are serving
salt and light together in various

ways, and we get to be elders among
you as you're serving in those ways.

So, you know, we don't have the
title of deacons, but the, the men

and women who are on these different
teams, like they're held to that,

they're held to that standard.

They're, they're, we're
looking at, at them and saying,

model your life after them.

They're not perfect.

We're not perfect, but
model your life after them.

They're a good example.

So we have teams of men and women who
serve salt and light in different ways to

the bottom, all of whom have the character
of deacons, all of whom are supported

by elders and some of whom are elders.

That's our messy org chart.

And if I was wise, I would've put
like Jesus across in the middle to

be like the, Jesus is the, the senior
pastor, he's, he's the CEO, he's

the center of all of these things.

There's more to say.

So much more to say.

I'm happy to chat.

Um, but if an elder as a title or an
office or position, or if a sermon is

like the pinnacle of some tower, the,
the, the top of church leadership, um,

yeah, that's, that's simply a
wrong unbiblical and demeaning

view of power dynamics.

That's not informed by the scriptures
or the ways of Jesus, but it's far

more informed by the world that we
live in and the water that we swim in

the church is the
household of a living God.

We operate as a family.

Elders get to equip for holiness.

Deacons model that holiness,
and we rightly pursue holiness.

And so as elders.

As elders pursue their role, which is
one of many vital roles in in any church,

then what that should look like is
every man and woman and child thriving

in their giftings and looking a little
bit more holy, and being empowered

and equipped to serve in the exact
way that God designed them to serve,

using their gifts for the body of
Christ to build up the body of Christ.

Amen.

All right, so again, this is a topic
I've spent more time on than any other

in 20 years, and at the same time, I
know we didn't touch on every single

issue, didn't answer every question.

There's been centuries and
centuries of debate over this.

Experts disagree.

If I were to stand up here and say
we finally got it figured out, how

arrogant would we be to be like all
those really smart scholars that have

debated for 2000 years, they're wrong.

Here's the right answer.

Like we can't do that.

A lot of nuance, lot of depth here.

And at the end of the day, God
doesn't give us some of the whys

that I wish God would give us.

Like these verses are mysterious.

They just are.

And I, and I can't imagine that everyone
is gonna be satisfied with how salt

and light interprets these verses.

Um, to zoom out, there's two
major camps regarding this.

One is called complementarianism,
one is called egalitarianism.

The problem with any two camps is
by pitting them against each other.

One sounds extreme over here and
anti the other, and the other sounds

extreme over here and anti the first,
and it makes for tribalism and binary

v uh, viewpoints and lacks nuance.

You may have seen this and I don't
know, democracy, uh, Democrats

and Republicans or gun rights
and gun control or rich and poor.

Like anytime you do this, you're,
you're creating a, an either or

that is just not how humans work.

M much more true is like, there's
a spectrum of views on this

and on all those other things,

but while it's important to know where
salt and light views and stand stands on

that spectrum and grasp the verses as well
as possible, I, I, I'd invite you to, to

two things as you ponder this, and first
is to see that the heart of this is that

salt and light seeks to empower the gifts
of every man, woman, and child for mission

and ministry, whatever those gifts are.

And it goes back again to the first part
of this hard passage from last week.

And then, and then second to reiterate
something we also said last week, whatever

your view is of men and women in the
church and in ministry, mission and

ministry and discipleship, whatever your
view is, it is, it can be so divisive, but

it's, it doesn't have to divide a church.

It's been dividing
Christians through centuries.

It doesn't have to divide a church.

God since creation has been glorified,
when things that are created differently

work together for his purposes.

And so it's okay if you don't
agree with what I'm saying today.

And so I'll end where we started,

which is looking to Jesus, that
last little poem, that last

little, um, song of praise.

Each group of people pursue discipleship
and serve their roles in the church.

Only the highlighted words with their eyes
on Jesus, only with their eyes on Jesus.

Why?

'cause, because verse one talks
about aspiring to an elder role,

aspiring to that kind of life,
aspiring to that kind of character.

If we go back to the roles.

Do you know anyone who 100% does
each of these things all the time,

100% perfectly, without fail every
moment of every day of their lives?

Absolutely not.

And so again, like it's important
to test and prove and say, yes, this

is the consistent pursuit of your
life, but no one is fully qualified.

No one is perfect and always models
exemplary holiness in, in all of life.

So again, while it's vital to pursue
that kind of character, while, while

everyone should aspire to these
qualifications, 'cause again, a

lot of 'em are just elements of, of
everyday discipleship and holiness.

Every single one of us will miss the mark.

Whether you have a quote,
unquote title or role or whatever

else, we'll all miss the mark.

But Jesus never missed the mark.

Jesus alone fully embodied this
holy life and fully modeled

every qualification all the time.

That's why Jesus alone deserves
to be head of his church.

Yeah.

That's why He alone is Lord
of Lords and King of kings.

Only his spirit can produce any
of these things in us 'cause we

can't conjure him up on our own.

On

and so though, even though God
uses and calls elders and deacons,

and also prophets and pastors
and teachers and apostles and

lots of other types of ministers,

only God can cause these things to thrive.

And so as we move into communion, I
would love for us just to invite us,

or no, I'd love to invite you, excuse
me, just to admit that there's, there's

some difficulty, there's some mystery
in these verses, but if, but if the

Bible is true, then all things are
from God and through God and to God.

And so at the end of the day,
our, our specific view, wherever

we land on that spectrum of
church leadership is secondary.

Our view of Jesus is what's primary.

And so as disciples, we, we try to
pursue these things, but, but our

eyes have to be locked in on Jesus.

And as deacons, we try to
exemplify these things, but

our eyes have to look to Jesus.

And as elders, we try to equip for
these things, but our eyes have

to look to Jesus because in his
life alone, we see true holiness.

Amen.

And by his death alone, that's
the only way we get to be

part of the household of God.

And through his resurrection alone,
we have a purpose that is greater than

whatever the world tells us we're supposed
to live for and how we're supposed to

find ourselves on some of the chart.

And by his spirit alone,
you have some gift.

To build up the body of Christ.

You have a role to play in the church.

You have power and this and need for
mutual discipleship, and he calls

us to make disciples As we pursue
mission and ministry together.

It's only as we have our eyes locked up
on Jesus that any of this is possible.