Elder Installation (Titus 1:5-9)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Additional context: Watch the theology teaching video, “What is Creation?”
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. I have the distinct joy and honor of being able to teach on eldership as we install Mike as one of our elders and pastors in this church. He will be the second doctor that we have as one of our pastors, but the first one who would be genuinely helpful in an emergency on an airplane. We are glad at the opportunity to get to do this this morning.
We'll be in Titus chapter one. We're pausing our study in the book of Acts. We'll pick that up next week. We'll be in Titus chapter one this morning. And in some ways, as this special moment for our church in the life of any church and in the life of our church this morning, this sermon will function a little bit the way that a wedding sermon works where I will be. When you're preaching a wedding, you're talking to the people in the room.
You're talking to the family that has gathered, but you're also talking directly to those who are getting married. And so this morning I'll be studying with you and looking together with you as a church family at this passage. But there'll be moments where I'm directly addressing you, Mike. And my hope is that you will pay more attention than the couples that are getting married do when I'm preaching their sermons. Weddings are stressful and they're staring at each other. And I don't think they listen that well.
But my hope is this morning that you will be blessed to be able to study this well. Let's pray. And then we will get into Titus one together. Lord, we ask for your help as we study this. We ask for your help in this moment as we seek to honor you and in the installation of an elder in our church that we would be blessed to follow him well, to submit to him well so that his role here is a joy to him. And we ask that you would bless him, that he would serve and lead and sacrifice well for you and for your people.
In Jesus' name, amen. As we consider this this morning, we're going to try to answer three questions from this section of Titus, this letter written by the Apostle Paul to Titus. We're going to try to answer what is an elder? What is that role? What is that office in the church? We're going to look and try to answer that question.
We're going to try to answer who is an elder who fills that role. And then we're going to ask how do they fulfill that? How do they carry out that office? And we're going to try to do that from this text this morning. So let's read Titus one verses five through nine.
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus 1:5–9 ESV)
So the answers to our questions are going to come from this section this morning. We're going to begin with what is eldership? What does this tell us about eldership? Well, he says, this is why I left you in Crete. This is verse five. So you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town.
Elders. The first picture we get, the first clue we get in this passage is that they create order. He says, put into order what remains in these churches, that you would install these elders, and they're to bring order, to bring some sort of system, some sort of health, some sort of guardrails to a local congregation. He says that you would appoint elders in every town. Now, the way this was working at the time was Paul's going around.
He's proclaiming the gospel. People are becoming believers and then he's moving to the next place. And he sent Titus to say, hey, go back to those towns where those churches are forming and help appoint and install elders so that there's some structure. There's some organization, there's some, you know, guardrails around what's going on there, some leadership. And that's what elders are supposed to do. And in some ways, we don't exist in the same format that they do anymore, where there's only one church in every town.
I think that would be a blessing and a joy, although there are some things that would go along with that many people all belonging to the same congregation. And so I think a fair reading of this for us is to have elders in every church, because that's those were synonymous at that point where he was sending him around is that there was a church in each town. So to have elders in every church and have a plurality of elders in every church is ideal. So he's putting multiple men into this role. Now, the term elder was a term that they used. The only time we really use it is in church connotations or when we just mean older.
It's like the word older, but fancy. But they had an office, a role that was elders in towns, elders in tribes, elders in cities. They had this role that was fathers, heads of households, men that were prominent in the city that would make decisions, that would lead, that would settle disputes, that would enter everyone into an agreement or choose to not agree to something. That's what the elder role was. And so when he says this for them, they understood they had kind of a mental picture of these are men that are going to help make decisions. These are men that are going to help settle disputes.
These are men that are going to help figure out which way we're going. What are we going to do or not do? So he says to install elders in every church, every town. Then the other things of what is an elder, what is eldership is he refers to them as an overseer. That's verse seven, which we use the terms in our church, elder, overseer, and pastor interchangeably. Often when we're talking about the actual office in our church, we refer to it as elder because that's the word that's used most in the text.
Sometimes we will just call someone a pastor because that's the word that's used most in our context, in our culture. But the word pastor comes from the term to shepherd and nobody's ever actually called a pastor in the text as far as in a church. They're just told to pastor. They're told to shepherd. It's something that you do. And that's so we just treat them synonymously, elder, overseer, shepherd.
But when you use the term overseer here, he's saying that they oversee, make some decisions that elders in a local church are supposed to help guide what happens and what doesn't happen. And in some ways, elders at times are tasked with making house rules. Just the way that fathers do that at their own house. My sons, every once in a while, say to me, well, my friend, they don't have to do that. And I'm like, they don't live in my house. They don't belong here to me.
So I've told my boys this before, that they're supposed to obey me as their dad. If they lived in a house that had a 10 p.m. Bedtime and they were awake at 930, are they sinning? No. But if they live in my house that has a 9 p.m.
Bedtime and they're awake at 930 disobediently, not some random thing, but they're just willfully like bucking against that. Are they sinning? Yes. But they're outside of the lines at my house. And there's a lot of things in the Bible that aren't answered for how does a local church organize. And so one of the things that the overseers do is they try to answer a lot of those questions that are unanswered.
They try to set some guidance for here's how we're going to handle things here. For example, in this church, you have to be in a community group to commit to membership. Where is that? If there's no verse that says it, there's a whole lot of things that this calls us to. One another is loving one another, caring about one another. There's things that we're supposed to do as Christians.
And we're trying to answer that question as best we can as pastors. How are we going to organize ourselves? How are we going to function together so that we can do the things that this calls us to? And so there are times where we say this is how we're going to approach it as we try to most faithfully carry out what we're called to do here. That's oversight. I've had people call me before and say, hey, my pastor said this about tithing.
My pastor said this about this. What do you think? And at times I've said, that's not how we handle it. They say, what should I do? And I say, what I hope their pastor would say if you called them. I think you should do what your pastor set up for your church.
I think y'all should do that. You should go along. You should, as long as it's not outside of the realm of the Bible, you should follow and make things good. If you need to go talk to them, go talk to them. But I'm not your pastor.
So there's oversight. That's what an elder does. But it says this. An overseer as God's steward. Steward. Steward.
Steward. The role of elder, pastor, overseer in a church is not an elevation to a position of authority where you stand on your own and you care for something that just belongs to you. The church belongs to Jesus. This is why Hebrews 13 says, obey your leaders and submit to them, which is heavy, heavy to hear. That's a hard response. When you're committing to a church, when you're, when we're installing you, we're going to obey and submit to you.
We have to take that very seriously. That's heavy to carry. But he says, obey your leaders and submit to them for they're keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. In Hebrews chapter 13. You're keeping watch over souls to give an account. It's not that you don't get to operate the way you want to operate.
You don't get to set up things the way you want to set them up in, in all this freedom and this sort of thing that works best for you. You're overseeing as a steward. It's the church belongs to God. My, uh, my parents used to have to take a business trip in October every year. And my grandparents would come stay and watch us. And one of the first times they ever did this, my grandparents were at my house for like a week.
When my parents came back, my grandmother had rearranged their kitchen. So like they went to get a spoon and that's not the spoon. That's the, that's not the silverware drawer anymore. Because my grandmother couldn't not just do something. But if you think about the audacity of that, that you would go into someone else's house and be like, I'm just going to, your, your spoons are in the wrong place.
Just the boldness and confidence that you would have to have. And that's their house that they purchased with some money and they live there. The stewardship of the church. Paul tells the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, he says, keep a close watch on yourself and on all the flock whom God purchased with his own blood. Do not underestimate the vehemency and the intensity with which Christ loves his church. Do not underestimate the care and the, the love that he has for his people, that he would purchase them with his own blood.
This is why when you hear of the atrocities of the abuse of power that can happen in the church, there are times where I will pray. When I hear about those things, I'll ask the Lord for help and for grace that we would lead our church well. And then I also reassure myself that Jesus will not let that slide. That we will give an account. And Mike, you're going to stand before the Lord and you're going to give an account for yourself, for your words, for your actions, for the things that you've done, for how you've treated people. Several years ago, you got married.
You added to the list of things that you would give an account for Abby. You will give an account for your wife, for how you cared for her, how you led your household. If the Lord blesses you with children, you will give an account for them. And in a few moments, you will be installed to give an account for the souls of a church purchased by the blood of Jesus. And you will give an account for how you treat people and how you labor and how you pray and how you work and how you care and how you conduct yourself. And you will stand before the Lord.
And I don't exactly know how it's going to work. I don't know if he's going to read off every name of everyone who committed to membership. I don't know how it's going to work. But I know that we will give an account for those that we're commissioned to care for and that he cares about how it's done. So you are an overseer.
An elder is an overseer, but not on his own authority and not over something that belongs to him, but over something that belongs to Jesus as a steward. That's what an elder is. Who is an elder? And that's what he immediately goes into. So let's see.
He says, appoint elders in every town as I directed you. That's verse five. If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife and his children are believers. Another translation for that would be faithful. So there are some questions over whether or not that means they've trusted in Jesus or if it means that they're well, they conduct themselves well, because that's what Timothy would point to.
There's a reason why they translate it believers, but it says, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. So the first thing that it gets into is how does their household look? What does their family look like? Mike, one of the ways that you qualify for eldership is that you love Abby well, that you care well for her. Your family comes before this congregation because this church, our church family is just a bigger family. That's why you look and say, what's the family look like?
Because that's what Paul says in Timothy is he said, if he can't handle his own household well, how would we, how would we trust him to handle the household of God? That's all it is. It's a stepped up family. And it goes both ways. It's that if the things aren't well in your household, then you shouldn't be in this role. And it also means that if things aren't well in your household, it's not just that you won't do this one well.
It's that you have things to focus on. You have a family to care for. You don't get to trade in family for ministry. Jesus specifically addresses that with the Pharisees. He says, you can't, you don't get to just swap out caring for your family to do ministry stuff. That's not how it works.
And so you look and say, how does the family look? I heard a pastor put it this way one time and I thought it was helpful. But when you're looking at an elder, sometimes you're asking the question. One of the clarifying things is, would I want my sons to grow up to be like this man? Would I want my daughter to marry a man like this? Would I want to grow up in a house where this is the father?
If I was going to have to grow up in a house, would I like to grow up in this household? If I found out I was being adopted into this household, would I like being in this household? Because that's some of the first thing you look at is, what does the household look like? And then he says this, for an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. If we were listing out what we wanted in a pastor, I think as Americans, we would be tempted to put a lot of things we want them to be good at. A lot of competencies.
If you're making a resume, you'd say, we want them to be good at this, we want them to be good at this, we want them to be good at this. It's one of the things that we talk about when you talk about pastors. What they're good at. This is talking about character. Because character trumps competency every time. And character outlasts competency every time.
I've known pastors who could flat preach. But they didn't have the godly character to match it and it was a train wreck. We need character. So he says above reproach that there's not anybody who has anything really negative to say about you. That you handle yourself well. Carry yourself well.
We ask our church family. If you know something about Mike that we don't know about and we think he's ready. We've walked through this process very slowly. We take it very slowly on purpose. We want to see seasons of durability. We want to see how he handles life when it's hard, when it's easy, when it's good.
We want to walk with him over time. We want to take him on pastor retreats and torment him and see how he handles it. We want to see what it's like. We want to see what is this man like. We go slowly. But we ask.
We don't see him in all situations. If there's something that you know about him, you come talk to us. And nobody came forward. Which is wonderful. And that's the hope for all pastors. To be above reproach.
That you would have godly character. He says, he's going to list it out, he must not be arrogant. That an elder, if you come to him, to address a problem, to address sin, to sit him down and tell him that the way he preaches needs work. Which is one of the very first conversations Mike Goble and I ever had. It's not the fairest characterization, but it is a way I'd like to characterize it in front of y'all right now. But when you come to someone and you're going to address some sort of humility, they should be able to hear you.
Rants about their greatness in the pulpit. About nobody questions me. Nobody can talk to me about anything. Like that shouldn't happen. They should be non-arrogant. And it's very interesting that's paired with above reproach.
You would think that if someone was, nobody had anything bad to say about them. And then immediately it's like pride would sneak in and he immediately goes to, yeah, they're not arrogant. But Charles Spurgeon, who was a world-class preacher, he was getting negative things written about him. He was getting negative things written about him in the newspapers at one point. And they were asking him about it. And he said, if they knew me better, they could criticize me so much more clearly.
And it would hurt more. He's like, these aren't the good ones. There's good ones that they should know about if they really knew me. And there's a reality to, Mike, above reproach isn't sinlessness because our hope isn't us. And your hope as a church family, our hope as a congregation is not that our pastors would never sin. It's that we would turn to Jesus in sin, that we would continue to seek grace, that we would continue to turn away from sin, that we would not pursue sin, that we would walk in humility.
So that when we're corrected, we'd hear it. If someone comes to you and says, hey, Mike, I need to talk to you. I think you've sinned. You shouldn't be surprised. It's not arrogant. Or quick-tempered.
There are a lot of situations that are very frustrating. There are people who are frustrating. There are situations where people don't handle things well. There are situations where people come in hot, angry, get loud. One of the things that pastors are not supposed to do is match everybody's energy. Be a beautiful, godly, wet blanket to a whole lot of drama.
And it's kindness. But you shouldn't have a quick-tempered pastor. Flies off at the handle. Flies off at the mouth. There should be a lot of times where if you're around a pastor and you're quick-tempered and you're going, aren't you livid? They're like, no.
I'm not. Let's just. That's okay. We're okay. Not quick-tempered. Or a drunkard.
You aren't given to drink. You aren't given to any sort of substance abuse. I believe that pastors should at any moment be able to receive a phone call, get in their car, drive, and go handle things with a clear head. Not controlled by substances. Or violent. Violent.
There is a version of masculinity that our culture puts forward that the most violent man, the most angry, the loudest, the most aggressive is the most manly man. It's not true. Should be under control. So a pastor should, when you address him in his office and tell him he's wrong about a thing or go talk to him and tell him he's sin, he should be humble enough to hear you. And he also shouldn't punch you. But not be given to violence.
Or greedy for gain. There are ways to use the pastorate for your own gain. There are ways to manipulate people. We see it in our culture a lot. Our church is blessed, as of this afternoon, to have three pastors who are lay pastors who work other jobs and just come here and serve for no gain whatsoever other than to obey the Lord. I have a sneaking suspicion that if Mike were greedy for gain, he would keep, I don't know, just being a medical doctor.
And that this is actually kind of costly to him to give any time and energy in this direction on a gain standpoint. Earthly gain standpoint. So then he's going to turn. He's saying things that they shouldn't be. And he's going to turn. He's going to say, but hospitable.
The pastors should be welcoming. Their home should be open. I don't know if any of our pastors will match Raz Bradley for this. But we ought to be hospitable. We ought to be welcoming. I was actually at Mike's house at one point and he was hosting a birthday party for some other people's children.
I was just like, what? Like he's a Chuck E. Cheese or something. Which I think is a service that he offers. I don't know if you have like a website where you let people fill things out. Just talk to him afterwards.
But it was an example of hospitality. It was an example of love that I just was, when I found out what was happening, I was just like, that's so cool. It's so beautiful. But it's not just hospitality towards those in our community groups. It's not just hospitality towards those in our church family. It is, but it's also a hospitality to the stranger, to the person who is difficult, to the person who is odd, to the person who is in need.
Pastors should have a slowness and a pace and a welcoming to someone who's hard to get along with. To be hospitable. I love this next thing. I've spent some time trying to consider what he really means here. But he says a lover of good.
I think that pastors are supposed to hate evil. But I love that he says that you're looking for someone who's a lover of good. Because I think there's times where the tenor of some leadership is anger towards what's broken rather than a love towards what is beautiful. And a pastor is supposed to love what's good. An elder is supposed to be someone who cherishes and delights in what is good, who is excited for what is good, who celebrates what is good, who thinks about it, who draws other people into it. Genuinely points out the blessedness of the goodness of God at work and things, who loves what is good.
And therefore despises what is wrong and what is wicked, but has something that they're aiming at, not just things they're aiming against, but they're pulling towards something good. And you've been around people like this. There's moments where you've been around someone who just loves what's good, so they don't want to do that because this is better. They say, let's not talk like that. Let's not act like that.
Can't we do this? Can't we pursue this? And they pull you towards what is good. And Titus is tasked with looking for people who are like that, who love what is good. Then he says self-controlled.
In the moment, he's going to say disciplined. I think those are twins. Self-controlled, I think, is maybe more moment by moment. It's how you're handling, how you approach life, that you control what you eat, you control what you say, you control how you respond. You control how you want to react. I have to point this out to people periodically.
Just so you all know, this list is a list of things that all Christians should do. There's nothing, it's not like, oh, I'm not a pastor, so I can be violent. It's not, that's not a thing. It's just that if you're looking for someone who's going to fill this role, you're looking for people who are already practicing this. But I have to tell this to people periodically.
First of all, self-control assumes temptation. A lot of times people want the gift of self-control or they're praying for the Holy Spirit to be at work in self-control. What they mean is I don't want to ever want something I shouldn't want. That's not what self-control is. Self-control is controlling yourself when you want something you shouldn't want. Also, culturally, we have this authenticity stuff that we're super into.
And so people will be like, well, I shouldn't do that because I don't want to do it. Or it's fake if I read the Bible and I don't want to. Or I go over there and I just pretend to be nice to people, but I'm being fake or whatever. And the Bible is going to give you another category, which is called being wise and in control of yourself. So if I told you I got really mad at my children, I mean just so mad, but I don't want to be fake.
So I took it out on them. You'd be like, ah, it's like, right, there's self-control. There's wisdom in not saying things, being kind to people. You don't want to be kind. Like all of these things are part of growth. And so he's going to give you self-control as a thing that should be.
And you should see this person and think they handle themselves well. Not they never get angry, but they get angry. You could tell they were angry, but they controlled themselves. They were, it doesn't mean bland, neutral. It just means in control. And then I think discipline then is a more broad category for what that looks like in life.
Do you wake up on time? Do you go to bed on time? Do you show up on time? Do you handle the things you need to handle? Are you growing in ability to operate, to function, to know when things are happening? Do you control your environment?
And then he says, upright and holy. That we're looking for someone who chooses what is good, does what is good, follows after the Lord in obedience, and is set apart. That's what holy is, set apart for the use of Christ. That walks in holiness. That pursues Jesus. That chooses good.
When you're considering what we're looking for in eldership, we're looking for someone who has character. And character is such a blessing. It is such a blessing. If you'd asked me, when I became a pastor of this church, I was 25. If you'd asked me, what's the most important thing for pastors? I would have said character.
Because I knew that was the right answer. Because I had seen it, I had read it. I had read it here. I had read books that read it to me from here. I didn't understand how much that actually, why that makes so much sense and why that's so wonderful. I've since seen people that I've known dearly, walked in life with, studied under, connected with, that have, as pastors, wrecked their marriages, chased substances, sexual sin, stolen.
I've seen anger. Anger. I've seen what lack of character does. I've also seen how much of a blessing, godly, trustworthy, helpful, kind, merciful, loving people are in the real stuff of life. And there's some competency things that go into pastoring, but they're not listed here. Run a well-organized meeting.
Not here. People leave stuff sometimes, they're like, that could have been an email. It's like, well, it's not one of the qualifications. We want to grow in those things. We want to get better at things. We want to develop in those things.
But those aren't the qualifications. And those aren't the things that actually matter when you walk in life with someone for 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years. Mike, we ask people to come forward and say if they knew anything about you that we didn't know and they didn't. But sometimes they don't. And there are pastors who pass away and then people start coming forward. There are pastors who fall into sin and then people start coming forward.
And the prayer and the hope for everyone who steps into this and submits to the stewardship that God is giving them to care for souls is that no one ever comes forward with anything other than... Man, when I needed him, he showed up and he loved. He cried. He brought his Bible. He didn't have the words. We just read together.
We just prayed together. When we needed this, when this happened, when this situation was going on, he just stood there. He held the line. He cared. He loved. Y'all don't understand how generous he was.
No, you don't understand how hospitable he was. You don't understand what it was like when you need to go talk to him. You just... That's what you want. And you don't want to risk doing other things because this belongs to Jesus. That's the hope.
And we're trusting the Lord to help as we try to do that. That's who we're looking for, who the church is looking for. And the question I wanted to ask at the end here is how does an elder carry out the office? And I think this is still part of what he says he's looking for, but he's going to start telling us how that's going to be executed. And he says this in verse 9. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
So we're looking for a man of character. We're looking for someone who's pursuing the Lord. We're looking for someone who's walking faithfully, manages their household well. And we're looking for someone who holds firm to the scriptures. And I love that he says holds firmly to the trustworthy word as taught. Pastors aren't making up new doctrines.
When they stand up and they have some new special thing that only they know about. Leave. Turn it off. Like it. That's not. We're teaching trustworthy.
Word is taught. We've received it. We hold on to it. We protect it. We keep it. We help proclaim it.
We're not coming up with new stuff. So that you could teach sound doctrine. Mike, you're going to be stepping into the role of teaching. You need to know the Bible. You need to love the Bible. You need to hold firmly to the Bible.
You need to understand the hope of the gospel. There are going to be people who are going to tell false gospels. They're going to point to something other than Jesus. They're going to come in and say your hope is actually really here. You need Jesus plus this other thing. There's going to need to be someone who says that's not true.
That's not real. Here's what's going on. Here's what's actually said in the scriptures. I've been reading Nehemiah in my normal reading, and there's a moment where they're building this wall. There's a moment where they're under attack, and so they build with one hand and hold their sword in the other hand. I think it's a good mental image for what a pastor is supposed to be like, what an elder is supposed to be like, is that no matter what's happening, the word's always held on to.
As a pastor, I've had people come tell me, hey, you need to learn this about blank. You need to learn this about psychology. You need to learn this about economics. You need to study this more on politics. You need to really – I've had a lot. And they all mean well.
It's all stuff that they're in and thinking through, and they're saying, hey, you need to study this. You need to study this. You need to study this. And the reality is all of that stuff is helpful if you grow in it and you have some understanding of it. But I need to hold on to the Bible.
And the church needs you to hold on to the Bible, to hold firmly to it so that you can give sound instruction in it. And that if every time you talk with a pastor, they're telling you, well, hey, I heard this recently, and it's some sort of like 30-second clip from Instagram or whatever. Or it's like let's point here. Let's pray. Let's point to Jesus.
Let's look at Colossians. Let's look at what's taught here. Let's stand firm on things that we know will – the word of the Lord will last forever. That's why Paul says keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. To watch your character and the teaching, he says by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers. That there are times where there are people who are going to believe things that are wrong, and they need someone to say that's wrong.
Here's what's true. So you're teaching positively what's good. And then he says so that they may rebuke those who contradict it. One of the complaints about masculinity is just people pointing out that when men behave poorly, it's bad. It's like if men weren't here, it would fix things. That's one of the arguments our culture is making.
We just need to – if you could get men out of here, it would fix things. It would fix men behaving badly, but you would miss out on how wonderful it is when there's godly men who hold the line and do things that are worth doing. And there are so many situations in the church and in life where we look around and go, is there not a man to come in here and help? Is there not a godly man who will hold the line? Is there not somebody here who would fix the situation? And it's such a blessing to the world and to the people around when that happens.
You've been mightily blessed by men in your life who held the line and were a covering and were a shield and were a guard against evil. You've been harmed by the men who weren't. But you're blessed when men do it. And that's the role here, that there would be a guard up, that the church would be so hospitable and welcoming and inviting to everyone who needs to hear the gospel. It would be welcoming and inviting to sinners who are looking for hope in Jesus and then wildly inhospitable to anything that points away from Jesus and anything that comes in that would stir things up or cause problems.
Sometimes there's meant to be men who are guarding that. This is why Paul tells them, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. This is why he tells them to watch yourselves and even out of yourselves will become wolves. He refers to the church as a flock and he says there's going to be wolves here. That's why it's referred to as shepherding because there are sometimes things that need people and lies that need to be run off and things that need to be guarded against and someone needs to stand. And take that graciously, humbly, not quick tempered, not violent, but also unmoving and inhospitable to evil.
My younger son, at times, he'd be playing with his brother down the hall and hear a loud crash. It's not uncommon. And we'd wait and then he'd be crying and he'd bust through the door and he'd run down our hall. And my wife and I would stand and we'd wait. When he ran in the room, if he ran to my wife, he had hurt himself. And he needed comfort and he needed care.
He needed someone who wasn't going to say, you're okay, stop crying. He needed someone who was going to say, oh, and hug him. But if he ran in the room crying and he beelined for me, his brother had hurt him. And he wanted justice. And there are moments in the church where we shepherd by weeping, by praying, by caring, by loving. And there are moments in the church where we stand and we say, this doesn't happen here.
And there's so much joy in a church when that happens. You need someone who rebukes those who contradict it. So, Mike, I want to close with this. In a moment, you're going to step into this. You're going to submit to this. You're going to begin to serve our entire church family.
You will have more responsibility and more people who have laid claims on you. You'll have more people you're going to give an account for. You have more people that you are here to serve. And I want you to have in mind what Paul says at the very beginning of this letter. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. You belong to God and you are sent by Jesus.
You represent him. You are serving him. It's about him. You have an audience of one in so many ways. And then he says, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. So you're serving the Lord sent by Jesus for the sake of your church family.
So that they would have faith, that they would know, that they would grow in knowledge, that they would care, that they would love, that they would walk in godliness. You're doing that as you do it before the Lord. In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began. That the only hope we have is the gospel. The only hope we have is that Jesus Christ saves sinners. The only hope we have is that one day we'll stand before him and we'll be showered and covered by his mercy.
That his grace will cover us as we say, Lord, help me. We have a hope of an eternal life. And then he says, at the proper time manifested it in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. Mike, preach. Grow in preaching. Grow in understanding the word.
Proclaim the gospel. Hold firmly to it. Honestly, man, your first sermon over at Oak Ridge, if I come back, we come listen to you 30 years later, 40 years later, I just hope it's a better, more polished version of the same message. You need Jesus and he's wonderful. And without him, we don't have hope. But with him, we have everything.
Mike, in a moment, we're going to install you in our church family. Where you're here to love, serve, work, labor. As a steward. For the sake of the faith and the knowledge of those whom Christ has entrusted to you here. Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you. We thank you for the hope of the gospel and we thank you for the work of Christ. And we thank you that this is not on the shoulders of men. But that we get to be brought in to love and to care and to serve one another. We ask for your blessing at this time. May you look down on us.
May your spirit fill us. And may you lead us. In Jesus name. Amen. I'd like to ask our pastors to come up here at this time. And Mike, if you will, come up.
Come on in closer. There we go. All right. So we've got some commitment liturgy for you and for our committed membership. So most of this is going to be Mike answering by God's grace.
I do. And at the end, there'll be some liturgy on the screen. If you're committed to this church, you're going to answer by God's grace. We do. So, Mike, do you believe by God's grace in your life that you meet the qualifications laid out in the scripture for an elder and have not hidden sin in order to serve in this capacity? Mike, do you commit yourself to God's word, to study it, meditate on it, and cherish it, striving to mold your life to its instruction and actively seeking to train others to do the same?
By God's grace, I do. Mike, do you commit yourself to keep a close watch on yourself and your sin, being quick to repent when in error? By God's grace, I do. Mike, do you commit to keep a close watch over Mill City Church, sacrificially loving, serving, and leading those to whom God's Holy Spirit has seen fit to make you an overseer? By God's grace, I do. All right.
This one's going to be an I have. See that right there. And, Mike, have you committed your life to Jesus above all else, believing only in the gospel and not your good works, efforts, or success in ministry for your salvation? So, church family, I'm going to ask you a question. And if you're a committed member, respond with, by God's grace, we do. Church family, according to scripture, do we commit to submitting ourselves to Mike's leadership in this church?
By God's grace, we do. All right, brother. By God's grace, through Jesus Christ, we commission you to serve alongside us as an elder of Mill City Church, as God's steward over his beloved church, sacrificially loving, serving, and leading those whom he has assigned for us, for as long as God in his grace allows. So, I'm going to have Matt lead us in a prayer. We're going to lay hands. Good and gracious God, we thank you for your word to us that gives us picture after picture of you revealing yourself and calling people to yourself and setting people apart.
We're thankful for the good news of the gospel that Mike has received, that he has placed his faith in you. He has given his life to you and wants to use his life to serve you as long as you put breath in his lungs. And I'm thankful, Lord, that you have called him to yourself, that he is ready to step into this where he will oversee, where he will love and shepherd and defend our church family and the Oak Ridge Church family. So, God, we commend him to you. He belongs to you, Lord. We willingly and joyfully submit to his leadership.
We ask, God, that you would empower him by your Holy Spirit. We're thankful that this church and all churches belong to Jesus, but help him lead and oversee well. God, we love you. And it is a joy to stand here with this man, this man who is now one of my pastors. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Mike, we have a couple of gifts for you. The first one is this Certificate of Ordination. So we'll hold that up.
Also, on behalf of our church family, you have the entire ESV commentary, New Testament, Old Testament set coming to your house from our church family. Wow. Yes. Yes. Well said, Mike. Wow.
Wow. And we have one final gift for you made by Isaac. A verse that you have. A verse that you have. About darkness and the light. Yep.
You have routinely said this and prayed this, and it has been a part of how you have already been leading in our church. We'll turn it so you can see it. I have come into the world as light. I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. John 12, 46. So we love you, brother.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.