Qualifications for faithful men and women at Faith

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Qualifications for faithful men and women at Faith

• The Elder leadership of this body is one year old
  today!
• Today we will have our annual meeting after
  worship and we as Elders will begin to lead this
  body forward as the New Testament instructs us.
• Part of this which was discussed at the retreat
  in Dec is what we will be studying today.
• 2 Timothy 22 is the back drop for this
• 21 So you, my child, be strong in the grace
  that is in Christ Jesus. 22 And entrust what you
  heard me say in the presence of many others as
  witnesses to faithful people who will be
  competent to teach others as well.

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• Three phrases are important here.
• Entrust
• Faithful people
• To be competent to teach others the same.
• Entrust is the act of discipleship or pouring out
  your life into another- 2 Tim 46 For I am
  already being poured out as an offering, and the
  time for me to depart is at hand.

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• Note however, that it is not just to anyone but
  faithful ones. Those who are hungry to learn, to
  follow Christ and the vision and leadership of
  this Church, to invest their lives in the cause
  of Christ for this body and the broader body that
  they reside in.
• Competent- Until they are well equipped to equip
  others.

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• Part of what we as Elders are setting about to do
  is to develop these faithful ones.
• We believe Christ would have our church set about
  the task of building up these servants. This work
  force is not the same as our leadership, but it
  should include all our leaders. In addition,
  there are those who are Christian modelsexamples
  of mature and righteous living, perhaps without
  the gifting for leadership, but live the same
  values we want modeled by the leaders and have
  gained maturity and experience in serving God.
  Therefore, they should be considered a part of
  our faithful ones, servants of the Lord.

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• 2. Important points on these people
• They are a potent tool in the hands of the Lord
• a godly and mature work force accomplishes much.
• The heart of the church also arises from these,
  and all sense of vision and unity emanate from
  this group.
• When we are "intent on the same purpose and
  united in spirit," we experience fellowship that
  is nourishing and refreshing

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What do these faithful ones look like?

• 1.They must be highly trained and sophisticated -
  2 Tim 215 Make every effort to present yourself
  before God as a proven worker who does not need
  to be ashamed, (correctly handling) teaching the
  message of truth accurately (cut straight).
• We cannot accomplish our mission today with a
  work force that is ignorant or simplistic.

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• 2. the level of training often found in the
  established church today is inadequate
• 3. We need a strong focus on the truth of the
  Word of God.

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• 2. They must be caring.
• God's servant is to be gentle and patient when
  wronged, at the same time he or she should be
  firm and immovable on the truth, including
  "correcting those who are in opposition" (2 Tim.
  224-26).
• 3. They must be lead-able
• If Christians won't respond to godly leadership,
  they are an un-cohesive mob, not a godly work
  force.

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• The Bible teaches that those who want to serve
  God should also be prepared to loyally follow the
  legitimate leadership in the local church
• Heb1317 Obey your leaders and submit to them,
  for they keep watch over your souls and will give
  an account for their work. Let them do this with
  joy and not with complaints, for this would be no
  advantage for you. Church leadership is
  authorized by God to direct the operation of the
  church. The principle of rebellion is the
  principle of Satan. We cannot do God's work using
  Satan's principle.

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4. They must be cohesive

• Scripture is clear that we are to be united in
  spirit and intent on one purpose (Phil. 22
  complete my joy and be of the same mind, by
  having the same love, being united in spirit, and
  having one purpose. ) We are to be diligent to
  preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
  peace (Eph. 43). This means that mature servants
  of the Lord have a strong desire to be cohesive
  as part of a team. It also means mature servants
  elect to practice interpersonal disciplines which
  will increase unity

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What are some of these disciplines?

• They will not take up the offense of another when
  they have not heard both sides. They will insist
  that those with complaints resolve their problems
  maturely (Prov. 330 2617).
• They will avoid unrighteous judgments of others.
  Judging motives is one type of unrighteous
  judgment. Scripture commands us to "not go on
  passing judgment before the time, but wait until
  the Lord comes who will both bring to light the
  things hidden in the darkness and disclose the
  motives of men's hearts and then each man's
  praise will come to him from God" (1 Cor. 45
  Rom. 1410).

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• 3. They will handle disagreement in the right way
  so as to avoid ruining the unity of the church,
  by going to the leadership and discuss problems
  they are having in a timely way. They will not
  resort to power tactics involving inciting others
  to rise up against their opponents. Such tactics
  destroy trust and break down the ability of a
  group to work together Eph 431 You must put away
  every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath,
  quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk. They must
  not slander anyone, but be peaceable, gentle,
  showing complete courtesy to all people. Tit 33
  For we too were once foolish, disobedient,
  misled, enslaved to various passions and desires,
  spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and
  hating one another.

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• 4. Those who dissent from leadership directions,
  and feel their disagreement is serious, should
  seek understanding or compromise with the
  leadership of the church. If they cannot obtain
  agreement with the leadership of the church, they
  need to consider
• 1) ignoring the difference and serving in harmony
  with the leadership's direction 1Cor 65 I say
  this to your shame! Is there no one among you
  wise enough to settle disputes between fellow
  Christians?

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• 2) finding a church more in agreement with their
  own point of view. Acts1539,40 They had a sharp
  disagreement, so that they parted company.
  Barnabas took along Mark and sailed away to
  Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and set out,
  commended to the grace of the Lord by the
  brothers and sisters.
• 5. They will also consider it mandatory that they
  learn to forgive those who wrong them. Col 313
  bearing with one another and forgiving one
  another, if someone happens to have a complaint
  against anyone else. Just as the Lord has
  forgiven you, so you also forgive others. .",
  forgiveness ranks higher then avoiding hurt or
  wrongdoing. This is because avoidance of hurt is
  not always possible, but forgiveness is always
  possible.

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5. They must be committed.

• Commitment is more important than gifting or
  seniority for servants of Christ.
• Committed Christians regularly participate in
  personal and corporate prayer, Christian
  fellowship and in sacrificial giving (1Tim. 21
  Heb. 1024, 25 Gal. 56,13).
• They are committed to the direction and vision of
  this church as a whole, and not just to their
  particular role in it. 1 Corinthians1212 For
  just as the body is one and yet has many members,
  and all the members of the body though many
  are one body, so too is Christ.

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• Commitment to this church carries the connotation
  of loyalty even if we dont agree on every point,
  and in fact, especially when we don't agree on
  every point. When we agree on every point, we
  don't need any loyalty because nothing challenges
  our involvement. Only when disagreements surface
  are we confronted with the need for loyalty.
• If we are unable to deliver such loyalty, it
  suggests we have a problem with the leadership so
  serious it could interfere with our ability to
  play an effective role as part of the team. When
  we have serious reservations with the leadership
  or others on the team, we need to be proactive in
  resolving those problems.

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6. They should be flexible.

• Christians who are bound to traditions and
  external forms are ill-equipped to be effective.
  God expects mature servants to be willing to
  cooperate with change in ministry. This is not a
  one-time event. It should be a willingness to
  change as often and as much as needed in order to
  remain effective in the Lord's service. While the
  immature will usually complain and resist change,
  mature servants should work for change when
  appropriate without complaining and should trust
  God for their security.

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• 1 Cor 920 To the Jews I became like a Jew to
  gain the Jews. To those under the law I became
  like one under the law (though I myself am not
  under the law) to gain those under the law. 921
  To those free from the law I became like one free
  from the law (though I am not free from Gods law
  but under the law of Christ) to gain those free
  from the law. 922 To the weak I became weak in
  order to gain the weak. I have become all things
  to all people, so that by all means I may save
  some.

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7. They must operate on the premise of serving
the Lord, and doing his will.

• do not operate based on wrong motives such as
  egotism, appreciation from others, recognition,
  power, loneliness or any other sinful motives for
  ministry. We will be found out by the devil if we
  have such veins of moral weakness in our work
  force.
• We are here to serve God. As such, we can't claim
  we need to be schmoozed with every change, and
  have our feathers smoothed at every step.

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• Servants of the Lord know what other people do or
  don't do is not the reason for their spiritual
  state. Those who attribute their own quitting,
  defection or personal sin to the actions of
  others are revealing wrong motives for ministry.
  Each of us has been let down by leaders and
  colleagues and we will be let down again. But
  this is never an excuse for turning aside from
  the path the Lord has for us. (John 2115-23)
• We cannot agree that others made us fall from the
  Lord's way, or that we can only get up from our
  fallen state when these others do x, y or z to
  repair the damage. If we have diverged from God's
  way, we are the only ones to blame, and we must
  rise up to serve the Lord.
• 2Tim23

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• 2Tim 23 Take your share of suffering as a good
  soldier of Christ Jesus. 24 No one in military
  service gets entangled in matters of everyday
  life otherwise he will not please the one who
  recruited him. 25 Also, if anyone competes as an
  athlete, he will not be crowned as the winner
  unless he competes according to the rules. 26
  The farmer who works hard ought to have the first
  share of the crops.