The Corinthian Church
My Wednesday Morning Men Bible Study is studying 1st Corinthians. In the epistle, the apostle Paul has to defend his apostleship to some of the members of the Corinthian Church. At the start of chapter 9, he is encouraging the Corinthian church to give up their rights as believers in order to show love to one another. At the same time, he is defending his authority as an apostle. Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions to point out that he has laid aside his rights for his love of the Corinthians. Verse 6 refers to how Paul works as a tent-maker to support himself as he ministers in Corinth.1 Corinthians 9:6Paul is pointing out that he and Barnabas have the right to not work with their hands for a living and to be supported by the Corinthian church. He argues later in the passage that a preacher should be supported for his preaching. However, according to the following commentator, Paul is also making a subtle point about the value of his work as a tent-maker.
Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
Gordon D. FeeTraveling philosophers came through Corinth all the time. They supported themselves by getting wealthy patrons to support them while the philosophers taught in the city square. The Roman and Greek cultures disdained manual labor. The Corinthians must have thought it was pretty strange for Paul to work as a common laborer while he was preaching the gospel. However, Paul was establishing the church and was removing any obstacles to the Gospel. Paul had a dual purpose in asking this question. He wanted the Corinthians to follow his example of sacrificial service and he wanted them to realize that being a manual laborer did not detract from his credentials as an apostle. Paul teaches elsewhere that work, even manual labor honors God (Colossians 3:23).
The implication is that the problem for the Corinthians is not simply that he took no support from them (i.e. that he refused to take patronage in the home of one of their wealthier members), but that he supported himself in the demeaning fashion of working at a trade. What kind of activity is this for one who would be an “apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ”? Paul’s point of course is that he has the right not to, even though he rejected it. (p. 404, First Epistle to the Corinthians (The new international commentary on the New Testament) by Gordon D. Fee ( 1987 ) Hardcover).
Great Commission Leadership Institute
The Downtown Campus Leader are studying the Great Commission Leadership materials together. One of the chapters mentioned the problems the Great Commission Church Movement experienced and addressed. The Great Commission Churches admitted that they did appoint unqualified elders back in the 1970s and 1980s. They had good reasons. The movement was made up of young men and women just out of college or still in college. Churches were being planted in campuses all over the United States. They needed pastors immediately. GCC leadership patterned their church after the model of the first century church and as they read Acts they noticed apostles were uneducated and young. They concluded they did not need to follow the elder requirements outlined in in 1 Timothy and Titus too closely. The leaders decided the new pastors would learn on the job. They chose men who showed leadership skills and called it good. However, many of the problems the Great Commission churches encountered in the 1980s were because of immaturity in their leaders and their lack of doctrinal knowledge. David Bovenmeyer, one of the key leaders of the GCC, commented on the problems.David Bovenmeyer
We acknowledge that there were instances where some of us in our immaturity tended to lead more by coercion and compulsion than by inspiration and example. Some men, especially in the early years of our movement, were appointed as pastors, or assumed the responsibility of a pastor, before they fully met the qualifications set forth in the Scriptures, and so were unable to consistently lead in a God honoring way. ... At times, were overly directive in the personal affairs of church members and were not always sufficiently sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading in the person's life. (p. 218, GCLI Book III, Grace in Dealing with Criticism)
Haiti
In Haiti last spring, I had a conversation with one of the World Wide Village staff. She pointed out that a couple of the pastors let a fingernail on one of their pinky fingers grow long. We asked her why? She said it was a fashion statement. It was a way to indicate to the world that they were not common laborers. They wanted to demonstrate they were respected men in the community who did not need to keep their fingernails trimmed to make a living. These men are godly men who sincerely love the Lord, but their culture has blinded them to a pride issue. In the United States, we need to pray humbly for the Holy Spirit to identify blind spots in our ministry.John Bunyan
John Owen was one of the most famous Puritan pastors of the 17th century. He was an Oxford educated theologian, who wrote theological treatises that are still studied and quoted today. Owen was extremely well connected politically and academically. He avoided most of the persecution of the Puritan churches because of his connections.John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress: a book that became the most influential Christian classic ever written. However, Bunyan was not connected politically: he was imprisoned several years for his beliefs. John Bunyan was not well educated and was a lowly tinker. A tinker repaired pots and pans. It was not a highly respected occupation. It was considered a semi-skilled occupation fit for only for gypsies and transients. It was probably considered to be very similar in how tent-making in the apostle Paul's day was considered. John Bunyan; however, had one big fan. John Piper told this story in one of his biographies, but this website had a shorter synopsis.
John Owen once went to hear John Bunyan preach. Charles II, hearing of it, asked the doctor why someone as thoroughly educated as he would want to hear a mere tinker preach. Owen replied, "May it please your Majesty, if I could possess the tinker's abilities to grip men's hearts, I would gladly give in exchange all my learning." http://www.reformationtheology.com/2008/04/john_owen_john_bunyan.php)
The Qualifications
The following passages are the main passages concerning the qualifications for elder in the New Testament.1 Timothy 3:1-7
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 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, for 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, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
Titus 1:6-9One of my favorite theologians of the 20th century is Francis Schaeffer. He thought hard and long about the Church in the 20th century and wrote the following about these passages.
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.
Francis SchaefferSchaeffer also points out that Paul has given the Church much flexibility concerning how the elders are chosen, how they are organized, and how they are to rule. Elders could be hired or elected by the congregation or chosen by the elder board. Because of the church's culture, there may be requirements that are added to help ensure that the requirements are met. For example, there may be a probationary period for an elder candidate so that the congregation can evaluate the candidate and see if he exhibits the character traits needed. However, as Schaefer points out, we subtract and add to these requirements at our own peril. Any additional requirements should be to support the biblical standard and not be an independent requirement.
The church has no right to diminish these standards for the officers of the Church, nor does it have any right to elevate any other as though they are then equal to these which are commanded by God himself. These and only these stand as absolute.
Conclusion
Notice in these requirements for elder, there is nothing about the man's occupation, education level, rhetorical skills (Exodus 4;10-12; 2 Corinthians 10:10), manners, or his clothing. A tent-maker, a tinker, a garbage men, a barrista or a college professor should be equally qualified to be an elder, if they meet the other criteria. All work, whether ecclesiastical or secular, management or manual, should be honored in the church.There are many applications to this truth, but I will only list two. First, when we evaluate an elder candidate, we must be careful not to judge the man on cultural standards. For example, we may be tempted to overlook that a man is a recent convert, because he is a CEO of a company and has great people management and money handling skills. Or we may overlook a godly man because he is just a garbage collector and intends to stay one. If we do not closely look at the man, we may overlook that he may want to remain a garbage man because his hours are flexible enough to allow him to minister almost full time.
Second, every man should aspire to be a leader in his home and prayerfully consider his giftedness to become an elder. No one should disqualify themselves from becoming an elder because of his occupation. He should consider the biblical critieria and whether he is gifted in that area.
Becoming an elder is a "noble task." However, not all men are to become elders. All men should lead in their home and take responsibility to be godly men in their spheres of responsibility (i.e. family, home, work, neighborhood, etc). There is a certain giftedness to become a pastor. It is a humbling, Word-centric ministry. The men who aspire to be elders should not do it for selfish gain or selfish pride, but to seek the opportunity to proclaim Christ through boldly preaching and humbly serving. All jobs have prestige, if they are done with skill (Proverbs 22:29) and if it is done for the Lord (Colossions 3:23). God has gifted people in the church to serve in different ways and all those ways should be honored.
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