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Raising the Bar Part 1

Wisdom for the Heart / Dr. Stephen Davey
The Truth Network Radio
January 15, 2025 12:00 am

Raising the Bar Part 1

Wisdom for the Heart / Dr. Stephen Davey

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January 15, 2025 12:00 am

When it comes to church leadership, God doesn’t settle for mediocrity. In his letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul outlines clear, high standards for anyone who would shepherd God’s people. These are not just qualifications for those in positions of authority; they serve as examples for every believer on how to live a life that is above reproach. In today’s episode, Stephen Davey explores what it means to "raise the bar" in the character of church leadership—what God looks for in those who will care for His children. We’ll see that these standards encompass not only actions but motivations, integrity, and how leaders conduct themselves at home, in church, and in public. Whether you’re called to lead or to follow, these standards challenge all of us to pursue a life that reflects Christ. This message calls for a renewed commitment to character in a world where leadership is often reduced to charisma and success. Tune in and be encouraged to raise the bar in your own spiritual walk and support leaders who live out God’s vision for the church.

Listen to the full-length version of this sermon: https://www.wisdomonline.org/teachings/titus-lesson-05

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The elder, while not having attained to godly perfection, and no one in the church will until the day of Jesus Christ, but he is committed to demonstrating a godly pattern.

He's willing to submit his life, his activity, his interests, his duties to the list provided to Titus and Timothy for the sake of providing a pattern in living. No elder can claim flawless perfection, but he can pursue faithful progression. Leaders in the church are not men who are perfect. If that were the standard, there would be no leaders at all. We all know this, but church leaders must be constantly progressing in their walk with Christ and pursuing godliness each day. But let's be honest, the problem in most churches is not that the standard for leadership is too high. The problem in most churches is that the standard is far too low. Paul clarified for us what should be expected of church leaders, and we're looking at what Paul wrote in this series called The Shepherd's Mantle.

This is wisdom for the heart. Today, Stephen Davey continues his exposition from the book of Titus with this message called Raising the Bar. A church leader by the name of Jerome wrote a letter to a younger elder in the church, and his letter was dated A.D. 394. And in that letter, he bemoaned the lack of qualified leadership in the church.

It's not a new problem, by the way. In his letter, he went on to include some rather scathing comments reserved for, in particular, his generation of church leaders that he said seemed more interested in the beauty of the cathedral than in the character of the leader. He wrote, and I quote, many build churches nowadays, their walls and pillars of glowing marble, their ceilings glittering with gold, and their altars studded with jewels. Yet to the choice of Christ's ministers in the church, no heed is given. The appointments for leadership were given to the wealthy, the well-connected, the charismatic, winsome leader, rather than to the nature and character of the one appointed, which is all the more tragic when you think that the church has grappled with this, certainly, since the early centuries.

When you consider the role of the elder, the elder is the undershepherd of Jesus Christ who is the chief shepherd of the church, both local and universal. And Jesus Christ has literally entrusted into the care of men his dearest and most costly, most precious possession, his bride, the church, redeemed by his own blood. How precious are you?

How priceless are you? Men who lead in the church are literally shepherding the bride of Christ who happens to be on her way to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We're simply given the care to shepherd, to pasture, to feed, to guide, to protect her along the way until she's handed off, as it were, to Christ, her bridegroom.

Listen, the more value we place on the body of Christ, the more value we will place on the leadership of the body of Christ. I mean, can you imagine any mother or father just going out and getting some random guy off the street and saying, look, for 20 bucks an hour, would you come to our house and watch our kids? We'd like to get away for a little while. We don't care who you are. We don't care what you're going to be like around our kids. We really don't care what you're like.

We just need a break. It's 20 bucks an hour okay. What would that tell you that would inform you of how low the level has been placed upon the lives of those children? You see, the higher the value, the greater the concern for those we entrust with that priceless possession. If you'd come over to babysit back in the early days when our twin sons were about a year old, if you thought you were up to that challenge, I don't know if 20 bucks an hour would be enough.

I think it was about two dollars an hour back then, three, they deserve more, trust me. But you would be there because my wife trusted you and knew something about you. But you'd still discover when you got there that she'd have the whole evening mapped out for you. When bath time was, then after bath time what they would drink and they'd sit in their little chairs and they'd drink that, more than likely another sippy cup, you know, the perfect blend of juice and Benadryl. I'm just teasing. You had that too when you were growing up. I'll bet. And then after that, you know, there'd be story time and by the way, this is the book to read from and then after that is bedtime and this boy gets his little white blanket and that boy gets his little green blanket and this boy gets Barry Beaver and that boy gets Michael Monkey.

Whatever you do, don't mix those up. The entire evening would be mapped out for the babysitter. Listen, my wife had taken months and months of hard work to get those boys on a schedule and she was not about to let it get ruined in one night of riotous living.

There's more to it than that though, of course. These are our precious children. And we're not going to hand them off to anybody, just anybody, to do just anything they well please want to do. Do you think God cares any less about his children than we do ours? God also desires to entrust his precious children to those who will love the flock and warn the flock and guide the flock and guard the flock and teach the flock, literally those who are willing to lay down their lives for the good of the flock, those who are willing to embrace the negatives, the difficulties and the challenges along with the joys and delights of guarding and guiding the flock. In fact, it's interesting when Christ told the church to follow their leaders, there's an interesting text where a nuance of leadership comes out of that much like parenting.

It comes to the surface. The writer of Hebrews instructs the believers in Hebrews 1370 to obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch. They keep watch over your souls. The word translated, keep watch, literally refers to someone going without sleep. Going without sleep. One loving mother or father hasn't lost sleep over the care of their little child or concern over an older child. Losing sleep is tantamount to being a parent.

You never get past that, do you? The older I get, the more I realize I'm gonna be a parent for the rest of my life and they're gonna be children for the rest of their lives. There is that concern that's built in. I don't know about you, but I've always had a hard time falling asleep when my children were still out at night. Our two daughters were the last to leave the nest.

In fact, our last child, our youngest daughter, is starting college in the fall and she'll be gone. And she knows, perhaps more than all the others, poor thing, that Saturday night's curfew is just about like any other night because until she's safely home I have a hard time falling asleep. And I really need to sleep on Saturday night because Sunday's coming and it's the only day I work. Well, I need some sleep.

In fact, we were texting last night and she kindly even came home a little earlier than normal. How many parents, especially of older children, have stayed awake at night praying not only for their physical needs but their spiritual needs, the spiritual well-being of your children? That's the role of a loving, caring, spiritually-minded parent. It's as if God is saying, I want that for my children too.

Why would he want anything less? I want to entrust my children to leaders who are willing to lose sleep over them to care that much. Listen, that's how much God values you because he just sort of backs up the truck for anybody who thinks they want to lead and he says, okay, if you're going to do that then here's who you have to be and here's what you've got to do. So it should come as no surprise then to us that God delivers to the church a list of some 20-plus standards for those who will lead, those entrusted with the charge of his children. Unless somebody is just adamantly opposed and obviously suppressing of the obvious truths of God's Word, it's pretty clear to the Bible student that God isn't about to entrust the well-being of his church to just anybody to do whatever they good and well-pleased to do. Now in our last session, we discussed the biblical roles of the elder, pastor, bishop, those three terms used interchangeably of the same man, same office, same body of men. We talked about their role of guarding and guiding and protecting and leading and feeding.

That's what he does among other things. As a loving, caring, spiritually minded shepherd, that's what he does. But now we're told and we're given a lot more information not about what he does but who he is. There are two lists in the New Testament about this kind of individual. The first list is 1 Timothy 3, the parallel passage, and that's the longer list and we'll deal with that when we get there one day, Lord willing. We're going to deal with a shorter list which is in Titus 1 which basically repeats much of, most of what Timothy read from the hand of Paul about the same time. So turn to the list of qualifications as Paul writes them to Titus and let's pick up where we left off at verse 5 of chapter 1. For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion, for the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. I mean, you get to the end of a list like that and every church leader feels something stirring in his soul that sounds something like, I resign.

Who's going to begin to approach this? In fact, if you compare this list with 1 Timothy, you come up with 23 standards or qualifications and if you include aspiration, if any man aspires, if you consider that equally a qualification which I do, you're at 24. Who can possibly meet these standards, especially when the very first qualification so clearly says above reproach? By the way, it shows up that way also in 1 Timothy 3. Same order, above reproach. For those of you who are considering the office and those of you with me serve, you need to know that I guess if you're going to start there, you might as well end there, above reproach.

You don't need to read any further, right? Well, the word might be helpful for you to know that Paul uses here, translated above reproach, is a word that does not refer to perfection but to a pattern. An elder, like any member of the flock, is a fallen sinner and sinners do what? Sin.

But here's the difference. The elder, while not having attained to godly perfection and no one in the church will until the day of Jesus Christ, but however, here's the difference. He is committed to demonstrating a godly pattern in life. He's willing to submit his life, his activity, his interests, his duties to the list provided to Titus and Timothy for the sake of providing a pattern in living.

No elder can claim a flawless perfection but he can pursue faithful progression. And here's the pattern of that kind of progression in Titus chapter 1. And you need to know that the words above reproach just sort of serve as a categorical heading. It's like that's the summary statement and every qualification that follows is hinged to that opening statement. Everything is connected back to that. He's to be above reproach as it relates to his marriage, as it relates to his parenting, as it relates to his character, as it relates to his public and private lifestyle. Here's the pattern.

Here's what you pursue. And why must the elder pursue this pattern? Because his life as a leader is then becoming a pattern for all who follow him. And Jesus Christ takes that very seriously, obviously. Leadership is tantamount to influence. Leadership equals endorsement. The very nature of leadership invites imitation.

And you think, well that's wrong, that shouldn't be. Oh no, the New Testament certainly doesn't discourage it. In fact the New Testament not only acknowledges that truth, it unashamedly encourages it. Paul wrote to the believers in Philippians 3.17, Brethren, join in following my example and, not just me as an apostle, note this, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. And I don't know about you but as a believer I love to see an older man ahead of me.

I love to watch him and learn from him. That's just part of how God has set up the church. We'll find in chapter 2, older women turn around and provide the pattern for younger women. Older men turn around and provide a pattern for younger men.

Follow the pattern you have in us. Another text encourages the believer in Hebrews 13.7, remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. The New Testament doesn't say don't imitate anybody, it says in fact do that. The apostle Peter tells the elders to be an example, 1 Peter 5.4, literally a tupos, a pattern, a type for the flock to follow.

Paul wrote what seems to be an audacious comment. If you grasp what he's saying, it isn't within the balance of the entire text but he writes to the Corinthian believers who were in desperate need of a model. He says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1, be imitators of me as I imitate Christ. Paul didn't tell them to imitate him just because he was an apostle or a leader. He tells them to imitate him as he imitates Christ. Because you can't see Christ, so Christ has given us leaders, we can see them. So the reason you have this list here in Titus chapter 1 is you basically have a pattern put into print which is nothing more or less than the character of Jesus Christ, which we all pursue. The reason a leader must pursue this pattern of living is because he's setting a standard for all those who follow him to pattern after him their own lives and their own conduct.

Oh, we who lead, it must be nothing less than leading them to follow Jesus Christ. We are imitators by nature and the New Testament plays on that and encourages that. All you have to do is look around the world and you know that imitation is part of human nature, right? Madison Avenue has built a billion dollar plus industry on the fact that we all basically want to follow in. We want to melt in and we want to fit in. We are by nature copycats.

I hate to use that word in reference to me or any of you, but you know what I mean. I read a couple of days ago in fact about this. It's on the news. Riot police were called to a mall in Orlando, Florida to try to control a mob. The mob had gathered and they were waiting. They were waiting to have a chance to buy Nike tennis shoes. The shoes were a limited edition going on sale at the moment the NBA All-Star Game began. They're also in Orlando and only then and when the shoes were gone, that was it. So people were gathering waiting for the whistle and riot police were there to keep control. See, these were the shoes worn by athletes they looked up to.

Because their models wore them, they wanted to wear them too and there's really nothing wrong with that. That's our human nature. Humans want to be like people they admire. The New Testament knows that and then sets in this line men who will be patterned after.

With that though comes the downside, doesn't it? People we admire may not be worth admiring. Imitation is not all bad.

Just make sure the people we are imitating are worthy of imitation. You have to battle that even with the Madison Avenue mentality. Today, billions of dollars are spent by children under the age of 10 and the mentality of the marketing world goes after them. We have reports now and enough data to know that it is that elementary school child that picks the kind of car their parents drive, the kind of shoes they wear, the kind of lunchbox they carry, the pants and the shirts and the blouses and whatever on them. So trends are created and fads are established and then rotated around to keep the money flowing. Think about it. Those of you that wear neckties, I see maybe three out there that still do.

Those neckties over the years have gone really wide and then really skinny and then really wide and then really skinny and then really wide and then really skinny. Why? Because we like variety?

No, because the money needs to keep flowing. It isn't all bad but we have to make sure we're imitating something worth imitating. No wonder James the Apostle said, listen, let me recommend to you in the body that not many of you become teachers. Why? Because you're going to incur a stricter judgment.

Why? Because your life will be multiplied potentially many times over in the lives of those who've patterned, who've made decisions, who've made allowances, who've determined their lifestyles after yours. And for that reason, Paul then begins with this qualification. Make sure the one leading is above reproach. This word does not denote sinless perfection or even a pristine past.

Paul didn't have one. But it does refer to a general assessment, one author wrote, of a man's maturity and reputation. I found it interesting in studying the grammar of this text that this is a compound Greek word. The first part means up and the second part means to call, to call up, literally. It has the idea of a man not only receiving a high calling, answering a high calling, but it also has the nuance of a high standard, a high level of living, a higher pursuit, which with it comes limitations and allowances unique to this role. What came to my mind when I studied the word was the idea of raising the bar, like that high jumper who continually tries to excel higher and higher. That is the heart and the passion of the leader. It isn't what can I get away with, what would be allowed, but how high can we raise the bar.

To call up can simply refer to raising the standard. And ladies and gentlemen, and I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but in a world where the standard has all but disappeared for a lifestyle worth imitating, it is more desperately needed than ever. Eugene Peterson writes these challenging words, there is little to admire and less to imitate in the people who are prominent in our culture. We have celebrities, but not saints.

If we look around for what it means to be a mature, whole, blessed person, we don't find much. These people are around, but they're not easy to pick out. No journalist interviews them. No talk show features them. They do not set trends. No Oscars are given for integrity. And at year's end, when the list of the 10 best dressed or the 10 best looking is compiled, no one compiles a list of the 10 best lived lives. Our society today is devoid of models. Neither the adventure of goodness nor the pursuit of righteousness gets headlines anymore. The question now isn't in the mind of Paul and even with this challenge, where are the perfect people, but where are the people who live lives worthy of being patterned after?

Where is the progression and a demonstration of that with commitment and passion? Let me tell you this, beloved. We are the answer to that. We as a church.

The church is the answer to that question that our world is asking now like never before. How am I supposed to live? What's right?

What's wrong? What's acceptable? What's not acceptable? What's holy?

What's unholy? The church is the answer to that. Every Christian is to be an example. In fact, even the younger believers are implicitly challenged by Paul when he writes to young Timothy to be an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity, 1 Timothy 4-12. If the leaders of the church are to be godly because they are being imitated, then that means the ones who are following them will have the same goal in mind. We are all pursuing the character of Jesus Christ. We all have the calling. We all must together raise the bar. That's why the Apostle Peter could write that every Christian needs to apply with all diligence.

He's not writing to leaders. He's writing to the believers as well. Add to your faith moral excellence and to moral excellence knowledge and to knowledge self-control and in your self-control perseverance and in your perseverance godliness and in your godliness brotherly kindness and in your brotherly kindness love for these qualities are yours and are increasing. They render you neither useless nor unfruitful. You can just hear them as he writes that, just the bar being raised higher and higher.

Every Christian is to be an example for everyone else. In fact, you're being watched. You may not know it, and I don't mean by me. You're being watched by someone. Some of you have many people who are watching you.

Maybe you're a leader out in the community and there are a lot of people that are watching decisions you make, choices you make, the lifestyle you've chosen, and they're patterning themselves after you because they admire you. Every Christian is to set a godly and holy example, and certainly every Christian leader is to provide a demonstration of progression in this pattern within the Christian community. What an important reminder that is today. You're listening to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. We're currently in a series from Titus 1 entitled The Shepherd's Mantle. It's a series about the qualifications for elders, but as you heard today, it's for all of us. Today's message called Raising the Bar is not done, so Stephen will bring you the conclusion to this message next time. Be sure and join us.

We'd love to hear how the teaching you hear on Wisdom for the Heart is helping you in your walk with Christ. Please take a few moments and write to us. Our email address is info at wisdomonline.org. Our mailing address is Wisdom International, P.O.

Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27627. Be sure and like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter or Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. However it is that you want to interact with us, we'd enjoy hearing from you. Be sure and join us next time for the conclusion of today's message, right here on Wisdom for the Heart.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-15 00:56:55 / 2025-01-15 01:06:40 / 10

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