That said, from 1 Timothy 3 verses 1 through 7, I say to you, hear the Word of God. It is a trustworthy statement, if any man aspires to the office of Overseer it is a fine work he desires to do. An Overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the Church of God, and not a new convert so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil, and he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Jesus, I pray simply that you would come by your spirits and open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf and that you would be in my head and in my thinking and in my heart and in my understanding and in my mouth and in my speaking, in your name, we pray these things I meant and I meant. What we are finally getting back to 1 Timothy, actual detects, remember I preached through the 23rd Psalm for about a month and I kept saying, this is a series on 1 Timothy and many of you didn't buy that and you said it no, it's a series on Psalm 23 nonetheless, we're back. And in order to give you sort of a catch up, we're starting in chapter 3 is where we're starting again and just to give you some quick background for the letter as a whole, if you remember in 1 Timothy, it was written generally for a general purpose and the general purpose was to teach Timothy how to order the Church of God, what should it look like, how should it be organized, what sorts of things should happen with regard to social ministries and with preaching and with worship and all these things. That was the general purpose, but the specific purpose that this letter was written is because there were actually some men, remember Paul says certain men, who were actually bringing disrepute upon the Church, who were bringing disorder to the Church, who were actually causing a lot of problem. And so what Paul did was he wrote to address this micro problem and in the process ends up giving us sort of a macro template for what the Church ought to look like and because of that what Timothy gets really is a two-fold mission in this book. If you remember in chapter 1, Paul tells Timothy, Timothy tells certain men or command certain men to stop teaching strange doctrine, that certain men apparently were coming in teaching a gospel that was different than Paul's. He doesn't say it's heresy, he doesn't say it's bad, in fact he doesn't even doing them the dignity of saying they're important. He just says they're bogus, these guys are useless, their teaching is irrelevant and it leads only to endless speculation, Timothy tells these bad elders to stop it. That's the first part of Timothy's task. The second part on the other hand is positive, Timothy, you are to put in place over this congregation good elders or good overseers, on one hand you stop the bad teaching, on the other hand you sort of advocate and help and train people so that the congregation can have good teaching and a good model in front of them. So that's where we find ourselves today where Paul actually says he's given us two chapters of what a bad elder is and now today he's saying, Timothy this is the type of person elder you should have and the word overseer here can be translated as overseer or bishop or elder and so if you hear me saying elder when it says overseer in front of you, that's just they mean the same thing. So what's going on here, you see one, the first thing you have to notice in this passage is what Paul, the importance of Paul attaches in verse 1, he says it is a trustworthy statement if any man aspires to the office of overseer it is a fine work he desires to do. Paul uses that phrase, it is a trustworthy statement five times in this letter and every time he uses it, you know what he is saying is paramount, you know that it's extremely important, it's almost as if you don't get anything else in this letter, remember what I said here, it's a trustworthy statement, it's sort of like remember I've told you about my friend from Alabama where he would he would punctuate everything that he was going to do with, you can write that down. I'm going to go home, I'm going to fire my associate pastor, you can write that down. Right? Whenever he said he was going to do something, he really meant it, he said you can write that down. Why? Because he knew it was in stone. I'm going to do it and you can guarantee it. And that's what Paul says. He says these things in this letter to first Timothy, in a sense he's saying you can write this down if an man aspires to the office of overseer it's a fine work he desires to do. He said he uses the phrase, it's a trustworthy statement. And the thing you have to get in order to understand the second trustworthy statement, this one, it's the second time he uses this, you must understand the first one. And in order to embrace this trustworthy statement, you've got to understand and embrace the first one. What's the first trustworthy statement that Paul uses in this letter to first Timothy? It's in verse 15 of chapter 1, he said it is a trustworthy statement deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am the worst. The only hope you have of understanding the second one, if a man aspires to the office of overseer, it's a fine work he desires to do is by understanding the first one. Why is that? Well, first of all, when he says it is a trustworthy statement that a man, if he aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do, Paul's not being patronizing there. In fact, Paul is being deadly serious because what he's doing, first of all, is he's encouraging men to actually pursue the office of elder. The reason he has to encourage them is because at least in the church and emphasis, there was a good chance that when you did that, you would die or at least you would get persecuted or your toenails were propped off or thrown to the lion, something, so that you needed a little encouragement if you were going to move in that direction. On the other hand, he's deadly serious and he's honest because this is a fine work that really is a Greek technical term that was used by people like Plato and other writers and fine work actually means a work that is excellent but is also arduous and difficult. So when he says if a man aspires to do the office of an overseer, he aspires to do a quote fine work and what people would have heard was a work that is excellent but it is also arduous. It's very good but it's also very hard. He's not sort of glossing over and saying that's a great thing to be an elder. He's saying it's an excellent thing but it's a hard thing. Why is it an excellent thing and why is it a hard thing because of the first trustworthy statement? The first trustworthy statement, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It's an excellent work because the overseer's primary task is to communicate, to broken and lost sinners, the Christ Jesus came into the world for them. That's excellent. I have the privilege of doing that every single week. Elders have the privilege of doing that every single week. Maybe not publicly but they do it one on one. They do that. That's an excellent part of their work. The difficult part of their work also is relying upon the first statement. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You see it's excellent that they get to sell sinners about Jesus. It's arduous and difficult because most sinners do everything they can to avoid Jesus. Right? In a sense there are messengers for Jesus on one hand, on the other hand, the ones who were the recipient of the message often seek to kill the messenger. Right? So it's an excellent thing to be an overseer. It's also an arduous thing. It's a hard thing. The other thing that makes it paramount that you look at the first trustworthy statement in order to embrace the second trustworthy statement is the fact that at least in my case I don't want to speak for the elder, candidates we have or any other pastor. When I look at the list, in and of itself, it's very prohibitive. In other words, if I read this statement and polls commentary on it, the first question, it's a fine work he desires to do now. He must be, and I read that and I think to myself, why am I here? Why am I here? Right? If this is what it takes to be an elder, overseer, pastor, minister, there must be some mistake for me to be here because I am the least of all of these things. I'm broken and hurting and needy and how am I supposed to deal with this? And the answer, of course, is kick back to the first trustworthy statement, Tommy. It's just like to be attitudes. Remember if you were here when I preached to be attitudes? And remember Jesus says in the sermon on the mount, all of these statements, he says you've heard it said, do not murder, but I say if you've ever even been angry, you're in danger of the fires of hell. And so then of course you're going, okay? What now? Either I despair or I try harder. And Jesus goal is to get you to despair because if you despair, what does that do? It kicks you back to the first be attitude, blessed are the poor and spirit. And so when you look at these trustworthy sayings and Timothy, you come to the very, the second one, and he says it as a fine work, if someone aspires to the work of elder, and at least if you're me, you despair. And what does that do? It kicks you back to the first one. The first statement in Paul's commentary upon it, the first statement is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am the chief. And then he adds his commentary, he says, yet for this reason I found mercy so that in me as foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who have believed in him for eternal life. Oh, that's why I'm here. This whole thing isn't about me, it's about Jesus. And that's the first thing an overseer needs to understand and to realize. You see, most of the commentaries that I've read on this list and every sermon that I've ever heard about from this text comes off being very self-righteous, because what do people say? They look at this list and they say, aha, look at this, you Presbyterians, all you care about is doctrine, but this list, there's 15 things and 14 of them have to do with character and only one, maybe able to teach has to do with doctrine. But the error of that is this, that your doctrine or what you believe defines how you live, it defines your character. So if your doctrine is screwed up, your character is going to be screwed up as well. What was the problem with the false opponents in Ephesus? Their doctrine was screwed up and so therefore their character was screwed up, right? They forbade people to marry and while they themselves were sexually promiscuous, they told people not to eat certain things while they themselves did everything. They were very inconsistent in their character. And what Paul says to us here is if you embrace and understand the second trustworthy statement, what it means to be an overseer, you've got to understand the first and that changes everything. That means in fact that an elder in a church is not the paragon of moral virtue, that's not his job. The elder is the one in the church who understands the gospel better than anyone else. The elder is not one who seeks to put himself above people and say, look how moral I am, I can gut it out better than any of you. What the elder or overseer says is I understand more than anyone else how undeserving I am of the mercy of God and Christ. Because I've so understood that and because he has apparently called me and said, Tommy, now you will be made an example to those who will trust in Jesus. Because of that, my job now is not to be moral but it's to apply the gospel. And it's to apply it three different ways. At least it's to apply it to myself privately, it's to apply it to my house and my household, but also it's to apply it to those outside. You see that changes everything. The elder is not the moralist in the church but the elder is the one who should be the most broken. The elder is the one who is a paragraph on a virtue but he is the one who seeks to apply the gospel to his life when no one else may try and even do that. So that's what we're going to look at this morning is not a list that what you should do as an elder or even as a church member, but what it means to apply the gospel. And the first place you've got to look in all of these, of course, is to Jesus. Because Jesus is called the overseer of our souls, Jesus is the chief elder. So if we think about the elder must do three things, he must apply the gospel to his life, he must apply the gospel to his family. He must apply it publicly. The first thing we see in verse two is this private application of the gospel. It says an overseer then must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. The first statement, Paul says, is that the elder, the overseer must be above reproach and he's going to book in this passage with above reproach and above reproach, reputation, reputation. And he ties that specifically to being the husband of one wife. You see the elders in the church at Ephesus, many of them were bringing ill-reputs upon the church. People were thinking badly of the church because the leaders were bad. And Paul is saying, here's what the leader must be like, he must be above reproach the husband of one wife. Now before you seek to do that, you better look at the overseer of your souls and see what that means for him. Jesus was above reproach and Jesus is the husband of one wife. What do I mean by that? You see, many people throughout history have maligned and argued with the message of Jesus. They have. They disagree with it all these things, but no one in history that I know of has ever argued with the character of Jesus. Right, Timothy? I disagree with what he says and I disagree that he says he was the son of God, but everyone is at least willing to throw the bone and say, he was a good guy. He was above reproach. There was nothing that was blame for. The impact is best. He's a good example of moral virtue. And not only that, we see Jesus was the husband of one wife. The dominant metaphor for the church in Jesus and the New Testament is that of marriage. Right? And it's in the Old Testament, too, that God takes his spouse, the church, who is naked and has prostituted herself and has shown, lifted up her skirt to everyone who has passed by and he pursues her and he loves her. And he gives her new clothes and he washes her and makes her fragrant and gives her his righteousness. And what does Jesus say? What does he say to his spouse? He says, whatever spouse longs to hear, I will be your faithful husband in sickness and health and joy and in sorrow as long as we both shall live. In other words, he says, I will never fail you or forsake you. He's above reproach, but he's also the husband of one wife. He is faithful to his one wife and his one wife is the church and so what that means. And as much as the church understands, and as much as the overseer understands that Jesus will never fail or forsake him, he therefore can go out and treat other people the same way. Right? How did Jesus himself even have that attitude? Was it just because he was God and God can get things out better than we can? Not really. You remember you hear over and over again that Jesus himself relied upon the gospel. Remember when he was being crucified? Peter says that he uttered no threats nor was anything found in his mouth because he continually entrusted himself to him who judges justly. That Jesus was able to be above reproach and he was able to be faithful to the church and he is even now because he trusted that God was going to take care of him no matter what. Even through crucifixion, even through scorn, even through these. And so the elder, the officer, how is the officer to be above reproach and how is he to be faithful to his wife the same way? He looks at Jesus and says, Jesus has been faithful to me and because Jesus is faithful to me no matter what comes along, if I'm applying the gospel, I can take it. And not only that, but I can be faithful to my wife. Right? The biggest thing, the biggest reason that men end up leaving the ministry or leaving the office of elder, frankly, is sexual immorality. Many of you heard Richard Pratt a while back a couple weeks ago and Richard Pratt, on the first day of class when I had him in seminary, he would always give us this very drill sergeant like speech, which, you know, he was like a 60s hippie, so it's hard for him to sound like a drill sergeant, of course, but it was like that. And his big thing, and we never knew why he said this, he said, if I have my way, I would mark you into the admissions office where they have pictures of every graduating class. And he said, I would put a big red X over every man's face who is now out of the ministry because he has committed adultery or left his wife for some wrongful reason. And then I would mark you all through there, so you'd know I was serious. And of course, we all sat in there and went, oh, that Richard, he's still uptight. And then we wept when we graduated, because upon graduation from seminary, it seems like upon graduation, all the people who had gotten it out just went ahead and got their divorces and got it over with. And then it's time went on, I saw a friend after friend basically have affairs and leave the ministry. They've got red X's on their face now. And I don't think that's a scare any of our overseers, but the fact is it's the reason that Paul starts with above reproach the husband of one wife is because apparently that's the thing that kills everybody. And the only way that the overseer, the elder, the pastor can avoid falling into adultery, falling into seeking someone other than his wife, is by seeking the one who has sought him. And of course, that's Jesus. Now the other thing we have to get from here is what does he mean by the husband of one wife? Does that mean an elder has to be married? Certainly not, because we know that would disqualify Paul and it would disqualify Timent Day. And of course, it would disqualify Jesus, none of whom, or married. The other thing is, can an elder, does that mean an elder can never be divorced? And it can't mean that either because we know that some people get divorced and then they become Christians, or some people are Christians, and then they're divorced in the midst of it, for some reason that they are out of their control, that's not what he means. What he means here, the Greek says that the elder is to be the husband of one wife, that he is to model before the congregation faithfulness. He won't be able to do that unless he understands the faithfulness of Jesus to him. So that's the first thing. The second thing that the elder does, the overseer of your soul does, is he denies himself. Look at the next few things in the list that says that he is temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, and able to teach. What does it mean to be temperate, imprudent, and respectable? Well, you've got to look at Jesus again. Why was Jesus able to be temperate? What does it mean to be temperate? Temperate means that you don't have a bad temper, you don't lose it when people come at you. And that's really, frankly, that's a hard thing because in the church, it seems like that's the church gives several occasions, especially if you are a pastor or an elder, to be angry, right? Several occasions. But the problem with anger is this, when you get angry, that means you think you deserve something that you didn't get or you got something that you didn't think you deserve, and the problem is, is the elder understands that the gospel is true, that he doesn't deserve anything. He doesn't deserve anything good. And so, therefore, he is able to be temperate. He realizes that when bad things happen, this is how it is, and I apply the gospel. Now the problem is understanding Jesus. Why was Jesus temperate? Jesus had every right to be angry, and yet why was he temperate? Why was he kind, right? Jesus did not deserve to go to the cross, and Jesus did deserve worship. He did deserve to be elevated as king, and instead, he was spat upon and crucified, neither of which he deserved, and yet he was temperate, why? Just by denying himself, he was able to save you and me. You see, the only way that we can be saved is through Jesus' self-denial, and overseers, elders here, the only way that people that are going to understand the gospel in this church is by your self-denial, right? If you're self-seeking, if you have a quick temper, if you're not prudent, if you're not respectable, people just aren't going to get it. We can say all the time, well, the Holy Spirit will communicate to them, and they're quiet times. That doesn't work that way, because they look at those who have been placed above them as their example. And the only way that you can be temperate and prudent and respectable is to look at the one who is temperate and prudent and respectable. That, of course, is Jesus. And even more so, it says that they are hospitable, what does hospitable mean? It means stranger friendly in the Greek, that they're friendly to strangers, that they take people in. And of course, the overseer of our souls, Jesus, what did he do? He came in his mission specifically, was to seek those who are alienated from God, and not only seek them, but to take them and bring them in. And he doesn't come and save them and say, now that you're mine, now I have several servants and slaves. One of the biggest myths in the church is that Jesus is looking for people to serve him. He doesn't need people to serve him. He's God. What Jesus wants, what God wants, is sons and daughters. And Jesus, to the extent that we understand the hospitality that Jesus has shown us, that he made room. That's what hospitality means. It means making a room, that Jesus made room, that he overseers here, and even the members of grace can begin to make room. Jesus pursued us, and he made room, if you will, in our family. And so that's what the elder is able to do, is make room in his family. Now that, of course, means you have to deny yourself. It doesn't mean going to the cross, of course. But most of us have a problem with just minor inconvenience, let alone death and dying. What he says here is, the elder candidate overseer is one who denies himself. Hospitality means you deny yourself because then someone's living with you, and it's very uncomfortable. Right? You kick that out of your bathroom, which I have, not that I, not that it means anything. The final thing, what we see in this list is the able to teach thing, that what is the elder's job to do? Is it mean that every elder's a preacher, of course not. There's only room in this church for one. What it means is that he's able to teach. He's able to apply the same gospel to other people. He's able to talk to them, that he, in fact, is prophetic. And that's exactly what Jesus did. Jesus came as our prophet, priest, and king, and as our prophet, he preaches the word of God to people. And that's what the elder does. And what's the primary thing that Jesus says to his people? Repent and believe the gospel. Turn from your sins and your idols and come back to me. And that's what the overseer says to God's church. He urges them to repent, to turn from the things that they're seeking instead of God, into embrace Jesus, freely offered in the gospel. And as we move on, it says in verse 3 that he's not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. In verse 3, not addicted to wine, basically means drunkard. Right? That's what my grandmother used to call my stepfather. That drunkard, why did she call him that? She wouldn't have called him a drunkard if he got drunk and he was happy. She called him a drunkard because when he got drunk, he was angry, and when he got angry, he got abusive. When he was abusive, he would hit people. And that's exactly what this means here. He says not addicted to wine or pugnacious, pugnacious, in the Greek that word means a striker, one who strikes either with his fist or with his tongue. He says the elder can't be one who is like that, but instead he must be gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. And again, if you look at Jesus, what does the gospel say about Jesus? It says that a bruised read, he will not break. In a smoldering wick, he will not extinguish. That Jesus looks at the sinner and he looks at the sinner and sees the sinner for who they are, the desperate and their needy and their helpless. And even though they might feel caught in a bear trap and bite him, which they do, he still is able to look at them with grace and mercy. Now, the only way the elder candidate, the overseer, the shepherd is able to do that is understanding that he in fact has received the same mercy from Jesus, that he was trapped in a bear trap, that he was biting and bucking and fighting against Jesus, and Jesus nonetheless cared for him. And as he understands that, he is able to care for other people. And if you don't do it in the power of Christ, and through the gospel, you're not doing it at all, or at least you're wasting your time. And the last thing we have here in verse 3 is that he is free from the love of money. Right? It's interesting when you look at overseers, that most of the people who are overseers and the church, they're overseers, even in a church that really is trying to be biblical, and serious. The reason they're overseers is they're relatively squared away people, right? They're able to do things and get tasks completed, and to hold a job and all of these kinds of things. And so they could, if they wanted to, probably make a lot more money than they're making. They could pursue money a lot more than they are. And yet, let me tell you something, one when the men are ordained here at Grace Seattle next September, both to Elder and Deacon, what they will be saying among other things is that my ministry here, my job as a shepherd here, the church here, the you sheep here, the mission of Grace, is more important than my career. It's more important than the pursuit of money. Now, that doesn't mean to say, no, there might not make decent money. It doesn't mean to say, no, there might not take care of his family, he should. But what that's saying is, instead of putting extra time into making more money, what I'm doing is, I am putting all of my extra time into you, and in fact, many elders at some point will probably have to make a decision, whether to pursue the next career option to make that much more money or to pursue you. Right? And when they stand up and ordained, at least initially, they're saying, my job primarily is pursuing you. Right? And that, of course, is what Jesus does. And the only way they can do that, of course, is it bumps us all the way back to Christ came to die for sinners, that they don't need to pursue more money because they know that Jesus will provide everything that they need. Okay? What's the next thing the elder is able to do? He's able to apply the gospel corporately, that is, to his family. Look at verse four, it says, the overseer must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? First of all, this word for manage is really the word that's sort of like, it's a word that a doctor would use to care for a patient. It's not managed care, but it's like that, right? It's a word that would sort of communicate tender care for the sick. And it says, he must be one who manages his household well. And Paul says, why? Because if he can't manage his household well, how can he manage God's church? Which, of course, is called the household of God. Right? Now, how does Jesus manage his household? Jesus manages his household in two ways. He disciplines his children, and he disciples them, or trains them. Right? How does he discipline them? Remember Hebrews says that God disciplines those whom he loves, that the elder shepherd overseer must be with his family one who disciplines his children, and also one who trains his children. And that is what Jesus does for his church. Now, I can tell you one of the most controversial issues in all the church is the issue of parenting. Right? Why is it so controversial? The answer is pretty simple, because we know that our children are a reflection on us. And so if you criticize someone's children as being misbehaved, or disobedient, or what have you, people into it immediately, that's a reflection on me. You know what Paul is saying? Your intuitions are right. Your intuitions are right that your children are a reflection upon you. And for the overseer, his children, when you are sort of, if you are running through an interview process, you look at his children, are his children disciplined? Are his children obedient? Because that shows you whether or not he'll be able to discipline and train other people. In other words, if he can't train children, there's no way in the world he will be able to train and discipline adults who act like children. Right? And that's something for you men, whether you're an elder, candidate, or not, to keep in mind. At least in my experience as a pastor, whether you're liberal or conservative, the training of children and the way children are disobedient or disobedient or joyful or not, at the end of the day revolves around whether or not the father is engaged. I don't care if you're liberal or you're conservative. The fact of the matter is that if the father is engaged, generally speaking, the children do better. Now, I know if there are single mothers, I was raised by a single mother, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying, according to this passage in what Paul's saying, that if someone has children, he needs to be engaged. Why? Again, because if he's not able to engage his children, how in the world is he going to engage people in the church? And it breaks my heart to look around and see men who are not engaged with their families. You know, wives who walk around and they're trying to keep hold of the children, they're trying to also work, they're trying to do all of these things and the father sort of has delegated. He thinks his responsibility to the wife when in fact he's just simply advocated and she's advocated and she has no support. And what the gospel says, what the Bible says, and practically what Common Sense says is that if you're a father, you need to be engaged. You need to be engaged because if you can't take care of your children, there's no way you're going to be able to take care of the church. So what does Paul say lastly? The last thing he says is he has to be able to apply the gospel to his wife privately, corporately to his household, but even bigger than that publicly. And look at the last two verses, he says, and not a new convert so that he will not become conceited and fall into the combination incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach in the snare of the devil. Verse six says he has to be able to apply the gospel publicly. And what he means by that he first says not a new convert and the Greek word here is neophyte. One who is newly planted and that brings up the images of Jesus, parable of the sower, right? He says the sower came along and he cast seed and some fell by the side of the road and was immediately snatched up no elder candidate. Some fell into rocky soil and immediately sprung up and it looked good, but eventually it dried up and withered out. That guy can't be an overseer. And the third fell into thorns and although it grew up, immediately it was choked out by the worries of this life. But the fourth seed that was cast fell on good soil and it yielded 30, 60, or 100 fold. And what Paul is saying here about overseers is they're not new converts because you don't really know what soil they've fallen into yet. They may be very zealous, they may be very good at what they do, but you're not sure yet that one who's an overseer must have evidenced in his life that he is already bearing fruit. And Paul says the reason for this is so that he doesn't become conceded or prideful. This week I watched Charmed. Have you ever seen that? Not as good as Buffy for sure, but nonetheless. It's about three witches. They're sisters. They're witches and they're constantly doing battle with demons and this week there was a demon who held in his power the Seven Deadly Sins and he had them all in these sort of little magical pool balls. And whenever he would meet someone, he would take one of the Seven Deadly Sins and he would throw it at them and they would they would all of a sudden be overcome by whatever sin it was, whether it would be lust or gluttony or something else. And he met these three sisters and one of the sisters he threw it at. When she was hit and all of a sudden she was possessed by lust, almost to being self-destroied. He hit the other one and she was possessed by gluttony and she immediately got on the phone to Bloomingdale. It was amazing. And the third one, he hit with one of these magical balls and nothing seemed to happen. And she was very uptight. She said, what are you two doing? You're possessed by your sins. You need to come with me. We need to beat this demon and they couldn't even get over them. And she said, you see, I'm not affected by any of this. I'm so much better than all of you, but nothing can affect me that I will attack this guy by myself. Nothing can overcome me. And in fact, I'm the greatest there ever was and I'm the reason we're all here in the first place. Good thing I wasn't affected. And so she went out to attack the demon by herself and of course he caught her. And when he caught her the other two realized by happenstance that the way to defeat their sin was by self-denial. Now of course we know that Jesus self-denial defeats our sin but let's throw a series of bones. But once they denied themselves they realized that the power of this deadly sin was broken over them. And so this demon has has true the oldest one and she escapes and he says if one of the sins is defeated and falls into this pit he opened up a pit of hell then all of the sins will be overcome. And so she breaks out of her things and she dives into the pit of hell to beat him. And of course fortunately her sister's warlock husband came along and breaks her and got her from falling into the pit of hell. And when they came up they cast the demon into the pit of hell and the whole closed and the show seemed to be over and she looked at her sister's inset. Why do you think I wasn't affected? Why do you think I wasn't affected by any of those sins and her sister's just smiled and said you were affected by the worst one of all? She said what was it? They said pride. And she said well how come my it wasn't broken when I tried to dive into the pit of hell on behalf of you guys? And they said you know the problem with pride is that even your goodness is tainted by it. You didn't jump in here because you cared about us you jumped in there because you wanted to win. And Paul says the new convert usually he shouldn't be coming over here why because even if he's doing something good it's usually driven by desire to win. And if he becomes conceded and prideful he falls into the same condemnation or the same thing will be said of him as it said of the devil. You're prideful and then finally he says that he must have a good reputation with those outside or else he will fall into the snare of the devil. What does he mean by that? The answer I think is pretty simple that he must have the same life publicly that he says privately that he's not a hypocrite that he doesn't go in. He's not one person at church and one person outside and this gets of course back to Jesus. People maligned his preaching but they didn't malign his character and so if an elder overseer is out in the public and in the workplace do people look at him and say I disagree with him but you can't impune his character sort of what people said about John Ashcroft when he was being nominated. Right Republican or Democrat they said I don't agree with him but you can't you can't malign his character he's a good guy we all have to admit that. So what's the snare of the devil that Paul's worried about? I think the snare of the devil is just this and he sort of implies it later is that if a man is different in his office and in his workplace then he is what he is an elder in the church then the people outside the church somehow get the idea that Christianity is a private thing. Right to say look it doesn't the guy is a great he goes to church and it's great but when he's here he is as ruthless as anybody and what when the elder overseer is in the workplace or he's doing whatever he does what he is saying to the world hopefully through his work is that Jesus has overcome everything. And we're easter the resurrection through the power of the resurrection everything is affected my job your job even if you don't know. That he says to the world I hold all of the cards and now you have to deal with me and you see to the extent that graces elders understand the gospel to the extent that they're able to apply it this way is the extent to which we will affect the city of Seattle. Right that we have a public face that people look at us and say we might not agree with you however we can't malign you and the reason that people at grace will have good integrity. The reason people the elders is not because they're getting it out because the gospel brings us to that place to think about that. Let me pray. Father we thank you that you've seen fifth not only to send your son Jesus but also to raise up leaders in your church and I pray even this morning that you had encouraged them with your gospel. And so we thank you for this and everything that you give us and your name we pray amen and amen.