The Requirements of Elders, Part 3

Driving home: Anyone who tries to build a case for total abstinence on the basis that the partaking of alcoholic beverages in any form, under any circumstances, is prohibited by Scripture has no grounds to stand upon, especially when …

A friend's experience with a motorcycle illustrates the principle of controlling one's appetites rather than being controlled by them, applying it to wine consumption.

A friend of mine, one time in his rather reckless days, rationalized himself into buying a motorcycle. He had all kinds of good reasons why he felt it was the Lord's will. But down underneath, I think he would admit today, it was simply an itch for that tremendous bundle of power beneath him. And so he got his motorcycle and kept it about three months.

6:10 - 6:33 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains 'no striker' as avoiding a quick temper and being gentle, defining gentleness through Christ's example as bending personal rights and dealing tenderly with others…

The analogy of a sensitive target pistol's hair-pressure trigger illustrates the 'no striker' requirement, meaning an elder should not be easily provoked to anger or verbal attacks.

Literally means a man not given to blows. This is the picture of the man with the hair pressure trigger. Any of you have ever shot a rifle or a gun? I remember one time being with a pastor friend who had quite a collection of pistols.

11:55 - 12:08 Read in full sermon

Driving home: When a principle of truth was involved, our Lord dared to stand and speak in the most scathing terms and this was never a contradiction of His gentleness. But where does gentleness come to light? I'll tell you where gent…

The origin of the phrase 'a chip on his shoulder' from pugnacious lumberjacks is used to describe someone ready for a fight, contrasting with the elder's required gentleness.

He must not be that hair pressure trigger type individual that it takes just the slightest pressure, you see, to boom and he's blown and he's fired at you. How many of you know where the expression a chip on his shoulder came from? You know where that came from? There used to be a time in lumbering days when some of the big, brawly, brawny, pugnacious lumberjacks loved to fight.

12:33 - 12:58 Read in full sermon

The point: All believers ought to be peace-loving people, manifesting the beatitude of peacemakers.

The analogy of walking through a minefield in Vietnam illustrates why a contentious elder would deter people from approaching him with questions or differences, as they would fear an explosive reaction.

If you knew that a certain area, as some of our boys in Vietnam do, had recently had a bunch of mines laid by the Viet Cong, and they could be triggered by opening a gate, they could be triggered by simply walking down a path, and there's a wire about two inches above the ground, maybe buried in the tall grass, and any one of those things you know could set off one of these mines and blow you into a thousand pieces, would you like very much the thought of taking a Sunday afternoon stroll, down such an area? Why, of course not. You don't know what move, with the hands or feet, is going to blow ...

21:21 - 22:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Paul's reasoning for the household rule requirement is explained: if a man cannot rule his own family, he cannot effectively care for the church of God, arguing from the lesser…

A story about a young man aspiring to the major leagues with a terrible batting average in minor leagues illustrates Paul's argument from the lesser to the greater: if one cannot rule his house, he cannot rule the church.

For if a man know not how, there's the key word, if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Here comes a young man, broad-shouldered, all muscled up, athletic-looking, and he says to me, he said, Mr. Martin, I'm trying to find my niche in life, and I think I can make it to the big leagues. And I say, well, have you played any baseball?

40:19 - 40:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If a man doesn't know how in terms of theoretical knowledge, practical insight, and moral fortitude to rule his own house, Paul says, if he's bad at 057 in high school in the minor leagues, he's never going to make it in…

Examples from his own upbringing (11 PM curfew, scrubbing floors) illustrate the moral fortitude required of parents to enforce rules despite children's protests, connecting to the elder's ability to rule.

I don't know how difficult that is. Hard to say no and know that your kid's going to call you a stinker for the next three weeks.

43:59 - 44:06 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But for one thing, I've got to admit, his lips match his life.

A reference to Bunyan's analogy of the clean animal (split hoof and chew cud) from Pilgrim's Progress is used to illustrate that a true Christian, and especially an elder, must not only 'talk right' but 'walk right,' ensuring their life matches their words.

As Bunyan so quaintly says, in Pilgrim's Progress, the old Puritans saw analogies. There's a difference between a type and an analogy where the clean animal had to do two things. It had to split the hoof and what was the other?

54:55 - 55:09 Read in full sermon