Pastor Martin expounds Deuteronomy 8, drawing out two major principles: God's people must live in obedience to His Word, remembering His past dealings, and they must beware lest prosperity lead to forgetting God. He then applies these principles to the church's 25th anniversary, emphasizing the crucial need for a biblical standard for church offices. He argues that Christ, as King of His church, has infallibly set the qualifications for elders and deacons, found in the general teaching of Scripture (e.g., Matthew 20, 1 Corinthians 13, Beatitudes, Galatians 5) and specific passages like 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Martin stresses that these qualifications are not arbitrary but essential for the efficient and successful functioning of Christ's 'army,' the church.
Primary Texts
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Deuteronomy 8:1-20This chapter serves as the foundational text, introducing the principles of obedience and remembrance, which are then applied to the church's need for biblical standards in leadership.
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Matthew 20:25-28This passage is expounded to establish servanthood as a fundamental spiritual disposition required for any leadership in Christ's church.
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1 Corinthians 13:1-3This passage is expounded to emphasize that Christ-like love is an indispensable grace for spiritual leadership, rendering all gifts and sacrifices profitless without it.
Introduction: Deuteronomy 8 and its Relevance to Trinity Baptist Church0:05
The Sixth Tenet: Biblical Standard for Church Offices10:16
The King's Right to Set Qualifications for His Army15:42
General Scriptural Teaching on Spiritual Disposition for Leadership25:36
Specific Scriptural Passages for Qualifications38:13
The Danger of Ignoring the King's Standards49:38
Key Quotes
“The first great principle in this chapter is that God's people must live in obedience to God's word while remembering God's past dealings with them, all of which were calculated to show them that obedience to his word was their very life.”
“functional difference by divine design does not mean inferiority indignity or importance in the will of God there is no inferiority with respect to women simply because these sacred offices are not open to them according to the scriptures”
“the same apostles created these offices has also through his apostles given us an infallible and an unchanging standard for all who would aspire to this and legitimately be placed back in the days when kings conscripted armies”
“It must be the disposition of servanthood.”
“If the grace of Christ-like love is not beginning to be manifested, there's a dominant grace. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, the answer is to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
“The king says, I don't care what you thought but I said his king is what matters.”
“You see, dear people, the reason there are so many pastors in the church, the king's never laid his hands upon them. He's not laid his hands”
Applications
All listeners
Remember that God's blessings can become a curse if we forget Him and fail to intensify our diligence in obedience.
Constantly stir ourselves to remember and pursue biblical truth, especially as a church reaches significant milestones like a 25th anniversary.
Accept from the heart divine design regarding functional differences in the church, as it results in liberty and blessedness.
Be bound by love to Christ and the mission of the church to a jealous concern for pursuing a biblical standard for the qualifications of sacred offices.
Do not consider for leadership any man who does not have a servant's heart and disposition, but is arrogant or likes to throw his weight around.
Mature Christians should not be impressed by loquaciousness or gifts of gab alone when considering someone for leadership; the grace of Christ-like love must be manifested.
Ensure that anyone in leadership manifests the character traits of a son or daughter of the kingdom, such as those found in the Beatitudes.
Look for the ninefold fruit of the Spirit to be evident in more than an ordinary measure in those considered for leadership.
Recognize that many pastors may be in office without the King's anointing because the church has not adhered to His standards for qualifications.
A full transcript is available on the
tab. 53 paragraphs, roughly 67 minutes.
Machine transcription
Introduction: Deuteronomy 8 and its Relevance to Trinity Baptist Church
The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, September 15th, 1991, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.
Now let us turn again this morning to the book of Deuteronomy, as we read a portion of the Word of God to introduce our meditation in the Scriptures this morning. Deuteronomy, Chapter 8. The last two Lord's Day mornings, we've read portions out of Deuteronomy 4 and 6. And now this morning, I plan to read in your hearing this brief chapter, the 8th chapter of Deuteronomy.
Moses, speaking to the people of God prior to their entrance into the land of Canaan, which will be brought to pass in the blessing of God under the leadership of Joshua, speaks to God's people, All the commandment which I commanded thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah swear unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell these forty years. And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so Jehovah thy God chasteneth thee. And thou shalt keep the commandments of Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
For Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness. Thou shalt not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper. And thou shalt eat, and be full, and shalt bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Beware lest thou forget Jehovah thy God in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes which I command thee this day, lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground there where there was no water, who brought thee forth water out of the flint, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end, and let thy heart be full, and be full, lest thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for he it is that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day.
And it shall be, if thou shalt forget Jehovah thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day, that ye shall surely perish. As the nations that Jehovah maketh to perish before you, so shall ye perish, because ye would not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah your God. Now I have chosen to read this passage as the introduction to our study in the word of God this morning for the simple reason that there are two major principles contained in this chapter that have great relevance for our present series of studies these Lord's Day mornings. The first great principle in this chapter is that God's people must live in obedience to God's word while remembering God's past dealings with them, all of which were calculated to show them that obedience to his word was their very life. That's the teaching of the first four verses. They begin with this directive all the commandment which I command thee you shall observe and do.
And he says as you observe and do them remember God's past mercies and his dealings all of which were calculated to teach you verse three that man does not live by bread alone but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God. You can remember who's regulated to teach you that such obedience is your very life. And then the second great principle in this chapter is that some to the peace of God and so he says in verse eleven beware and then in verse he commands you see things of God if to that is and watch this beware and be judged.
Now what is the relevance of these two great principles? Simply this as we approach our twenty-fifth anniversary as a church sense in which one spiritual generation is prepared for the scene and another to take its place. And in the light of that reality it is crucial for us to remember that God's to give our sins with us. What he has taught us as a congregation is that whenever we have been enabled by grace to adhere of meticulous obedience there has been the blessing of God upon us as a congregation. And then we need to remember that those very blessings could become our curse. The very blessings can become our curse. We contest we forget
that God is to the end that he might bind us to himself with even tighter cords of gratitude for his blessing in order to intensify the diligence of our obedience. And so in this series of messages we come today to the twentieth in that series I am giving what I have called a manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church a series of studies in which I have tried to articulate those main elements of biblical truth which God by his spirit has made very precious to us and which by his grace he has enabled us at least some degree to see worked into the warp and woof of the life and ministry of this assembly and which in his kindness have been the framework of his blessing. But we cannot take for granted that past obedience will secure present obedience let alone obedience. And it is essential for us constantly to stir our if necessary when we come to a quarter of a century of our life together. For those who may be visiting with us who are breaking into the twentieth message
The Sixth Tenet: Biblical Standard for Church Offices
in the series I can only say they are available on tape if anything you hear today should whet your appetite and that as a ministry of the church we are presently considering the sixth tenet in this manifesto and that tenet is this that we are the standard for church offices that is the sixth or affirmation or tenet in the manifesto. We began to consider it last Lord's Day at which time I gave an explanation of the key words and then secondly began to take up the most crucial aspects of a biblically established standard for church offices. We will eventually cover six of them. Last week we took up the first two. We took up the biblical standard for the names and number of the standing offices in the church of Christ.
And we saw from the scriptures that the names are elder changeably those who have rule these constitute one and the same office diversity of functions within the office but one and the same office and secondly the office of a deacon as it is called in 1 Timothy 3 and these two standing permanent offices in assembly so that when the apostle writes to what we might say was his favorite his most beloved congregation to the church at Philippi knowing that it was a well ordered apostolically framed gospel church he can address the church in these words chapter 1 and verse 1 Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi with the bishops and envisions in his mind are a generous assembly of the people of God they are located at Philippi and they are blessed
with the presence of these two standing offices filled in men rulers among them and then secondly we saw together the biblical standard for the gender of the standing offices in the church of Christ and from the scriptures we discovered that given these offices under apostolic guidance only males are considered in the apostolic requirements for these offices and females are explicitly forbidden to exercise functions of these offices in the gathered church and then I closed with those two crucial statements which allow men to have no room for the demeaning of women sacred offices are closed to them not by but by the word of the head of the church I trust none of you will be vulnerable to any carnal from that fact and I asserted these two things that functional difference by divine design does not mean inferiority
indignity or importance in the will of God there is no inferiority with respect to women simply because these sacred offices are not open to them according to the scriptures and the second and final statement I made was this acceptance from the heart of divine design results in liberty and blessedness and what is true of the individual is true of any congregation that embraces from the heart the divine design that assigns functional differences and in that acceptance there is liberty and blessedness now today we take up a third aspect of those most crucial elements of a biblically established standard for church offices if we are determined to pursue a biblical standard what does that mean in practical terms well we've seen it means we must pursue a standard for officers in which the name and number of those offices is rooted in the word of God in which those to whom the offices are given are the proper sets according to the word of God now this morning the biblical standard of the qualifications
The King's Right to Set Qualifications for His Army
for these standing offices in the church of Christ the biblical standard for the qualifications for the standing offices in the church of Christ if these offices of elder bishop pastor and of deacon were merely the origin of human invention offices in perceived human need and created by human wisdom and filled judgment any church would be free to use its own judgment set its own standards to fulfill offices this is not the case the same apostles created these offices has also through his apostles given us an infallible and an unchanging standard for all who would aspire to this and legitimately be placed back in the days when kings conscripted armies imagine a king who had an army and he decided that he wanted his will with respect to the activities
and functions of that army to be administered by men whom he would designate as showing that the captains could not execute his will with respect to the activities and functions of the army if the army were not provided with tents in which to find shelter food to eat munitions and other things necessary for their health well-being and efficiency unless they had some quartermasters he determined that there would be two standing offices in his army captains would be earning the act of the army and quartermasters who would be assigned to provide all of the necessary things essential as the captains gave the directives according to the will of the king that the army might function efficiently now making it plain that his army is to have generals to give them the revelation of the king's will and quartermasters to provide
all of his clothing and munitions the standard for all recognized as captains the king have a right to say a captain must be at least six feet tall and weigh two hundred pounds he must be at least thirty years of age he must have fought he must have functioned for at least ten years as a soldier in the army I ask you does the sovereign have a right to set the standard for the captains in his army children yes or no does the king have a right to set the standard for the captains in his armies how many of you kids think he does raise your hand you think the king has a right to do that yes because the king has authority in the realm and does he have a right to set the standard for the quartermasters and say that they must have been in the army for at least five years they must be at least five foot two and must weigh at least a hundred and twenty five pounds or he can say they must be six foot eight and weigh three hundred pounds that they must look like an offensive lineman on some modern NFL team why of course he has a right
your captains and your quartermasters be recognized commissioned by as a captain his standards captains among you quartermaster who meets the standards now my question is this if the rank and file of the soldiers love the king and are loyal to the king what will they do if they set about to look out captains and quartermasters from among their ranks will they take the king's description of the standard that has come straight from the king's throne
with the king's seal stop it in their back pocket and once in a while glance at it and make sure there is some resemblance between the king's standards and what they do and say well I like so and so he's got such cute baby blue eyes I just think he'd make a dashing captain he'll make all the hearts of the women in the kingdom just go flutter flutter when we come back from the military I think he'll make a good captain and someone says but wait a minute does he meet the king's standard oh he puts nickety about them the king's large army he's got one or two of them is she the point I'm making do I need to drag out the illustration the analogy anymore they believe he has not standards but set them knowing that only men can execute his likewise with the quartermasters he's not arbitrarily set the standards out to require everyone whom the army will recognize and follow as to according to his wisdom
and his own desire that efficient in success that has love for king axel that love and loyalty and confidence in the king will keep the king's standard constantly before his eyes and every man king's list and if a man falls in one not the standard of the king now dear people jesus has an army called his church will standing officers captains and quartermasters i.e. elders and deacons are to carry out they are and secure to the will of the king their own battle plans as to when a soldier
should be reproved when he's walking as he ought when he should be put in the brig they don't make the rules and the quartermasters in submission to the captains who in turn are in submission to the king they supply the needs that the captain's judge are indeed needs made efficiently that's your deacons who are carrying on their tasks in submission to their elders and mutually submissive to christ that's the framework in christ's church you see the picture now then for anyone to say oh it's not fiddling while rome burns because king jesus knows that army sufficiently in her conquest to bind and after his will and it is love to christ and the mission of the church that will bind any congregation to a jealous concern
General Scriptural Teaching on Spiritual Disposition for Leadership
and to pursue a not only a biblical standard in term of the name and number in terms of the gender but in terms of the qualifications for those sacred now having i trust convinced your judgment on that point you ask the question then where the standards of the king and i answer number one scripture concerning the spiritual disposition graces and gifts essential for spiritual in the church of christ where do we in the quarter i answer in the general teaching of scripture spiritual disposition graces and gifts essential leadership in the church of christ and here passages as matthew chapter twenty we're only going to look at several chapter twenty
blessing the desire and influence in the future manifestations of the kingdom of christ they want if not an office they want a position of prominence and influence i.e. leadership over others matthew twenty twenty five called them and said you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord and their ones exercise authority over them a social rendering but he says not while the world it is not to be into my kingdom and into my church but who would come great among you indicating that the ambition for leadership in and out itself is not wicked come
great and whosoever would be first among you sir your whoever would be first shall be to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. This is one of those things that I would call the general teaching of Scripture concerning the spiritual disposition essential for any leadership in the church of Christ. It must be the disposition of servanthood.
And if a man's servanthood takes place of leadership in his kingdom, where is the requirement as we read and find position, stature, graces, and gifts essential for any kind of leadership in the church? Here's one of them. The second one would be 1 Corinthians 13. As surely as no man should be considered for the office of a captain or a quartermaster who doesn't have a servant's heart and manifest a servant's disposition, who is arrogant, who likes to show you how much he knows, and throw his weight around, and push people.
He has no point in leadership in Christ's church. So likewise, 1 Corinthians 13. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, I have a gift of utterance. If you don't believe me, give me a chance and I'll prove it to you.
Young men speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I've become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. All your instincts, instead of being a vehicle,
showing them this. Someone. Walking up and down the aisles every Sunday with an old garbage can and an old bald bat banging on the garbage can. People want to cover their ears.
That's what. We're devoid of love.
Some loquacious young man who's got the gift of gab and people have stroked him and fawned all over him because he does. Mature Christians should not be impressed.
Him for leadership. If the grace of Christ-like love is not beginning to be manifested, there's a dominant grace. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, the answer is to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all the goods to feed the poor and give your body up in martyrdom, but have not love, profit you nothing.
You see, this is a chapter that points us in what I would call the general teaching of Scripture concerning the spiritual disposition, stature, graces and gifts essential for spiritual leadership in the Church of Christ. And to this I would add such passages as the Beatitudes. They're that composite picture of the character traits of a son or daughter of the kingdom. Surely anyone in leadership ought to have the kingdom and thirst of heart to peacemaker, etc.
Something of Galatians 5, 22 and 23 ought to be evident that the ninefold fruit of the Spirit is beginning to be manifested in more than an ordinary offering gentleness, meekness, generals in the church, quartermasters, without looking out captains in
discernment and intelligence of the rank and file
ponies of unquestionable army in another part of the congregation
and cock, but it never relinquishes offices in the light of the word of the men involved.
Specific Scriptural Passages for Qualifications
And gifts, there's a nugget here and a nugget there pointing out qualities essential to 1, 5 is among you,
arising the old,
some of you new in the faith, it is not noticed of women in verse 11, then in verse deacons be,
business now, while it is not morning to expand numerous times from this book to see this morning is three beginning of the end as far as the will of the king being ruled in this army with respect and your quarter. Number one is one second more
The Danger of Ignoring the King's Standards
to the young churches.
Now, do you think the Apostle Paul standard for these church?
I mean, that's a mother. If you do that, then if you only his court
a couple of months in a deacon's meeting or elders meet, I mean, be real, reasonable brother. Faction is straining you. That's what I was told by goodness one nine
has been taught what you're made of
and see what you can say about it. You had to knock him around until he stuck him back. And even at that, when he said, I can't speak, he finally said, all right, I made you that way.
And God mightily used the man with native gifts of Elkins and refining his character.
Apostle lacked no ability in speech because he didn't meet their rhetorical.
And my speech and preaching were not with enticing words of men's wisdom that Paul just stood up and stuttered. And mumbled through his beard and you couldn't hear him beyond the second row. That's nonsense. You read his epistles and you read the account of his sermons and how with just the raising of his hand, he captured a whole angry audience when he opened his mouth.
No doubt,
if he were in our day, they'd have given him a sixology and started campaigning him all around the country. God didn't do it.
Let a few others know about him. He was working to form in him the kind of character commensurate with the gifts already pressed.
Functions more pastors meet the staff. When he did, he didn't meet the king. The king says, you want me to lay my hand and give him the goods he needs to do. And the king says, where's the standard? Oh, well, we just thought that was a nice idealistic thing but wasn't it? The king says, I don't care what you thought but I said his king is what matters.
You see, dear people, the reason there are so many pastors in the church, the king's never laid his hands upon them. He's not laid his hands
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors.
It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Deuteronomy 8:1-20
This chapter serves as the foundational text, introducing the principles of obedience and remembrance, which are then applied to the church's need for biblical standards in leadership.
Matthew 20:25-28
This passage is expounded to establish servanthood as a fundamental spiritual disposition required for any leadership in Christ's church.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
This passage is expounded to emphasize that Christ-like love is an indispensable grace for spiritual leadership, rendering all gifts and sacrifices profitless without it.
Texts Expounded
auto_stories
The sermon begins with an exposition of Deuteronomy 8, establishing two major principles for the church's life and leadership.
auto_stories
These verses teach that God's people must live in obedience to His word while remembering His past dealings, which were calculated to show them that obedience is their life.