Who Wants a Stricter Judgement?

"The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task." (1 Timothy 3:1)

“According to the New Testament, elders are responsible for the primary leadership and oversight of a church. The function and role of an elder is well summarized by Alexander Strauch in his book Biblical Eldership: "Elders lead the church [1 Tim 5:17; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 5:1-2], teach and preach the Word [1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:9], protect the church from false teachers [Acts 20:17, 28-31], exhort and admonish the saints in sound doctrine [1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 3:13-17; Titus 1:9], visit the sick and pray [James 5:14; Acts 20:35], and judge doctrinal issues [Acts 15:16]. In biblical terminology, elders shepherd, oversee, lead, and care for the local church" (Staff, 2006).

Elders or overseers are men called by God. One of the ways a man knows he is called to be an elder is that he has a desire to do it. Men should not serve as elders or overseers of the church out of duty or because nobody else is stepping up. This is a position that God calls men to and puts a desire in their hearts to fill. Too often we tend to find men in the church who are faithful attendees, faithful givers, good fathers and husbands and push them into the office of elder. I think part of the reason we do this is that, even though these should be the minimum standards for all Christian men, there are not many men who these standards. When a church finds a man that does meet these standards they automatically push him to a position of leadership. This is clearly a mistake for a number of reasons. Among them are the fact that most men don’t meet the further qualifications set forth in verses 2-7. A man that fills the office of elder solely out of feelings of obligation or responsibility is doing a disservice to himself and the church. A man must not accept the position of elder simply because others in the church are elevating him to elder status and requesting that he fill that role. Men should not accept the office of elder light-heartedly. They should know that upon accepting the role elder they will be judged more strictly: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” – James 3:1 (Being able to teach is one qualification for eldership). The decision of eldership must be made in light of Scripture by both the man and his church. They must both assure that he meets all of the qualification set forth in verses 2-7. Before it even gets to that point though, they must determine if God has put a desire in the mans heart to fill the office of elder. If he has no desire, he is not called.