Twenty
four years ago, back in January, 1995 the staff of People magazine
published a short article entitled, "Dead Ahead." It told about a new
clock called the Timisis LifeClock. The clock calculates how much time you have
left in your life, based on an average life span of 75 years for men and 80
years for women. According to the article, when you program your life and
gender into the clock, "... the Timisis LifeClock ticks off your remaining
time on earth in hours, minutes, and seconds ... " The clock was dreamed
up and developed by Chicagoans Charles "Chip" Altholz, a talent
manager, and Barry Faldner, an orchestra conductor. Faldner gave at least some
credit to the musical genius Beethoven for leading them to the clock. Faldner
claims that on his deathbed, Beethoven, who died in 1827 at 57 years old, shook
his fist at the heavens and cried, "I need more time."
Who
hasn’t said that? We hear a lot of talk, and most of us do some of it, about
how fast time goes by. "Time flies," we say. "Where in the world
did the time go?" we ask. "I can’t believe this year is already
gone," we say, as if we really think it went by faster this year than it
did the last 12 months. But it didn’t. It just went by one tick at a time.
There were, in all, 31,536,000 ticks on the clock (that’s 31 million, 536
thousand!) this past year. Those seconds made up 526,000 minutes, 8,760 hours,
365 days. And it all just went by one tick at a time! The Bible urges us
to understand the fleeting nature of time. About 3,500 years ago Moses wrote in
Psalm 90:10, "The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by
reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only
labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away." The words
of James 4:14b challenge those who think they have all the time in the
world – "... For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for
a little time and then vanishes away." Life is quietly but quickly
slipping away, a tick of the clock at a time. John 9:4 makes clear Jesus
recognized not only the brevity of life here on earth, but also our highest
purpose for being here in the first place. In that passage the Lord taught that
time and what we do with it are urgent matters – "I must work the works
of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can
work." With these words Jesus challenges our use of the quiet but
quick and relentless, yet finite, ticks of the clock as they slip away each
day. What are we doing with the little time we have? Paul Meyer reminds us:
"Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small
hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that has been deliberately
kicked over" (azquotes.com). Truly, all of us live at the same speed as
far as time goes – we are all in the fast lane called life. As the clock ticks
time away, the question is what are we doing with the ticks? Jesus lived a
short life by today’s standard (scholars say 33 years). Yet the night before He
died on the cross He told God in a prayer: "I have glorified You on the
earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do" (John 17:4).
We must do the same while time is on our side – or rather, while we are on this
side of time. A gospel hymn asks, "How are we using God’s golden moments?
Shall we reap glory, shall we reap tears?" Listen: "tick, tick, tick,
tick" – your time on earth is ticking away. What are you doing with those
ticks?
–Dan
Gulley, Smithville, TN
Jerome,
the 4th century theologian best remembered for his translation of
most of the Bible into Latin (that later became known as the Vulgate), wrote to
a young preacher named Neoptian in 394 A. D. According to Alexander Staunch in
his book The New Testament Deacon: Minister of Mercy, Jerome rebuked
churches of his day for hypocrisy in showing more heartfelt interest in the
appearance of their church buildings than in the proper selection of church
leaders. He wrote: "Many build churches nowadays; their walls and pillars of
glowing marble, their ceilings of gold, their altars studded with jewels. Yet
to the choice of Christ’s ministers, no heed is paid." About 330 years
earlier, the apostle Paul sought to impress his younger preaching protoge
Timothy with the importance of paying the utmost heed to the kind of men chosen
to lead and serve the church! Paul’s words are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-13.
In the space of those verses he sketches the necessary moral and spiritual
character of men who should serve as elders and deacons in the church. A
similar but not identical list of what we commonly call
"requirements" for elders is found in Titus 1:5-9. Take time
to read the two combined lists for "bishops" or "elders"
(the two terms are synonymous – cf. Acts 20:17, 28 * 1 Timothy 3:1-7 * Titus
1:5-9) and you cannot but be impressed with God’s concern that men who would
serve as elders in the church be men who can be considered unimpeachable
examples of moral and spiritual excellence!
An
old friend of mine, now deceased, once gave me this definition of an elder –
"An elder is a man whose job is to keep me connected to God and get me to
heaven." I understand, and I promise you my older Christian friend did,
too, that in the ultimate sense nobody can get us to heaven but our Chief Shepherd,
Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5:4). But the Chief Shepherd has delegated the
task of being "under- shepherds" over the flock of God (that is, the
church) to the kind of men described in the foregoing Scripture passages cited
above. In 1 Timothy 3 the first thing the apostle Paul says about a
prospective elder, besides desiring the work, is that he must be "blameless"
or as the English Standard Version says "above reproach."
To visualize what this word means, imagine the man is put on trial. It is
charged that he has not been consistent enough in moral character and conduct
to have earned the respect and trust of people who know him. Witnesses are
called – but no testimony is given that can prove the man is not "blameless
/ above reproach." Some testimony proves he is not "sinless"
or "flawless" – but his moral track record has been exemplary and
upright long enough that the people who know him best can testify there is no
real handle on the accusations being made against him to take hold of. The
Easy To Read Version gets at the sense of it – "An elder must be
such a good man that no one can rightly criticize him." God is clearly
concerned about the kind of men we choose as elders. A question in 1 Timothy
3:5 captures in a nutshell the responsibility of the elder / elders – as
Paul declares the prospective elder must be an effective leader at home and
have obedient children who respect him, he asks: "for
if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the
church of God?" There’s a lot of food for thought about the character and role of
elders in those few words. Let’s chew on it for awhile.
– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
Three
thousand years ago King Solomon held forth in Proverbs 20:6 on the
widespread human trait of self-promotion – "Most men will proclaim each
his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?" The verse reminds
me of a story about two old-timers who sat on a park bench listening as a
candidate appealed for votes. "Who is that feller anyway?" asked one.
His bench buddy replied, "I don’t rightly know. But he sure does recommend
himself highly."
My topic in this little
piece is not politics and definitely not about self-promotion. The topic is the
church’s "elders." The apostle Paul described these men in 1
Timothy 3:1-7.
First we note that Paul uses the term "bishop"
in verse 1. But a comparison of the qualities listed in verses 2-7
with those of "elders" in Titus 1:6-9 makes clear the
two terms are used interchangeably to refer to the same group of men. I say
"men" because the apostle wrote, "A bishop then must be the
husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:3a * Titus 1:6b). Other required
qualities listed in 1 Timothy 3 are challenging indeed: "blameless, husband of one wife, temperate,
sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine,
not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
rules his own house well, having his children in submission . . . take
care of the church of God; not a novice . . . must have a good testimony among
those who are outside . . ."
God does not just "recommend" or suggest
these things. These are moral and spiritual requirements in elders and
prospective elders. God expects there will be men of that kind of exemplary
character in the church. He expects the church will recognize and support them
in their sobering and weighty task. The awesome challenges and Scripture- bound
responsibilities placed on elders include these: * taking heed to themselves as
well as to all the flock * oversee and shepherd and feed the church of God *
watch for savage wolves (false teachers) who might come in among you (if
allowed) and not spare the flock as they speak perverse things & attempt to
draw away disciples after themselves * watch out for and some day give an
account for the souls under their care * serve as an elder not with a sense of
compulsion but willingly, honestly, and eagerly * serve not as a lord over
God’s people but being an example to the flock * hold fast the faithful word as
he has been taught and be able to exhort and convict those who would contradict
sound doctrine (Acts 20:17, 28-32; Hebrews 13:7, 17; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Titus
1:9).
If this sounds like a description of some kind of spiritual Superman,
I can assure you it is not. No elder is flawless, but they must be faithful.
They may make occasional mistakes in judgement. They cannot possibly please
everyone, but genuine elders have an unbending desire to please God. They have
a proven track record of faithful, godly living in both private and public
arenas of life – in the home, the church, and the community. They have
demonstrated a deep love for God and His Son, their families, the truth of
God’s Word, and the church that Word describes.
Let us insist that elders
resemble the moral and spiritual character traced out for them in Scripture.
Let us pray for more good men to serve as elders. Let us expect them to be
faithful men. But let us not frustrate them or ourselves by demanding them to
be flawless men. No one is. Think about it.
– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
