Latest / Reformed Thinking / Not Quick-Tempered: Why Patient, Christlike Self-Control Is Essential for Elders (Titus 1:5–9)

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Not Quick-Tempered: Why Patient, Christlike Self-Control Is Essential for Elders (Titus 1:5–9) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reform Thinking. It is great to be back in the
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  studio and I'm really glad you're listening in.
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  We have a lot of ground to cover today.
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  It's good to be here. I've been looking forward to
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  this one because the material we're reviewing is, well, it's
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  both incredibly challenging and incredibly necessary.
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  It really is. You know, this show is built on
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  a specific premise. We want to be a space where we
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  can slow down. We want to engage in theological
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  reflection on the Christian life, but we want to do it
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  specifically grounded, you know, in the Reformed tradition.
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  We aren't just floating in the abstract.
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  We want to take these doctrines, things like the attributes of
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  God, the nature of sin, the work of Christ, and see how they
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  actually play out. In the Pew, in the pulp, and in
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  the heart. Exactly.
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  We want to see how the theology hits the road and.
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  That's what we're doing today. Precisely.
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  And today we are tackling a subject that I think almost
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  everyone has encountered. I mean, whether you've been in
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  the church for five decades or 5 minutes.
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  Or maybe just observing the wider evangelical culture from a
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  distance. Yeah, you've seen this.
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  It's the trap of prioritizing competence over character.
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  That is such a dangerous trap. Yeah, and sadly, it's one the
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  church falls into with, well, with alarming frequency.
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  It's the high competence, low character dilemma.
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  That's it. So I want to set the stage for
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  everyone listening. I want you to picture a
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  scenario. It's hypothetical, but I would
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  bet my lunch that it feels familiar to a lot of you.
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  I'm sure it will. You have a leader, let's say
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  he's the senior pastor or maybe a very prominent, influential
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  elder. And this man is well, he's
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  undeniable in his gifting. He's that who gets things done.
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  Right. He is productive.
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  I mean, under his leadership, the budget is balanced, the
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  building campaign is fully funded, the pews are full.
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  All the metrics are pointing up. Exactly.
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  And when he stands in the pulpit, he is theologically
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  articulate. He's quoting the Puritans.
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  He's parsing Greek verbs, and he holds the room in the palm of
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  his hand. He's a dynamic.
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  But the unspoken reality, The thing everyone knows, but no one
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  wants to actually address. He is known for being, shall we
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  say, intense. That's the word people use,
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  right? He's just very intense.
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  Intense is often the polite euphemism we use in the church.
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  It is. It covers a multitude of sins.
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  It's a way of softening the blow of what we're actually seeing.
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  It really is. I mean, it means he has a short
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  fuse. Maybe he snaps at the sound guy
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  because the monitor levels are off during worship.
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  Or maybe in the elder meetings the other men are actually
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  terrified to disagree with them because they know he'll just
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  verbally dress them down. Or, you know, explode.
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  But the church looks at the results.
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  Yes, they look at the fruit, the big numbers, the good sermons,
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  and they say, well, look, you can't have everything.
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  He's a visionary. We have to tolerate the temper
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  to get the talent. And that right there is the
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  fatal error that is the trade off that the Bible, and
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  specifically the Reformed tradition, says we absolutely
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  cannot make. But it's so tempting.
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  It's so tempting. We excuse the behavior is just
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  passion or zeal for the truth. We treat the anger like a minor
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  crack in the paint, while we view his competence as this huge
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  structural pillar. But the material we're looking
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  at today argues that that crack in the paint, it's actually a
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  crack in the foundation. It is.
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  That's a strong claim, I know, but the argument is that you
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  cannot compartmentalize the 2. The New Testament refuses to
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  separate a shepherd's doctrine from his demeanor.
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  OK, so we're doing a deep dive today and the two really heavy
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  hitting articles. One is titled Not quick
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  tempered. Why patient Christ like
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  self-control is essential for elders and the other is the
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  stewards temperament. Both excellent.
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  And the core thesis we're going to explore is that the
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  qualification in Titus 1.7 that an overseer must be not quick
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  tempered is not just a suggestion.
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  It's not an extra credit assignment for the Super
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  spiritual guys. It's a spirit breathed
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  prohibition, a firewall. The Greek term there is may or
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  Gilan. And what we're going to see is
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  that if a man fails this test, he's not just rude, he is
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  disqualified. Disqualified.
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  That is a terrifying word for a guy who might have spent ten
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  years in seminary and built his whole identity around ministry.
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  It should be terrifying because the stakes are the souls of the
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  sheep. OK, so here's the road map for
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  today. We're going to look at the
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  exegesis of that Greek text. What does quick tempered
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  actually mean? Because I think we might have a
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  cartoon version of it in our heads.
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  I think so too. Then we're going to go into the
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  theology, the Westminster Confession, the nature of God
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  himself. We're going to look at the
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  terrifying example of Moses, and then we'll land on some
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  practical diagnostics. How do you actually spot this in
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  a leader before it's too late? That sounds like a solid plan
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  all. Right, let's start at the
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  beginning. Let's look at the text itself.
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  We're in Titus chapter 1. Paul has left Titus on the
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  island of Crete. Now, I've never been to Crete,
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  but in the 1st century this was not exactly a vacation
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  destination, was it? No, not the kind of place you go
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  for a relaxing retreat. Crete was notorious.
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  Paul actually quotes a Cretan poet in this chapter.
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  His own people. Yes, who describes his own
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  people as evil beasts? Lazy gluttons.
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  That is quite the review. Welcome to Crete, we are evil
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  beasts. It was a culture defined by
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  moral turbulence, dishonesty, violence.
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  I mean, just chaotic. And Paul looks at this chaos and
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  tells Titus, I left you there for a specific mission.
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  And the mission wasn't start a youth groom or launch a coffee
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  shop ministry. No, the mission was to put what
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  remained into order. That is the key phrase put into.
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  Order. Paul's solution to the chaos of
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  the culture was not a better organizational flow chart.
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  It wasn't a marketing campaign. It was settled.
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  Qualified oversight. So order in the church to
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  counter the disorder in the world.
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  That's the goal, and the way you do that is by appointing elders
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  who meet specific God-given standards.
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  And one of those standards is this negative prohibition, not
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  quick tempered. But before we get to the anger
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  part, the source material points out a specific metaphor Paul
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  uses. Yes.
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  This is absolutely pivotal. He calls him God Steward.
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  The Greek is Theo Econamon. Right.
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  And if you miss this, you miss why the anger issue is so
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  serious. An economist.
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  It's a house manager. He's not the owner of the house.
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  OK, help me visualize this in a 1st century context.
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  Who is this guy? OK, imagine a wealthy estate
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  owner who goes away on a long trip.
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  He leaves a manager in charge. This manager, he has the keys.
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  He controls the food, the money, the servants.
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  He has authority, yes, but, and this is the big but, none of it
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  belongs to him. So he's a middle man.
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  He's managing someone else's assets.
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  He is a servant who has been entrusted with the goods of
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  another. In this case, the Church belongs
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  to Christ. It is God's household.
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  The elder is simply the steward, managing it on God's behalf.
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  OK, so apply that to the anger issue.
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  Why does being a steward make anger such a big problem?
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  Well, think about it. If you own the house and
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  something goes wrong, someone breaks a vase, or the food isn't
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  cooked right, you might feel entitled to get angry because
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  it's your stuff. It's your loss, you take the
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  hit. Exactly, but if you're the
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  manager, your job is to represent the owner's will, not
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  your own feelings. That makes sense.
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  The source makes this point, which I found so striking.
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  The quick tempered man acts as if he owns the church.
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  When he faces opposition or when someone questions his decision,
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  he treats it as a personal offense against him.
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  He takes it personally. He forgets that he's just
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  handling God's property. So he's usurping the owner's
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  place. That is exactly right, and even
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  worse, a volatile steward misrepresents the master.
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  How so the? Steward is the face of the
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  master to the household. So if the Master God is slowed
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  at anger, patient and abounding in steadfast love, but the
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  steward is constantly blowing up, screaming and acting
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  capriciously. Then the steward is effectively
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  lying about the masters character to the household.
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  Precisely. The people in the pews look at
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  the pastor and subconsciously think this must be what God is
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  like. Wow.
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  So if the elder is scary, the flop begins to think God is
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  scary. Not wholly scary.
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  There's a difference. A huge difference and that's a
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  theological danger. You are misrepresenting God.
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  That is a heavy realization. It takes it out of the realm of,
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  oh, that's just his personality and puts it into the realm of
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  theology. It has to.
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  OK, let's drill down into the actual word Paul uses.
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  The text says not quick tempered.
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  The Greek word is orgulus. Now I'm not Greek scholar, but
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  the sources make a distinction between this word and another
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  word for anger, thumos. Can you unpack that for us?
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  Yeah, this is a really helpful distinction.
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  Thumos typically refers to that sudden explosive outburst.
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  Picture a match thrown into dry straw.
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  Exactly. It flares up massive and hot,
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  burns everyone nearby, and then it's gone.
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  The flash of rage, the why is this coffee cold?
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  And then 5 minutes later they're fine.
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  Right. And they'll even say, oh, I just
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  blow off steam. That's thumos.
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  But orgulos, which comes from the root orguli, is different.
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  It refers to a settled seething disposition.
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  So it's deeper, it's not just a flash.
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  It's a mindset. It's the man who nurses his
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  anger. It's the temperament that is
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  prone to vengeance or holding a grudge.
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  The man who is constantly simmering.
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  The guy you feel like you have to walk on egg shells around.
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  Yes. Now the source clarifies that
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  this prohibition is not against ever feeling anger.
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  Righteous anger exists. Jesus displayed righteous anger.
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  Right, we can't say never be angry or we condemn Jesus
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  clearing the temple. Correct.
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  But Paul is forbidding the appointment of a man who is
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  characterized by this. A man who has a hair trigger, a
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  man who lives in a state of volatility.
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  A man whose default setting is offended.
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  The sources also mentioned that this word orgilos appears in a
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  list of vices and the syntax connects it to the word that
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  comes before it, I guess. Self willed.
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  Self willed. That connection is vital.
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  The Greek word is Authidae, often translated as arrogant or
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  self willed. The source argues that these
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  vices are linked as root and fruit.
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  Root and fruit break that down for us.
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  OK, the self willed man is arrogant.
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  He wants his own way. He believes he's the smartest
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  person in the room. He is the center of his own
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  universe. Now what happens when a man like
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  that gets crossed? What happens when a committee
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  votes against him or a church member questions his decision?
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  He gets angry because how dare they question him?
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  Precisely. The self willed man becomes the
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  quick tempered man. Arrogance is the root, anger is
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  the fruit. When his will is blocked, he
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  uses anger as a weapon to re establish control.
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  So if you have a pastor who is constantly angry, you almost
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  certainly have a pastor who is deeply arrogant.
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  Even if he masks it with false humility.
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  That's a diagnostic tool right there.
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  If you see the smoke of anger, look for the fire of arrogance.
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  Always. There was another contrast in
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  the text that stood out to me. Paul lists these vices and then
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  immediately pivots to virtues, and the first virtue is
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  hospitable. That is a beautiful, beautiful
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  contrast, isn't it? Think about the function of
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  those two things. An angry man drives people away.
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  His anger is a barrier. It closes doors.
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  You don't want to be around him. He is repulsive in the literal
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  sense of the word, but a hospitable man.
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  He welcomes people, he opens doors, he makes room for others.
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  So anger destroys the church's function as a refuge.
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  You can't be a refuge if the doorman is going to bite your
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  head off. That is it.
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  The Church is supposed to be a hospital for sinners, a place of
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  safety. A quick tempered elder turns it
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  into a place of danger. Which moves us into the
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  theological rationale. We've talked about the text, but
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  the sources go deeper into the doctrine of God.
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  This isn't just a practical management tip.
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  This is about theology proper. We have to go to the Westminster
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  Confession of Faith for this chapter 2, Section 1.
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  It describes God as most holy, immutable, and without passions.
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  OK, without passions that can sound a bit like God is a robot
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  or a stone statue. We need to be careful with that
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  definition. We absolutely do.
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  The Latin term is impassibilist, and divine impassibility doesn't
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  mean God is devoid of affection or that he doesn't care.
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  So what does it mean? It means that God is not subject
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  to being overcome by external forces.
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  He doesn't have mood swings. He doesn't have emotional
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  volatility caused by something happening outside of him.
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  So he isn't having a bad day. He is never having a bad day.
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  When God expresses wrath, it isn't because he lost his
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  temper. It is a settled, just holy
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  opposition to sin. It's consistent.
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  Because he is immutable, He does not change.
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  So here's the argument. An elder is called to
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  analogically reflect God's communicable attributes.
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  He's supposed to look like God to the flock.
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  So if an elder is volatile, if he's up and down, if he flies
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  off the handle because of stress or low blood sugar or an
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  annoying e-mail. He is presenting a false God.
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  He's presenting a God made in the image of fallen man,
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  capricious and unstable. That puts a terrifying weight on
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  the office of Elder. You are acting out a theology
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  with your. You are, and there is a clear
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  warning in redemptive history about what happens when a leader
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  misrepresents God's mood. We have to talk about Moses.
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  We have to talk about Moses, the incident at Meribah, Numbers 20,
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  right? The people are rebelling again,
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  they're complaining for water, and Moses is just frustrated.
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  I mean, who wouldn't be? Who's been leading these people
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  for decades? And they're constantly whining.
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  So God tells Moses to speak to the rock to bring out water.
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  But Moses doesn't just speak. No, Moses gathers the people,
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  and he says, here now you rebels, shall we bring water for
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  you out of this rock? And he strikes the rock twice in
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  anger. And water came out.
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  Water came out. God was faithful to his people.
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  But then God takes Moses aside and pronounces A judgement that
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  seems shockingly harsh to modern.
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  Ears. It really does.
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  He says, because you did not believe in me to uphold me as
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  holy in the eyes of the people, therefore you shall not bring
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  this assembly into the lamp. He was disqualified right at the
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  finish line. Disqualified.
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  And the reason wasn't just anger management failure, it was
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  theological treason. God said Moses failed to uphold
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  me as holy. So by striking the rock and
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  anger. He made it look like God was
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  petulant. He made it look like God was
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  disgusted with them. Lash out, angry.
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  Moses projected his own sinful frustration onto the character
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  of God, and God said I cannot have that.
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  That is so sobering if Moses, the meekest man on earth, could
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  be disqualified for one high handed act of angry
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  misrepresentation. How much more careful should a
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  modern elder be? It should make every elder
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  tremble. It shows that God values the
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  purity of His representation more than the past performance
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  of the leader. The source material also
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  connects this to the 6th commandment.
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  Thou shalt not murder. Yes, the Westminster Larger
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  Catechism, question 136. It explains that the command
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  against murder isn't just about physical killing.
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  It forbids sinful anger, hatred and provoking words.
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  So an angry elder is actually breaking the 6th commandment in
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  his heart. In the eyes of the confession,
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  yes, he's guilty of heart murder.
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  When an elder uses words to tear someone down, to belittle them,
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  to crush their spirit, he is violating the moral law.
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  This is not a personality quirk, it is a Sin issue.
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  OK, I want to shift gears to what this looks like on the
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  ground. We have the theology, but let's
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  talk about the practical ecclesiology.
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  What does an angry leader actually do to a church culture?
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  The source uses a very descriptive phrase, survival
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  strategies. Survival Strategies.
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  When you have a quick tempered shepherd, the sheep stop grazing
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  and start scanning for threats. The entire culture shifts.
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  The congregation stops asking the most important question,
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  which is what does Christ require of us?
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  And they start asking the survival question, What will set
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  him off? I can imagine that you're in a
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  meeting and you have a legitimate concern about the
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  budget or a program, but you sit there and you calculate.
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  You do the math. If I bring this up, is he going
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  to yell? Is he going to get passive
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  aggressive? Is it worth the blowback?
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  And usually the answer is no, it's not worth it.
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  So the result is external conformity but internal anxiety.
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  The members manage appearances to avoid detonating the leader.
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  You get a culture of silence. And the source notes that this
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  is spiritually lethal because it discourages confession.
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  Right, the source mentioned the counseling room.
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  The counseling room becomes unsafe.
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  Think about it. You're struggling with a
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  shameful sin. You need help, but the man who
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  is supposed to shepherd you is known for being harsh, critical
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  and impatient. Are you going to go to him and
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  bare your soul? No way I would be afraid he
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  would judge me or scold me or or just look at me with disdain.
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  Exactly. So people hide their struggles,
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  they bleed in private. The cost of confession is too
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  high. So you have a church that looks
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  orderly on the outside, but underneath people are dying
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  because they can't access the means of grace without fear of
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  the messenger. And it changes the ministry of
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  the word to the source. Have this great image, the club
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  versus the staff. A shepherd's staff is used to
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  guide, to comfort, maybe to gently nudge a sheep back to the
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  path. A club is a weapon.
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  And a quick tempered man. Turns the ministry of the Word
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  into a club. Truth feels like a weapon.
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  He might be preaching sound doctrine, true things, but he's
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  using them to beat people into submission.
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  I am right, you are wrong. Sit down and shut up.
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  And that corrupts discipline. Church discipline is supposed to
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  be about restoration. Right, bringing the center back.
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  But angry discipline becomes punitive.
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  It becomes personal. It escalates way too quickly.
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  Instead of a slow grieved process.
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  It becomes you defied me. You're out becomes about the
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  leader's ego, not the sinner's soul now.
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  I think it is important to clarify what quick tempered
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  looks like because I think we all picture the guy with the red
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  face, veins bulging screaming. Right, the classic explosion.
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  But the source makes a crucial distinction between hot anger
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  and cold anger. This is so important because
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  many cold anger men fly under the radar.
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  Orgulos isn't always loud. So what's hot anger?
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  Hot anger is what you described. Yelling, snapping, interrupting.
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  Physical intimidation that's easy to spot, but cold anger.
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  What's that look like? Cold anger is the withdrawal.
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  It's the silent treatment. It's the icy stare.
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  It's the sarcasm that cuts you but leaves you confused.
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  It's freezing people out of the loop because they annoyed you.
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  That passive aggressive punishment.
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  Yes, and the source argues that both are disqualifying.
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  Why? Because both are used to control
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  and to punish. The screamer uses noise to
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  control. And the silent treatment guy
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  uses access and approval to control.
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  Both are serving the self, not the flock.
• 18:40
  I think we've all seen the cold anger type, the leader who just
• 18:43
  stops responding to your emails because you asked a hard
• 18:45
  question. It's incredibly destabilizing.
• 18:48
  It's manipulation and it has no place in the household of God.
• 18:53
  This leads us into the polemic section.
• 18:55
  The sources take some swings at cultural idols that we've LED
• 18:58
  into the church, and one of them is this idea of venting.
• 19:02
  Oh yes, this is the influence of secular psychology, specifically
• 19:06
  a kind of therapeutic deism. The idea is catharsis.
• 19:11
  The theory says that anger is like fluid in a hydraulic
• 19:13
  system. If you build up pressure, you
• 19:15
  have to let it out or vent it, otherwise you'll explode or get
• 19:18
  sick. I just need to vent.
• 19:20
  We say it all the time. Letting it out is seen as
• 19:22
  healthy and honest. We do, but the Reformed rebuttal
• 19:26
  here is sharp. The source argues that venting
• 19:29
  is often just practicing sin. Practicing sin.
• 19:31
  Explain. That yes, you're rehearsing the
• 19:33
  anger, You're strengthening the sinful habit.
• 19:35
  Proverbs 29 point O1 is explicitly sighted.
• 19:38
  A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man holds it
• 19:42
  back. So the goal is an expression of
• 19:45
  the flesh. It's mortification of the flesh.
• 19:47
  The fruit of the Spirit is self-control, not
• 19:49
  self-expression. So the idea that I need to get
• 19:52
  this off my chest is actually unbiblical if getting it off
• 19:56
  your chest means dumping sinful anger on someone.
• 19:58
  Else now you can cast your cares on the Lord.
• 20:01
  You can lament to God, absolutely, but venting in the
• 20:05
  sense of uncontrolled rage? Release.
• 20:07
  That's the mark of a fool, according to Proverbs.
• 20:10
  Another idol the sources confront is the cage stage
• 20:13
  phenomenon. We see this in our circles.
• 20:15
  Theological pugilism. It's a sad reality, isn't it?
• 20:18
  Yeah. Cage stage Calvinism refers to
• 20:21
  someone who has recently discovered Reformed theology,
• 20:24
  the sovereignty of God, election, total depravity, and
• 20:27
  they are just. Pumped.
• 20:28
  They're excited. But they conflate theological
• 20:31
  precision with interpersonal aggression.
• 20:33
  They think that because they have the right theology, they
• 20:35
  have the right to be a jerk about it.
• 20:37
  They think that contending for the faith means destroying
• 20:39
  anyone who disagrees with them. They treat other Christians as
• 20:42
  enemies to be crushed. The source calls this an error
• 20:45
  of thinking that truth must be defended by fleshly anger.
• 20:48
  But the scripture corrects this so clearly.
• 20:50
  Secondly, 2.2425, it's the standing order for the Lord's
• 20:54
  servant. It says he must correct
• 20:56
  opponents with gentleness. Gentleness, not weakness, but
• 20:59
  gentleness. Why?
• 21:01
  Because God may grant them repentance, leading to a
• 21:03
  knowledge of the truth. You can't argue someone into the
• 21:06
  Kingdom with a sledgehammer. There's also a discussion on
• 21:09
  distorted masculinity or neopatriarchy, this trend to
• 21:13
  view biblical manhood as domination.
• 21:15
  We're seeing a reaction to the culture against soft men, and
• 21:18
  the pendulum often swings too far.
• 21:20
  Some view biblical manhood as bluster, loudness, the ability
• 21:24
  to dominate A room. But the source argues that's a
• 21:27
  worldly definition of strength. It is true strength.
• 21:30
  Biblical strength is meekness. And meekness isn't weakness.
• 21:33
  No, Meekness is power under control.
• 21:35
  It's a horse that is bitten, bridled.
• 21:37
  It has immense power, but it's directed and controlled.
• 21:40
  The source quotes Proverbs 25.28.
• 21:43
  A man who cannot rule. His spirit is like a city
• 21:45
  without walls. That is a great image.
• 21:48
  A city without walls isn't strong, it's vulnerable.
• 21:51
  It's defenseless. Anything can walk in and sack
• 21:53
  it. A man who cannot control his
• 21:55
  temper is actually weak. He's a slave to his impulses.
• 21:59
  Anyone can manipulate him just by pushing his buttons.
• 22:02
  The truly strong man is the one who can take an insult and not
• 22:05
  flinch. That's real strength and it
• 22:07
  connects to the outrage persona that was mentioned, leaders who
• 22:10
  brand themselves on being perpetually angry about the
• 22:13
  culture of the church. A prophetic bully.
• 22:15
  Yeah, we need to be careful not to mistake a man who is always
• 22:18
  yelling for a holy man. Sometimes he is just a bully who
• 22:22
  found a pulpit. So we've diagnosed the disease.
• 22:24
  We've seen the damage. What is the cure?
• 22:27
  The sources point us to the Christological Center.
• 22:29
  This is the most important part, because if we just stop it, stop
• 22:32
  being angry, that is just moralism.
• 22:35
  We can't do it. We need Christ.
• 22:37
  So where do we start? 1st we need Christ as the model.
• 22:40
  OK, how does Jesus model this? Because he did cleanse the
• 22:43
  temple. He wasn't passive.
• 22:45
  No, he wasn't passive. He had zeal, but his anger was
• 22:50
  always principled, holy, and directed at the distortion of
• 22:54
  God's glory, not the wounding of his own ego.
• 22:57
  But look at first, Peter 2.23. This is the verse the expert in
• 23:01
  the source highlights. When he was reviled, he did not
• 23:05
  revile in return. That is so hard, the impulses to
• 23:07
  hit back. Always.
• 23:10
  But think Jesus had the power to call down legions of angels.
• 23:13
  He had the right to judge these people.
• 23:15
  They were literally spitting on God.
• 23:18
  But what did he do? He entrusted himself to the
• 23:20
  Father. He didn't need immediate self
• 23:22
  indication. He didn't need to win the
• 23:24
  argument right then and there. That's the key isn't it?
• 23:26
  The need for self indication. I have to prove I'm right.
• 23:29
  I have to make you pay for disrespecting me.
• 23:32
  Jesus let it go because He knew the Father would judge justly.
• 23:35
  Exactly. But Jesus is not just a model.
• 23:38
  If he is just a model, we're crushed because we failed to be
• 23:41
  like him every single day. So.
• 23:43
  What else is he? We must see him as substitute.
• 23:46
  This is the gospel comfort. This is everything.
• 23:49
  Christ bore the orgo, the wrath of God.
• 23:51
  He took the punishment for our sinful anger, and because he
• 23:54
  satisfied God's justice, we don't have to fear God's wrath.
• 23:58
  But it also means, and this is so profound, the Elder doesn't
• 24:01
  need to dispense his own wrath to balance the universe.
• 24:04
  Say that again, That is good. The angry man often feels like
• 24:07
  he has to dispense wrath because an injustice has occurred.
• 24:11
  You did wrong, so I must punish you with my anger.
• 24:13
  Right, I'm the enforcer. But the cross says justice has
• 24:17
  been satisfied. Either Christ paid for that sin,
• 24:20
  or the Sinner will pay for it eternally.
• 24:22
  You, the elder do not need to be the judge, jury, and
• 24:25
  executioner. You can lay down the gavel.
• 24:27
  That is freeing. That is the only thing that can
• 24:29
  really drain the anger out of a man.
• 24:31
  And that leads to sanctification, union with
• 24:33
  Christ. The cure is not willpower.
• 24:35
  It's not. I'll try harder not to yell.
• 24:38
  What is it then? It's applying the indicative
• 24:40
  imperative dynamic. Break that down for.
• 24:42
  Us the indicative is what is true of you in Christ.
• 24:45
  You have died with Christ. Colossians 3.
• 24:48
  Your old self is dead. The imperative is the command
• 24:52
  that flows from that reality. Therefore, put away anger.
• 24:56
  You can put it away because you aren't a slave to it anymore.
• 24:58
  So it is mortification killing the sin.
• 25:01
  Yes, but it's more than just stopping the outburst.
• 25:04
  It's identifying the idols beneath the anger.
• 25:08
  Why did I get angry? Was it because God's glory was
• 25:11
  tarnished? Or was it because I felt
• 25:12
  disrespected? Was it because I lost control?
• 25:15
  Was it because I wanted comfort and the kids were being noisy?
• 25:19
  Right when you identify the idol, control, respect, comfort,
• 25:23
  you repent of that you cut the root.
• 25:25
  That is deep work. That's not just counting to 10.
• 25:27
  That is soul surgery. It is the only way a quick
• 25:30
  tempered man becomes a gentle shepherd.
• 25:33
  Let's move to the final segment, Discernment and Diagnostics.
• 25:37
  Suppose we are a church member or an elder on a session.
• 25:40
  How do we spot this? Because people can hide it
• 25:43
  during an interview. They can, and the sources are
• 25:45
  very practical here for church courts.
• 25:47
  For sessions, you have to move beyond just the doctrinal
• 25:50
  questions. We love our doctrinal questions.
• 25:52
  What is your view on the distinctives of Tuliba?
• 25:55
  Good, ask that, but you also need to ask about domestic
• 25:59
  demeanor. What kind of questions?
• 26:00
  The source suggests this one. When was the last time you were
• 26:03
  publicly contradicted? How did you handle it?
• 26:05
  Oh, that is a good one. Not if you were contradicted,
• 26:08
  but when. It assumes it happens Or this
• 26:11
  one. Does your wife feel safe
• 26:13
  bringing a grievance to you? Wow, that is a piercing
• 26:17
  question. If the candidate's wife looks
• 26:19
  terrified to answer that, you have your answer.
• 26:21
  You do, and you have to observe him over time.
• 26:24
  Watch the man when he is tired. Watch him when plans change at
• 26:28
  the last minute. Watch him when he's outvoted.
• 26:30
  The outvoted test. Can he lose a vote without
• 26:32
  sulking? Can he lose a vote without
• 26:35
  trying to manipulate the outcome later?
• 26:37
  Can he support the body's decision even if it wasn't his
• 26:40
  preference? That reveals if he's a steward
• 26:42
  or if he thinks he's the owner. We need to make a distinction
• 26:45
  here, though. We aren't looking for a man who
• 26:47
  never gets angry, are we? No.
• 26:49
  We are not looking for sinless perfection.
• 26:52
  If I were the standard, we would have no elders.
• 26:54
  We are looking for a man not characterized by anger.
• 26:57
  The pattern matters. And the key differentiator?
• 27:00
  Is repentance. What does that look like when he
• 27:04
  snaps? Because he will.
• 27:06
  He's a Sinner. What happens next?
• 27:09
  Does he justify it? Well, I was just passionate and
• 27:12
  you guys are being slow. That is not repentance.
• 27:15
  So what is? Does he own it?
• 27:17
  Does he go to the person he snapped at and say, brother, I
• 27:20
  sinned against you, I was impatient, I spoke harshly.
• 27:22
  Please forgive me A. Specific apology, no excuses.
• 27:26
  That is the mark of a man growing in grace.
• 27:29
  The source also gives some advice to voters to the
• 27:32
  congregation. This is a warning to the people
• 27:34
  in the pews. Do not vote for a man just
• 27:37
  because he's a good businessman or he gets things done if he
• 27:40
  leaves relational debris in his wake.
• 27:42
  We tend to value the noisy talents.
• 27:44
  Yeah, he's a driver. He's a shaker.
• 27:46
  Do but the Bible values the quiet, graces, patience,
• 27:50
  gentleness, self-control. It's better to have a leader who
• 27:53
  is slow and kind than one who is fast and cruel. 1000 times
• 27:57
  better. The slow, kind leader might miss
• 27:59
  a few opportunities for growth, but the fast, cruel leader will
• 28:02
  scatter the sheep. Well, we have covered a lot of
• 28:04
  ground. Let's bring this home.
• 28:06
  Let's summarize. The not quick tempered
• 28:08
  qualification is not just a suggestion, it is a divine
• 28:12
  safeguard. It protects the Church from
• 28:15
  tyranny. And it ensures that the gospel
• 28:17
  of grace is not obscured by the behavior of the messenger.
• 28:20
  That's it. The world admires force.
• 28:22
  The world admires the guy who dominates the room.
• 28:25
  But Christ commends self-control.
• 28:27
  He does, and the church needs to be different from the world.
• 28:30
  I want to leave our listeners with this final thought from the
• 28:32
  source material. It's something to really chew
• 28:34
  on. The author asks if God is so
• 28:36
  holy that he forbids even his human representatives from being
• 28:39
  quick tempered, How much more terrifying is the settled
• 28:42
  righteous wrath of God himself? And how sweet is the refuge
• 28:47
  found in the shepherd who is slow to anger?
• 28:49
  That puts it all in perspective. We flee from the wrath we
• 28:52
  deserve to the shepherd who bore it for us, and our elders should
• 28:56
  help us see him clearly. Amen to that.
• 28:58
  Thank you for joining us on this journey through the text.
• 29:00
  This has been a deep dive into reformed thinking.