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The Mastered Master: Enkrateia and the Stewardship of the Soul · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reformed thinking. It's good to be back.
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  We are back at the table, another stack of sources in
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  front of us, and we're ready to see what they have to say about,
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  well, the Christian life. We're taking the route we always
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  take, which is trying to strip away all the cultural noise and
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  get down to the brass tacks of what Scripture actually says.
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  And we're looking at this through our usual lens, you
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  know, staying consistent with Reformed theology, the
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  Westminster Confession, but applying it to a subject that
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  feels incredibly pressing right now.
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  We're talking about leadership. It is pressing.
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  And you're right to say that if you just look at the landscape
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  of the church in the West, and I mean certainly in the
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  evangelical world, we have a very specific type of leader
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  that we tend to celebrate. We do.
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  We like the platform builder. We like the high charisma
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  personality, the speaker who can just hold a room, the visionary
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  who can make things happen fast. The guy who gets results.
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  Right. The guy who gets results.
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  We value that visible output. But then you turn to the
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  pastoral epistles, you know, specifically Titus and First
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  Timothy, and just run into a wall.
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  The Bible insists on a qualification for leaders that
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  feels almost under counterintuitive to our modern
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  sensibilities. It doesn't ask for flash.
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  It asks for discipline. It feels a little boring,
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  doesn't it? I mean, discipline sounds like
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  doing your homework or flossing. It doesn't sound like the stuff
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  of a spiritual revolution. No, it doesn't.
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  But the sources we have in front of us today are making the case
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  that this is exactly where the battle is won or lost.
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  And that is the central tension we crave the excitement, the
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  charisma. And God demands self-control.
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  And you know, we aren't just talking about personality
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  courts. This isn't about whether a guy
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  is type A or type B. The sources frame this as a life
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  and death issue for the church. We are discussing A A spirit
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  breeds standard of moral credibility.
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  OK, that's a heavy phrase. It is because if you install a
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  leader who has all the gifting in the world, he can preach the
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  lights out, he can raise money, but he lacks this one specific
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  biblical quality of discipline. The argument here is that he is
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  a danger to the very people he's supposed to protect.
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  A danger to the flock? That's a serious accusation.
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  It is. So just to give you a road map,
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  we are doing a deep dive into this biblical qualification of
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  self-control. The Greek word being in Critea.
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  Right in Critea, and we're going to be pulling mainly from Titus
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  one in First Timothy 3. And we really need to understand
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  why an elder who cannot rule his own appetites, a man who
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  fundamentally cannot say no to himself, is unfit to rule the
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  Church of God. And we want to see how this all
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  connects back to the gospel right, to our understanding of
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  sanctification, and really to the person of Christ himself.
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  That's the goal. So let's start with the context.
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  We have to define our terms. What does a disciplined shepherd
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  even look like? And to get there, I think we
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  have to look at where Paul was writing from.
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  Or rather, two, he was writing two Titus.
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  And he left Titus on the island of Crete?
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  Yes. And Crete is the backdrop for
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  everything in this letter. Yeah.
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  You really cannot grasp the force of Paul's command without
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  understanding the culture that Titus was operating in.
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  Paul actually quotes one of their own, a Cretan poet named
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  Epimenides in Titus 1.12. And the reputation of the
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  Cretans was well, it was notorious in the ancient world.
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  What's the quote? The quote is Cretans are always
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  liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
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  Lazy gluttons. Wow, that is quite the review.
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  It's scathing, isn't it? But it's not just Paul throwing
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  an insult. It's a diagnosis.
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  A diagnosis of what? It describes a culture of
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  akrasia. That's the negative version of
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  the word we're studying. It means a complete lack of self
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  governance. So a society ruled by impulse.
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  Entirely. The picture you get is that if a
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  Cretan felt hungry, he ate until he was sick.
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  If he felt angry, he started a fight.
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  If you wanted pleasure, he just took it immediately.
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  It was a society where the stomach and the passion sat on
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  the throne. The sources draw a pretty sharp
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  parallel here between that ancient island culture and,
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  well, our own situation today. It feels like we're dealing with
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  a similar kind of vibe, doesn't it?
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  The parallel is striking. The sources argue that we're
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  seeing a kind of cretin chaos in the modern celebrity pastor
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  culture. How so?
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  Well. We elevate gifting way above
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  character. We'll look at a man and say, OK,
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  yeah, he's loose with his temper, or he's a little
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  arrogant, or he lives a pretty lavish lifestyle, but look at
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  how he preaches. Look at the crowds.
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  We make excuses. We justify the lack of
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  discipline because of the pragmatic result we see.
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  And then we act completely surprised when the crash
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  happens. Precisely.
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  We see the moral failures, the public scandals, the bullying,
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  the financial impropriety, and the sources argue these are not
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  accidents. They happen because we put men
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  in power whose internal world is completely ungoverned.
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  They are spiritual Cretans leading the Church.
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  So Paul tells Titus, in this chaotic culture, to appoint
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  elders who are the complete opposite of that.
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  The polar opposite. And he uses this specific word N
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  credo. I want to get into the weeds of
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  this word for a minute, because the etymology is it's pretty
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  fascinating. It is definitely worth the time.
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  So in Titus 1.8 the word is N credo.
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  It's a compound Greek word. You have N which means N.
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  OK. And Kratos, which means strength
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  or dominion. Right Kratos, I know that from
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  words like democracy, rule by the people.
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  Exactly. So if you translate, it
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  literally means holding oneself in, or my preferred translation,
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  having mastery from within. Mastery from within.
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  That sounds active. It doesn't sound passive at all.
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  It's incredibly active. It's almost a martial term.
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  It uses the language of warfare. Right, you don't need Dominion
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  if there's no enemy to fight. Precisely.
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  The implication is that the elder has secured dominion over
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  the city of his own soul. He has subjugated his passions,
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  his appetites, his temper to the rule of his will.
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  I really like that image, the city of the soul.
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  It implies that inside every one of us there are these potential
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  rioters, you know, anger, lust, hunger, laziness, and the
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  disciplined man is the one who has put down the riot.
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  He has established order and this is where the sources bring
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  in a really helpful distinction from ancient philosophy.
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  They contrast Pauls view with Aristotles.
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  Oh, this is interesting. Aristotle thought a lot about
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  virtue, but he had a slightly different hierarchy.
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  Right, he talked about the saffron versus the inkritos.
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  Yes, for Aristotle the absolute top tier was the saffron.
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  This is the man of sound mind. He literally has no bad desires.
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  He can walk past a Tavern or a bakery and doesn't even feel a
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  pull. He does the right thing
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  effortlessly because his desires are perfectly aligned with
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  reason. The guy who doesn't even have to
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  try, he's just naturally good. Correct.
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  But then Aristotle describes the second tier guy, the Inkratos.
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  This is the man who feels the pull.
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  He wants to overeat. He wants to lash out in anger.
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  So he has the bad desires. He does, but through the sheer
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  force of his reason and his logic, he masters that desire.
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  He says no. Now for the Greeks, this was
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  seen as slightly inferior because it involved a struggle.
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  It wasn't harmonious. But Paul uses both of these
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  terms for the elder, doesn't he? He does.
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  And here is the distinctively Christian turn.
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  The Christian elder isn't some stoic who feels nothing.
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  He's not a statue made of marble.
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  He is a man who is engaged in active, constant warfare against
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  the flesh. He feels the desire, but he
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  kills it. So what's the difference then
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  between him and the Aristotelian guy?
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  The power source. Unlike the Aristotelian moralist
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  who uses human reason, his Logos, to fight his passions,
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  the Christian uses the Spirit. OK, that is the key difference.
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  It's not just white knuckling it.
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  Absolutely not. If we would just willpower, this
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  would be no different than a self help seminar at the local
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  library, right? But Paul lists self-control and
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  critia as a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.23.
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  So the Elder conquers the city of his soul, not by his own
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  natural strength, but by the strength of the Holy Spirit
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  dwelling within him. OK, this connects us directly to
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  the theological rationale. Then why does God require this?
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  It's clearly not just so the pastor looks dignified in a suit
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  on Sunday morning. The sources use this term
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  Steward Oyonomos. In Titus 1.7, the overseer is
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  called God Steward. And a steward, you know, isn't
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  the owner of the house. He's the manager of a household
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  that belongs to another. He manages God's house.
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  He manages God's house. So the logic is pretty
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  straightforward. If a man cannot govern the the
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  small Kingdom of his own soul, then how can he possibly be
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  trusted to govern the household of faith?
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  That's the argument, plain and simple.
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  It's a competency test. It is if he's a slave to his own
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  belly or slave to his own temper.
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  He is compromised, he's unfit for duty.
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  And the sources bring up that wolf metaphor from Acts 20.
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  Oh yeah, Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders.
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  Right. He warns them that wolves will
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  come in from the outside. But then he says something even
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  more chilling. He says men will arise from
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  among your own selves, speaking twisted things.
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  That is a terrifying thought. The wolf isn't always the
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  outsider. The wolf can be the pastor who
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  lost control. A lack of discipline makes a
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  leader vulnerable to becoming a wolf, or at the very least, it
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  blinds him so that he can't spot a wolf.
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  Think about it. If a leader is ruled by the love
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  of money, he's not going to call out a wealthy donor who is
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  living in open sin because he's afraid of losing the check.
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  If he's ruled by a desperate need for applause, he's not
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  going to preach the hard texts of scripture.
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  His lack of self command leaves the door of the church unlocked
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  for any predator to walk through.
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  I want to pause here for a second because I can hear a
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  listener thinking, wait a minute, this sounds like a lot
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  of pressure. Are we saying a pastor has to be
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  perfect? Is this legalism?
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  We need to be really careful with our categories here.
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  We must be very precise, and this is where having a framework
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  like the Westminster Confession is so helpful.
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  We have to distinguish between justification and
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  sanctification. Right, two different things.
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  Completely, a man is justified. He's declared righteous before
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  God by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone.
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  His discipline is in critia does not earn him one inch of
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  standing with God. He is not saving himself by
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  being disciplined. So discipline is not the root of
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  his salvation. No, not at all.
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  Discipline is the fruit of his salvation.
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  The Westminster Confection in chapter 13 talks about
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  sanctification. The same grace that saves a man
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  also changes a man. It trains him, as Titus says, to
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  renounce ungodliness. So asking for a disciplined
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  elder isn't legalism. No, it's just looking for
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  evidence that the Holy Spirit is actually at work in his life.
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  On the flip side of that, though, the sources also pushed
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  back pretty hard against what they call antinomianism, this
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  idea of, you know, soft Christianity.
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  Yeah, we see this trend everywhere where people equate
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  messiness with authenticity. A leader might say, hey, I
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  struggled just like you. I'm a total mess and then use
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  that as a cover to excuse a lack of holiness.
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  It sounds humble, but it's dangerous.
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  It's a distortion of the gospel. The third use of the law teaches
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  us that the moral law acts as a guide for our gratitude.
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  And Elder should delight in God's law.
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  He shouldn't be looking for loopholes to excuse his sin, you
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  should be using the law to check his remaining corruption.
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  As one of the sources put it, a flabby life usually leads to
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  flabby theology. That's it, They're connected.
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  And that brings us to really the Christological center of all
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  this. We aren't just talking about a
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  list of rules for the sake of rules.
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  How does an elder's self-control connect to Jesus?
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  For me, this is the most significant part of the entire
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  discussion. We have to look at redemptive
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  history as in one sense a history of Eucracia, A history
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  of a lack of self command. OK, walk us through that.
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  Look at the first atom. He's in a garden.
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  He has infinite abundance. Everything he could possibly
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  want is at his fingertips. He has to say no to 1 single
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  fruit and. He couldn't do it.
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  He. Failed.
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  He could not master his appetite.
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  So then you look at Israel, God's corporate son in the
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  wilderness. They grumble for meat.
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  They build and worship the golden calf.
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  They fall into gluttony and idolatry.
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  They fail the test of discipline over and over and over again.
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  But then comes the second. Adam.
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  Then comes Jesus. He is the ultimate in creus.
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  He is the mastered master. He goes into the wilderness, not
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  a garden, and he fasts for 40 days.
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  Total opposite of Adam's situation.
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  The exact opposite. And when Satan tempts him to
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  turn stones into bread, appealing to his legitimate
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  screaming physical hunger, Jesus says no.
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  He prioritized the word of God over his own physical survival.
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  He exercised perfect self-control.
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  So when an elder exercises discipline, he is actually in a
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  small way mirroring what Jesus did perfectly.
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  Precisely. And it's even deeper than that.
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  His discipline is derivative. It's not original to him.
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  What do you mean by derivative? The forces use the analogy of
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  the vine and the branches from John 15 and Elder can say no to
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  sin only because he is united to Christ.
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  He is drawing his life, his strength, from the one who
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  perfectly said no to Satan in the desert.
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  That changes the whole tone of the struggle, doesn't it?
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  It's not just about self improvement anymore.
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  It makes it doxological. It's for God's glory.
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  It absolutely is. It shows that Jesus is a
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  treasure worth denying yourself for.
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  Think about it, if a man cannot deny himself a second drink or a
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  lustful look at a website, he is effectively saying on a
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  functional level that those things are more valuable to him
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  than Christ. The disciplined life serve as a
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  billboard to the whole congregation that says Jesus is
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  better. OK, we have laid the theological
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  concrete. The foundation is there.
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  Now let's build the house. Let's get practical.
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  The sources list 6 specific spheres where this discipline
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  has to be visible. This is an abstract philosophy.
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  This is observable everyday behavior.
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  And the first one they mention is the discipline of desires,
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  specifically the palate and the flesh.
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  And this is where it gets very uncomfortable for many of us in
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  the modern West. The sources specifically call
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  out gluttony. They call it the acceptable sin
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  in evangelical circles. That's true.
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  We'd never tolerate a drunkard in the pulpit.
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  Titus 1.7 explicitly says not a drunkard, but we often overlook
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  a total lack of restraint with food.
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  We do. Why do they link something like
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  overeating so closely to spiritual leadership?
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  Because it's a training ground for the will.
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  It's practice. If a man cannot say no to an
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  extra portion of food, if he can't master a basic physical
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  appetite, he weakens the spiritual muscle that he needs
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  to resist lust or pride or anger.
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  So it's about who's in charge. It signals that the body is
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  leading the man, not the man leading the body.
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  It suggests that his belly has more authority in his life than
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  his conscience does. OK.
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  The second sphere is the discipline of the eyes.
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  And I mean, obviously in 2026, we were talking about the
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  digital age here. The glass House of the Internet,
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  yeah. The specific threat the sources
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  are concerned with is pornography and the lust of the
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  eyes. They reference Job 31.1 where
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  Job says I have made a covenant with my eyes.
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  That language of Covenant is so strong it implies a serious
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  binding agreement he made with himself.
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  It does, and practically, the sources say this means taking
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  tangible, concrete steps. It means using filtering
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  software on your devices. It means having accountability
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  partners. And that's not being legalistic.
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  No, it's not legalistic to put fences around a Canyon.
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  It's necessary. It's wise.
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  If an elder is secretly consuming pornography, he is a
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  hollow man. He's standing in the pulpit
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  preaching freedom to his people while he himself is living in
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  chains. She has no authority.
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  He has no authority in the spiritual realm because he has
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  surrendered his ground to the enemy.
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  The third area they point to is discipline of temperament and
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  speech. The text says an elder must be
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  not quick tempered, not violent, not quarrelsome.
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  This is massive in our current moment.
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  I mean, just think about the culture of social media.
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  Outrage feels good to dunk on someone online.
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  It feels good to win the argument and humiliate your
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  opponent. But the disciplined elder
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  possesses what Proverbs calls a cool spirit.
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  He doesn't just vent. He didn't let his anger flare up
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  and control his tongue or his keyboard.
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  He doesn't always have to have the last word.
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  That's it exactly. Yeah, he isn't quarrelsome.
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  He doesn't need to stroke his ego by destroying people in
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  theological debates. Yeah, he can be Fern on Truth,
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  of course, but his temperament is under the control of the
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  spear. He's safe to be around, yes.
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  You don't have to walk on egg shells around him wondering if
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  today's the day he's going to explode.
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  OK #4 on the list is discipline of time and habits.
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  The text uses words like sober minded and respectable.
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  This goes beyond just being on time for meetings, although
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  that's certainly part of it. It's about overall reliability.
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  It's about redeeming the time, as Ephesians 5 says.
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  So how does he spend his downtime?
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  Right. Is this a man who waste hours
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  and hours on frivolous entertainment?
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  Is he addicted to gaming or just endlessly scrolling on his
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  phone? Or is his life ordered?
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  Can you count on him? An undisciplined pastor is
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  usually a chaotic pastor, and that chaos eventually leaks out
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  and stresses the entire church. It's a matter of stewardship
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  again. Stewardship of time.
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  Sphere #5 Discipline of money, the text says.
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  Not a lover of money, and not for shameful gain.
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  Contentment is the key virtue here.
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  If a leader lacks discipline with his money, he becomes
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  susceptible to being bought. How do you mean?
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  Well, maybe he softens A sermon because he knows a big donor is
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  sitting in the front row and he really needs that donation for
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  the new building fund. Or maybe he just gets a little
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  loose with the church. Credit card integrity means his
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  decisions aren't swayed by financial pressure or personal
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  greed. OK.
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  And the final one, number six is the discipline of the household.
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  This is straight from First Timothy 3.
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  The proving ground. This is the one place where the
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  mask has to come off. A man can be charming and put
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  together in the pulpit for 40 minutes a week, but he cannot
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  fake it 2047 with his wife and his children.
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  And the logic in the text is just undeniable.
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  If he cannot lead his own family, he cannot possibly care
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  for God's church. It's an argument from the lesser
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  to the greater. It's simple, If he can't govern
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  that smaller sphere with gentleness and order, he has no
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  business trying to govern the larger sphere.
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  And this isn't about having perfect kids.
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  Right. No, the sources are clear on
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  that. It's not about having kids who
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  never make a mistake. It's about his leadership in the
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  home. Is he present?
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  Is he consistent? Do his wife and children feel
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  loved and secure? Or is there a chaos, anger and
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  neglect? It's about the pattern.
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  So we have these six spheres. It's a high bar.
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  How does a church actually apply this?
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  Because this sounds frankly hard to find.
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  It is hard to find and that's why the sources give a really
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  strong warning. Do not rush this process.
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  First Timothy 5 warns against being hasty in the laying on of
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  hands. The danger of ordaining the
• 18:52
  novice. Right.
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  A novice might have all the zeal and talent in the world, but he
• 18:58
  hasn't been tested by time. Discipline is a pattern, not a
• 19:03
  weekend event. Sure, anyone can look good for a
• 19:05
  little while. Anyone could be disciplined for
• 19:06
  a week. The church needs to assess the
• 19:09
  trajectory of a man's life over a long period.
• 19:12
  Does he repent quickly when he fails?
• 19:14
  Is he demonstrably growing in holiness?
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  You need time to see that pattern emerge.
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  But here's the objection. This is the one that every
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  church search cranny faces. You have a candidate.
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  He's incredibly talented, he's a dynamic speaker.
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  He's charismatic. People love him.
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  But there are some red flags about his discipline.
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  Maybe he's a little arrogant or a bit loose with his words, or
• 19:34
  his financial life is kind of a mess.
• 19:36
  The temptation is to say, but he's so gifted, we can't pass
• 19:39
  this guy up. We can manage the other stuff.
• 19:41
  That is the temptation that sinks ships.
• 19:43
  It truly is. The sources are absolutely blunt
• 19:46
  about this. Talent cannot compensate for a
• 19:49
  lack of character. It can't make up for it it.
• 19:51
  Can't they use this incredibly vivid image?
• 19:54
  A gifted man without discipline is like a sharp sword in the
• 19:58
  hands of a drunk. Wow.
• 20:00
  A sharp sword in the hands of a drunk.
• 20:02
  Just think about that image for a second.
• 20:04
  The sharpness of the sword, which is his talent, actually
• 20:08
  makes him more dangerous, not less.
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  Right, because he can do more damage.
• 20:12
  He can do much more damage because he's powerful.
• 20:15
  If he isn't disciplined, he will inevitably use that gift to
• 20:19
  manipulate people, to crush his opponents, or just to build a
• 20:22
  monument to himself. The gifting amplifies the damage
• 20:25
  of the sin and. Another point the sources make
• 20:28
  that I found helpful is about personality.
• 20:30
  We tend to think disciplined means the quiet, introverted
• 20:33
  spreadsheet guy and undisciplined means the loud,
• 20:36
  creative, spontaneous type. That's a completely false
• 20:39
  dichotomy. A quiet man can be profoundly
• 20:42
  undisciplined if he's harboring secret pride or secret lust in
• 20:45
  his heart. He might look calm and collected
• 20:47
  on the outside, but be a raging mess on the inside.
• 20:50
  And the reverse is true too. Absolutely.
• 20:52
  A spontaneous, high energy man can be deeply disciplined if he
• 20:56
  submits that energy and that personality to the Word of God.
• 20:59
  This isn't about personality type, it's about what or who
• 21:03
  rules the man. Is he ruled by his natural
• 21:05
  disposition, or is He ruled by the Holy Spirit?
• 21:08
  That is such a helpful distinction.
• 21:10
  It really forces us to look much deeper than just the surface
• 21:14
  vibe a person gives off. It forces the church to do the
• 21:16
  hard, patient work of inspection.
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  So as we wrap up this deep dive, let's just try to summarize what
• 21:22
  we found. The world builds platforms.
• 21:24
  It wants the celebrity, the brand.
• 21:26
  But Christ builds pastors and the structural steel of a
• 21:30
  pastor's character. The thing that keeps the whole
• 21:32
  building from collapsing under pressure is this quality of
• 21:36
  encritia self-control. And there's a real
• 21:38
  eschatological urgency here. The sources remind us that we
• 21:42
  were living in the last days. According to Second Timothy 3.
• 21:45
  The time is short. We don't have time to play games
• 21:47
  with leadership. The stakes are too high.
• 21:49
  The Church is under attack from the culture, from false
• 21:52
  teaching, and from our own remaining sin.
• 21:54
  We need shepherds who are awake, alert and sober minded.
• 21:58
  It really puts the responsibility on the local
• 22:00
  church, on the elders and the members, doesn't it?
• 22:02
  It does, and I think I want to leave you, the listener, with
• 22:05
  one final sobering thought from the sources.
• 22:08
  It's regarding the session. The body of Elders.
• 22:12
  A church that knowingly ordains an undisciplined man isn't just
• 22:15
  making a hiring mistake. They are inviting chaos into the
• 22:19
  covenant community. It is like intentionally
• 22:22
  introducing a virus into a healthy body.
• 22:24
  That is a sobering thought. It is So the question we have to
• 22:27
  ask of any potential leader isn't just can he preach or is
• 22:31
  he cool, or will he grow the church?
• 22:33
  The fundamental question is, has this man conquered the citadel
• 22:36
  of his own soul? Because if he hasn't.
• 22:39
  Because if he hasn't conquered his own soul, he has no business
• 22:42
  trying to watch over yours. Has he conquered the citadel of
• 22:45
  his own soul? That is the question we will
• 22:48
  leave you with today. Thank you for joining us on
• 22:51
  Reformed Thinking. We hope this look at the sources
• 22:54
  helps you discern and pray and think more biblically about the
• 22:56
  kind of leadership that Christ desires for His church.
• 22:59
  Until next time.