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The Guardian of the Truth: The Elder’s Dual Duty of Construction and Conflict · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. I'm your host and I am really
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glad you're here with us today. We're going to get into
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something that I think is going to challenge a lot of the mental
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furniture we have set up around the idea of church.
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It is good to be here, and you're absolutely right about
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challenging assumptions. The material we have in front of
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us today, it's not light reading.
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It's the kind of thing that really demands a response.
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It really, really does. You know, I was thinking about
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how we usually picture church leadership.
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If you were to ask the average person in the Pew, what's an
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elder, what's a pastor supposed to be?
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You get a certain set of images for.
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Sure, you get the standard models.
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Yeah, maybe it's the CEO type, the guy in the suit who knows
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how to run a board meeting. You can balance a budget.
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He's a good administrator. The manager.
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The manager or you get the other side, the nice guy model.
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He's the guy who visits you in the hospital.
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He holds your hand. Make sure the coffee is hot in
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the FOIA. Right.
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The administrative manager or the dental therapist, those seem
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to be the two dominant categories in the West right
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now. Exactly.
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But we are looking at Titus 1.9 today and the picture the Bible
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paints here, at least according to the theological heavyweights
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we're reading. We've got Holding fast, the Word
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and the Guardian and the truth. It's it's radically different.
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Radically, it's not a guy in a boardroom.
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The image they give is of a man standing in a Gale force wind.
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That is the reality of the text, and the sources we're using
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today are just crystal clear in this.
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The biblical elder is certainly a shepherd, but he is a very
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specific kind of shepherd, OK? He is a warrior.
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Shepherd, a warrior shepherd. I mean, that sounds, that sounds
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aggressive, doesn't it? It might sound that way to our
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modern ears, but, you know, just think about the actual job of a
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shepherd in the ancient Near East, OK?
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He wasn't just out there petting lambs and, you know, enjoying
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the scenery. He was standing between the
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flock and bears and lions and wolves.
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He carried a rod and a staff. And those weren't just for
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walking. They were weapons.
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They were for defense. Absolutely, and the sources
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argue that we have essentially stripped the warrior aspect out
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of the job description and the result is well, the sheep are
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getting eaten. So the mission for this deep
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dive is to try and recover that image.
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We want to see why an elder has this, this dual duty you're
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talking about, to feed the sheep and to fight off the wolves.
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And I'll be honest, that fighting part makes me a little
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nervous. It makes most of us nervous.
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It does. In our culture, fighting is seen
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as a failure of character. You know, if you're arguing,
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you're not loving. If you're drawing lines, you're
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not being inclusive. That is the cultural air we
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breathe. It's everywhere, but the logic
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of the New Testament and what our sources are drilling down
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on, it just flips that completely on its head.
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How so? Well, the argument here is that
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failing to fight for the truth is actually the most unloving
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thing a shepherd can do. I mean, think about it, if you
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see a wolf coming toward the flock and you decide to be nice,
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to be inclusive to the wolf. You're not being nice to the
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sheep. You're not.
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You hate the sheep. That's the logic.
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Wow, you're sacrificing the flock just to keep the peace.
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Or to keep your own peace, you're sacrificing the flock to
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maintain your reputation as a non confrontational, agreeable
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person. The sources would call that
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cowardice masquerading as patience.
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Ouch. OK, well, we are definitely
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going to get into all of that, but we need to set the scene
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first. So we're in the book of Titus.
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Paul has left Titus on the island of Crete, and he gives
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him this job set in order. What remains?
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Right. And those words are key set in
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order. That implies that things were a
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mess. A huge.
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Mess and the sources. They spent a lot of time
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describing Crete and I think I had this idea of Crete as, you
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know, nice Mediterranean vacations box.
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Blue water, white sands. Exactly.
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Maybe some olives, a nice breeze, but that is not how Paul
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describes. Not even close.
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No. Crete in that time was.
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It was a moral sewer. It was openly hostile to
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anything that even look like holiness.
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The sources point out that Paul actually quotes one of Crete's
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own prophets, a man named Epimenides, to describe the
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culture. What does he say?
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He says Cretans are always liars, evil beasts and lazy
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gluttons. Evil beasts and lazy gluttons,
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that is. That's quite the review.
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I can't imagine putting that on a travel brochure.
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Chuckles. No, but it paints a very
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specific picture of a culture that's just completely given
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over to appetite. Lazy gluttons doesn't just mean
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they ate too much, it means they were consumers at their core.
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They lived for their bellies. Driven by impulse.
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Completely and liars deception was just their made of tongue.
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It was how they operated. And this wasn't just the world
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outside the church, was it? That's the scary part.
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That's the most terrifying part. This culture had infiltrated the
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church. The disorder Titus was there to
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fix wasn't just that, you know, the service was starting 10
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minutes late. It was deep moral and doctrinal
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chaos. That lazy glutton consumer
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mindset was sitting in the pews expecting to be fed what it
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wanted. You know, as I was reading the
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description of Crete in our sources, I couldn't help but
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feel a little a little uncomfortable.
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I felt very familiar. And that is the precise point
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that the guardian of the truth is making.
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The author argues that the modern evangelical landscape is
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in many ways a mirror image of Crete.
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We are dealing with a profound crisis of authority.
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He calls it a famine of the faithful Word.
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Which is so ironic, isn't it? Because we have more Bibles,
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more podcasts like this one, more Christian books than any
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generation in the history of the world?
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How can there possibly be a famine?
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Because we have the volume, but do we have the substance?
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That's the question. The argument is that while we
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are absolutely drowning in content, we're starving for
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truth, and what you see are congregations that are, to quote
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Ephesians 4, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.
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That image of the wind is so powerful.
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It means you have no anchor. You're not tied down to
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anything. You just drift.
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And where do you drift? You drift away from objective
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truth, from the question, What has God said?
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And you drift toward felt needs. You drift toward pragmatism.
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So you stop asking if something is true and you start asking if
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it works. If it works, does it get people
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in the door? Does it make me feel emotionally
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validated? Does it give me 3 steps to a
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better week? It's a total shift in the
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foundational question. I think every church leader
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feels that pressure. I mean, you want people to come.
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Yeah. You want them to like the
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service. So the temptation to soften the
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edges to be more, I don't know, therapeutic?
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Yeah. It's immense.
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Therapeutic is exactly the right word.
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We want to soothe people, not save them.
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But Paul doesn't tell Titus to go hire APR firm.
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He doesn't tell him to take a survey of what the Cretans want
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in a church service. He tells him to appoint elders.
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That's it. God's answer to chaos is a
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qualified man. But why?
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Why is the answer a person? And maybe more to the point, why
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isn't just a good man enough? You know, why can't we just have
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a guy who is successful in business, loves his wife?
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He's generally the decent human being.
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Isn't that enough? Because decency doesn't stop
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wolves. A nice personality doesn't stop
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heresy. The sources are so emphatic on
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this point. Only deep, rugged theological
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conviction can withstand the pressure of a culture like Crete
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or a culture like ours. You need a man who knows what
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the truth is and, just as crucially, is willing to stand
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in the gap when that wind starts blowing.
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And this brings us right to the core verse of our whole study,
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Titus 1.9. This is the hinge, isn't it?
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Everything before this verse is about the man's character.
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He can't be a drunkard. He has to love his wife, all of
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that. But verse 9, it turns to the
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tool in his hand. It describes his grip.
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That's what it is, holding fast the faithful word as he has been
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taught. OK, let's unpack that holding
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fast. The Greek word is anti common on
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the sources make a really big deal about the grammar here.
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They talk about something called the middle voice.
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Now my eyes usually glaze over when we get deep into Greek
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grammar, but this actually seemed really significant.
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What is the middle voice telling us here?
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It's crucial. It really is.
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In English, we basically have two voices.
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Active I hit the ball, or passive, I was hit by the ball.
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But Greek has this third option, the middle voice, which is sort
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of reflexive. It implies that the subject is
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participating in the results of the action.
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So when it says the elder is holding fast, it implies he's
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holding fast. The word for herself, first and
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foremost. So he's not just holding it like
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a waiter holds a tray, you know, carrying food to someone else
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that he isn't actually going to eat himself.
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That is a perfect analogy. He is not a waiter.
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He is a starving man gripping a loaf of bread.
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He is a drowning man holding the rope because it is the only
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thing keeping him from being swept away by the storm.
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I love that visual. It just changes the whole
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dynamic. Yeah, because if the pastor is
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just a professional, a dispenser of religious goods, that he
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doesn't really need to believe it with all his heart, he just
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needs to sell it effectively. Correct.
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And we see that tragedy play out all the time, men who preach a
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gospel that they themselves do not rely on for their own souls.
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But the text here requires this deep subjective grip on the
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objective truth. The Word is the faithful word
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that's objective. It's true whether I believe it
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or not. But the elder must subjectively
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cling to it for dear life. He reminds me of the flight
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safety briefing. Put on your own oxygen mask
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before assisting others. Yes, exactly.
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If the Alder suffocates, the whole church dies.
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If he loses his grip on the word because of cultural pressure, or
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because he gets tired, or because he just wants to be
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popular, he can't pull anyone else to safety.
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He's got nothing to offer. And what is he holding on to
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specifically? The text says the faithful word
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as taught. That little phrase as taught
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seems to do a lot of heavy lifting in the sources.
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Oh. It does.
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It defines the entire nature of his authority.
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Authority elders are not inventors.
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They are not innovators. They are stewards.
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So we're not looking for the guy who comes in and says, you know,
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Paul was great, but I've got a new spin on who God is for the
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21st century. Yes lefts, no, no new skins.
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In fact if your elder ever says he has a fresh new take on the
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Trinity or the atonement, you should probably run.
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The elders authority is derivative.
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It comes from the word. He doesn't stand over the word
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to edit it, he stands under it to proclaim it.
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And this connects so deeply to the Reformed tradition that our
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sources are coming from. They keep referencing the
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Westminster Confession. They do, again and again.
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The confession states that the supreme judge in all
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controversies of religion is the Holy Spirit speaking in the
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Scripture. The elder is bound to that.
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He's bound to the Apostolic tradition that's been handed
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down. The sources contrast this with
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something they call the tyranny of personality, and I think
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we've all seen that, haven't we? The celebrity pastor.
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It is the default mode of so much of American religion.
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The leaders charm, his intellect, his charisma, his
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humor, that becomes the standard.
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If he says it, it must be true, because he's the guy.
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And that, the sources say, is a form of tyranny.
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But if the leader is bound to the Word, the congregation is
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safe. He isn't teaching his own
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cleverness. He's passing on the deposit of
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faith. So we have this man.
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He's standing in this Gale force wind of the culture.
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He's white knuckling the rope of the faithful word.
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He believes it for himself. Now what does he do with it?
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The text gives him two jobs, construction and conflict.
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Start with the +1 construction. To exhort in sound doctrine.
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Sound doctrine. We hear that phrase a lot, but
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the sources point out the etymology of that word sound.
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It's the Greek word hygenos. Yes, which is where we get our
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English word hygiene. Hygiene.
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So clean doctrine. Is that the idea?
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Healthy doctrine. It's a medical metaphor.
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This is so important. The idea is that doctrine isn't
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just data. It isn't just a list of facts
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you have to memorize for a theology test.
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It is food. It is medicine.
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In the biblical worldview, error isn't just a mistake, it's a
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disease. It's like gangrene.
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It eats away at the soul and truth.
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Truth brings health. That makes so much sense.
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I mean, if you eat poison, you get sick.
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If you eat good food, you get strong.
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It really is that simple. One of the sources uses the
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analogy of diet. You cannot survive spiritually
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on the diet of sugar. And the sugar in this analogy
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would be what entertainment? Entertainment, Sheer
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emotionalism, motivational speeches that make you feel like
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a champion for 20 minutes would give you absolutely no spiritual
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sustenance. The sugar crash on Monday
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morning is very real. It's devastating because if you
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feed a congregation nothing but sugar for 10 years, you end up
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with a room full of spiritual diabetics.
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They're weak. They have no resistance to the
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virus of the culture. The soul needs bread.
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It needs the protein of Scripture.
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The sources use a phrase here that I found really helpful,
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preventive catechesis. That sounds a bit academic, but
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can you break that down for? Us sure.
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Catechesis just means instruction, teaching the basics
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of the faith. Preventative means you do it
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before the crisis hits. So you're building the storm
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shelter before the tornado siren goes off?
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Right. You don't want to be trying to
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pour concrete while the wind is tearing the roof off your house.
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You build a framework of truth in people's minds, who God is,
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what sin is, how the atonement actually works, so that when
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suffering comes or when some smooth talking false teacher
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shows up at their door, they don't collapse.
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They have a spiritual immune system.
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And this teaching, it's supposed to cover everything, right?
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It's not just head knowledge. No, the sources are emphatic on
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this. They talk about head, heart, and
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hands. It has to shape your ethics.
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It's no accident that in Titus 2, which follows this text,
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immediately, Paul applies the sound doctrine to how older men
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should act, how younger women should love their children, how
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slaves should work for their masters.
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Real doctrine always, always lands in real life.
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There one specific doctrine that the sources highlight as, like
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the core nutrient, the most essential food.
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Yes, they point to justification by faith alone solified.
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And why that one? Why not say the doctrine of
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creation or something else? Because that is the doctrine of
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our standing before God. It answers the fundamental human
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question, Am I OK with God? And if you get that wrong, the
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whole system is diseased from the root.
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If you tell people they're standing depends on their
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performance, on how good they are, you create either crippling
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anxiety or soul crushing pride. That's sickness.
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But if you feed them the truth. If you feed them the truth that
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they are declared righteous because of Christ's finished
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work alone, that is health, that produces gratitude, that
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produces assurance. It changes everything.
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So that's the feeding, the construction building up.
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Now we have to turn to the other side, the side that makes us all
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a little squeamish. The negative duty, the conflict.
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To refute those who contradict. The Greek word there is Alex
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Shine. What does that actually mean?
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It sounds strong. It is strong, it's a legal term
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for the most part. It means to cross examine, to
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expose, to convict. It is much much more than just
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saying, well I beg to differ with your opinion.
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It's about dismantling a false argument, piece by piece.
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It is, as one source says, stripping the disguise off the
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wolf. Stripping the disguise off that
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implies the wolf is hiding that it doesn't look like a wolf at
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first. Always.
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It's almost a rule. False teaching rarely walks in
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the front door with a sign that says I am here to destroy your
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soul. It wears a suit.
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It uses biblical language. It looks very spiritual.
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It talks about love and justice and Jesus.
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The hard work of reputation is showing that despite the nice
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packaging, the content is poison.
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And the text calls these opponents gainsayers.
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Who are they? Simply put, they are those who
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speak against. They gainsay the Apostolic
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truth. And the sources are very clear
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on this. These aren't just people with
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slightly different preferences. These are active threats.
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Paul says in the very next verses that they upset whole
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households. They cause chaos.
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They divide, they confuse, and usually the text says they do it
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for some kind of gain, either financial gain or for status and
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influence. OK, I have to play devil's
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advocate here for a second because I know what the listener
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is probably thinking. I know what I'm thinking.
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Isn't this, I mean, isn't this just mean?
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Isn't it unloving for a pastor to be constantly refuting
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people? We live in a world that values
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tolerance and niceness above almost everything else.
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If a pastor is always standing up and saying that's wrong and
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that's wrong and that's wrong, doesn't he just become a cranky,
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angry old man? This is what one of the sources
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calls the love paradox, and this is probably the single hardest
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thing for the modern Western mind to grasp.
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The source material argues very forcefully that clarity and
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boundaries are actually the primary instruments of love in a
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fallen world. Explain that how is drawing a
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boundary a loving act? Let's go back to the shepherd
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analogy. If a shepherd is out watching
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the flock and he sees a pack of wolves coming over the hill,
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what is the loving thing for him to do?
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Stop them, drive them off, shoot them, whatever it takes.
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Right. Now imagine that same shepherd
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says. Well, you know, I don't want to
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be violent. I want to be inclusive.
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The wolves have to eat, too. Who am I to judge the wolf's
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lifestyle choices? The sheep get slaughtered.
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The sheep are torn to pieces. In that scenario, the shepherd's
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niceness to the wolf was actually an act of profound
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hatred toward the sheep. He was negligent.
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The sources point us directly to John chapter 10, the difference
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between the Good Shepherd and the Hired hand.
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The hired hand sees the wolf coming and runs away.
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And why does he run? Because he doesn't own the
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sheep. He doesn't actually love them.
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He loves his paycheck. He loves his own safety.
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He loves his reputation as a nice guy.
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The sources argue that a pastor who refuses to refute soul
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damning error is acting like a hired hand.
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He's prioritizing his own comfort over the eternal safety
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of the flock. Wow, that puts a very, very
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heavyweight on it. It completely reframes the whole
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debate. It's not about being a jerk,
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it's about being a protector. It's the standard biblical
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pattern from Ezekiel, where the watchman on the wall has to blow
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the trumpet or the blood of the city is on his own hands, all
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the way to Acts 20, where Paul is weeping as he warns the
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Ephesian elders that fierce wolves will come from among
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them. From among them, that's
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chilling. It is the greatest danger is
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often from the inside, and that is why the elder cannot be a
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coward, he must be a warrior. OK, so we have the job
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description, feed and fight, build and guard.
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But now we really need to get specific, because the sources
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don't just leave this in the abstract.
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They provide what amounts to a checklist of modern errors that
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elders must be equipped to refute.
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This is where the rubber really meets the road.
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It is the host asks the question, who are the gainsayers
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today? If Titus was dealing with the
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circumcision party and cretin liars, who are we dealing with?
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The sources identify 5 specific widespread areas where Reformed
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elders need to be ready to draw the sword.
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Let's walk through these and again, just as a reminder for
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our listeners, we are reporting on the stance of the source
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material here. These are the threats identified
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by the theology we are studying today.
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So first up, pragmatism and the seeker sensitive models.
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Right. This is a massive 1.
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The error here is defined as prioritizing numerical growth
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over theological truth. It's the whole church growth
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strategy that says the primary goal is to get as many people in
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the seats as possible, and to do that we have to remove any
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potential barriers. And the barriers are usually the
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uncomfortable parts of the Bible, I'm guessing.
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Almost always. Sin, judgment, the exclusivity
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of Christ, the cost of discipleship, hell.
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The strategy is to soften the message, to avoid offending the
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seeker. The church becomes a vendor of
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religious services. The unbeliever is the customer.
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And you know the saying. The customer is always right.
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The customer is always right, but, and I can hear the
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pushback, isn't it a good thing to be welcoming?
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Isn't it good to want people to come to church?
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I mean, if we're just cold and boring and academic, nobody will
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ever hear the gospel in the first place.
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That is the pragmatic argument, isn't it?
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But it works. Look at the numbers.
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It is, but the sources refute this by pointing to the nature
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of the gospel itself. They take us to Romans 1.16.
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The power for salvation is in the gospel, not in our marketing
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techniques. So if you change the gospel to
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make it more marketable, you've actually lost the power.
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You've disconnected the power cord.
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You might get a big crowd, but you don't get genuine converts.
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You get what one of the sources calls Weary Saints.
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Weary Saints, what does that mean?
20:14
Well, if you build a church on entertainment, you have to keep
20:17
entertaining. It's a relentless treadmill.
20:19
You have to top last week's show every single Sunday.
20:23
And the people, they end up exhausted and malnourished.
20:26
They've been eating sugar for years.
20:28
So when a real life crisis hits, the fog machine and the cool
20:31
lighting don't help them. They need a rock to stand on.
20:34
And pragmatism doesn't give them a rock, it gives them a mood.
20:37
OK #2 on the checklist. This is a big one in the culture
20:41
right now. Critical race theory or CRT, and
20:44
certain models of social justice.
20:45
Yes, and the sources take a very firm and critical stance here.
20:50
They identify the core error as a replacement of biblical
20:53
anthropology. Unpack that for us.
20:55
Biblical anthropology just means how the Bible defines what a
20:58
human being is. Exactly.
21:00
The Bible defines a human being primarily in relation to God.
21:04
We are created in his image, the Imago day, and we are fallen in
21:08
Adam. That is our primary universal
21:11
identity. The sources argue that a
21:13
framework like CRT redefines people primarily by their
21:16
relationship to power dynamics, oppressor versus oppressed, and
21:19
by their interceptional identity groups.
21:21
But again, I can hear the objection.
21:24
Aren't Christians supposed to care about justice?
21:26
Shouldn't we care about the oppressed?
21:28
The Bible talks about the widow and the orphan constantly.
21:30
Without a doubt, the sources would say that a passion for
21:32
biblical justice is absolutely non negotiable.
21:35
But they argue that what's being presented under the banner of
21:38
CRT is a rival religion with a completely different definition
21:42
of justice, sin and salvation. So the critique is that it
21:45
changes the definition of sin. It does.
21:47
Sin is no longer primarily violating God's holy law.
21:51
It's participating in oppressive systems, and salvation is no
21:54
longer reconciliation with God through Christ's blood.
21:57
It's activism and the dismantling of those systems.
22:00
The reputation provided is that true, lasting unity is found
22:04
only in Christ. They point to Galatians 3.28.
22:07
The sources argue that by focusing on grievance and racial
22:10
power dynamics, you actually destroy the unity of the church.
22:13
You rebuild the very dividing wall of hostility that Christ's
22:16
death tore down that. Is a very stark warning.
22:19
OK, next on the list from the sources Egalitarianism.
22:23
This is the whole debate over gender roles in the church and
22:25
home. Right.
22:26
The error identified here is the erasing of the biblical
22:29
distinctions between qualified men and women in leadership in
22:31
the home and the church. It's the idea that says there
22:35
are no God-given role distinctions that anything a man
22:38
can do, a woman can do. And the sources advocate
22:40
strongly for complementarianism. They.
22:42
Do they argue that God designed men and women with equal dignity
22:46
and value, but with beautifully distinct and complementary
22:48
roles? They read this in texts like
22:50
First Timothy 2 and of course Titus 2.
22:53
Now let's just be honest. The culture hates this.
22:56
It sounds archaic. It sounds oppressive to tell a
22:59
qualified, gifted woman she can't be an elder.
23:02
It definitely offends the modern mind, there's no question about
23:04
it. But the sources argue that the
23:06
faithful elder is not asking what does the culture think is
23:10
fair. He is asking what has God
23:12
designed for human flourishing. The argument is that these
23:16
limitations aren't punishment, they're part of a good design,
23:20
and so refuting egalitarianism is seen as protecting the
23:22
God-given structure of both the family and the household of God.
23:27
It goes right back to that image of standing under the word not
23:30
standing over it to edit the parts we don't like.
23:32
Especially when it's unpopular. That's the test. #4 on the list
23:35
Continuationism. This is about charismatic
23:38
movement and spiritual gifts. Correct.
23:40
The sources we are working from take a clear cessationist
23:42
stance. They argue that the sign gifts,
23:45
things like tongues, prophecy, miraculous healings were given
23:48
for the Apostolic age to authenticate the apostles and
23:51
their message, and that they ceased when the Canon of
23:53
Scripture was closed. So the fundamental error in
23:56
their view is believing that God is still giving new
24:00
authoritative revelation today. That's the heart of it.
24:02
If someone stands up and says God told me, or I have a word
24:07
from the Lord for the church, the sources view that as a
24:10
direct, even if unintentional, attack on the sufficiency of
24:14
Scripture. But.
24:15
Why is it an attack? Can't God do both?
24:18
Speak in the Bible and also speak to me personally through a
24:21
prophetic word. The danger, according to the
24:24
Westminster Confession, which guides these sources, is that
24:26
the new word inevitably starts to rival or even displace the
24:30
written word. If you're always chasing the
24:33
next whisper, the next impression, you will eventually
24:35
drift away from the sure foundation of the text, the
24:38
sources argue. We have the more sure word of
24:40
prophecy right here in the Bible.
24:42
So refuting this is about protecting the flock from a kind
24:44
of mysticism where truth becomes subjective, I feel like God is
24:47
saying rather than objective. Now the last one of the
24:50
checklist the prosperity gospel. This one is maybe the most
24:54
obvious wolf, but it is also one of the most successful and
24:57
destructive exports of American Christianity around the world.
25:01
It's the idea that God's will for you is to be rich, healthy,
25:05
and successful, and that faith is the lever you pull to get
25:08
those things from Him. The refutation for that one
25:10
seems pretty straightforward. It's the cross, It's as simple
25:13
as that. Jesus calls us to carry a cross,
25:16
not to chase cash. He promised his followers
25:18
persecution, not a private jet. The sources are blunt.
25:22
They call this a false religion entirely.
25:24
It turns God into a cosmic vending machine, and it turns
25:27
faith into a currency. And it just destroys the soul.
25:31
Because when suffering and poverty inevitably come, the
25:35
person is left thinking either I didn't have enough faith or God
25:38
lied to me. It's a remarkably cruel theology
25:40
when you think about. It it's exceptionally cruel.
25:42
So that's the checklist from the sources, Pragmatism, CRT,
25:46
egalitarianism, continuationism, the prosperity gospel.
25:49
It's it's a minefield out there. It is.
25:51
And notice something about that list.
25:53
Most of these aren't coming from atheists outside the church.
25:56
They are coming from within the broad umbrella of what calls
25:59
itself Christianity. That is why the Elder must have
26:02
a sharp sword. So let's play out the worst case
26:05
scenario. The sources talk about a
26:06
systematic collapse. What happens if the elders fail?
26:11
What if they're just nice guys who refuse to fight these
26:14
battles because it's too messy? It's a domino effect, and once
26:17
that first domino falls, you really can't stop the rest.
26:20
It's an inevitable collapse. And the first domino to fall is
26:24
bibliology, the doctrine of the Bible.
26:26
That's it. If you don't refute these
26:28
errors, say you decide to allow pragmatism to dictate your
26:32
ministry philosophy, you are implicitly saying that the Bible
26:35
isn't enough. It's a good starting point, but
26:37
we need modern marketing techniques to really make it
26:40
work. Or with continuationism.
26:42
The Bible is great, but we also need fresh prophecy.
26:45
The moment the Bible loses its status as the final and
26:48
sufficient rule for faith in life, the foundation is cracked.
26:51
And once the foundation of the Bible goes.
26:53
The Gospel collapses, and this is the terrifying part.
26:57
The sources warn that false teaching is so tricky because it
27:00
keeps the vocabulary but it changes the dictionary.
27:03
I love that phrase. Keeps the vocabulary but changes
27:06
the dictionary. You can go to a church where
27:08
they say all the right words. They'll say grace, faith, Jesus,
27:10
and sin. But grace has been redefined to
27:13
mean God just ignores my sin. Faith has been redefined to mean
27:17
positive thinking. And Jesus is no longer the wrath
27:20
bearing substitute. He's a life coach or a social
27:23
revolutionary. So you think you're hearing the
27:25
gospel, but you're actually hearing.
27:27
What You're hearing moralistic therapeutic deism, or you're
27:31
hearing a new form of legalism, or you're hearing antinomianism?
27:36
Antinomianism. Can you define that for us?
27:38
Sure, it means antinomos or against law.
27:42
It's the idea that because we are saved by grace, we have no
27:45
obligation to obey God's moral law.
27:47
I can live however I want because God loves me no matter
27:49
what. That lie destroys the gospel
27:52
just as surely as legalism. Does and finally, after the
27:54
Bible and the Gospel ecclesiology collapses, the
27:58
doctrine of the Church itself falls apart.
27:59
Yes, the church ceases to be what the Bible calls the pillar
28:03
and buttress of the truth. It just becomes a social club or
28:07
a vendor of spiritual goods. And the unity in that church
28:11
becomes incredibly fragile because it's not based on shared
28:14
truth anymore. It's based on shared preference.
28:17
We are united because we all like the style of music or we
28:21
all vote the same way. But if the music changes or the
28:24
pastor leaves. The unity evaporates overnight
28:28
because biblical unity is forged in the fire of shared conviction
28:31
about the truth of the gospel. If you don't defend the
28:34
conviction, you can't have the unity.
28:35
Not real unity anyway. This is just, it's such high
28:38
stakes. It really makes you realize why
28:40
the qualifications for an elder and Titus one are so incredibly
28:43
high. We're not just looking for
28:45
volunteers to fill a slot. No, we are looking for men who
28:48
can carry a very heavy load and this brings us to the final
28:51
section of the sources, what they call the man qualified.
28:54
We talked about his grip on the word, but let's look at the man
28:57
himself. The text says he must be one who
29:00
loves what is good. He has to be holy.
29:02
It's non negotiable. You cannot have a man whose life
29:05
is a contradiction to his doctrine.
29:06
The sources are blunt. A hypocrite has no spiritual
29:10
authority. If he teaches truth from the
29:12
pulpit but lives a lie in his home, he is a danger to the
29:15
flock, not a guardian. And his temperament matters, the
29:19
text says. He needs backbone and
29:21
self-control. It's a very difficult balance,
29:23
isn't it? On the one hand, the text
29:25
forbids him from being quarrelsome or a brawler.
29:29
He can't be one of those guys who just loves to fight for the
29:31
sake of fighter. We've all met that guy.
29:33
He's he's obnoxious. Right, but at the same time, he
29:36
can't be a coward. Exactly, he has to correct with
29:38
gentleness too. Timothy 2.25 is key, but with
29:42
firmness. He isn't looking for a fight,
29:44
but he absolutely does not back down when the fight comes to the
29:47
flock. And he needs discernment.
29:49
This might be the most difficult skill of all, the ability to
29:51
distinguish between a confused sheep and a divisive wolf.
29:55
That seems absolutely critical because not everyone who says
29:58
something wrong is a heretic trying to destroy the Church.
30:02
Not at all. Most people are just confused.
30:03
They listen to a bad podcast or they read a bad book and got
30:06
mixed up. A confused sheep needs patient
30:08
teaching. They need gentleness.
30:10
You guide them back to the truth.
30:12
But a wolf? A wolf is divisive by nature.
30:16
A wolf is actively trying to recruit others to their error.
30:20
And the sources say if you treat a wolf like a confused sheep,
30:23
the flock gets eaten. But if you treat a confused
30:25
sheep like a wolf, you abuse the flock.
30:28
The elder has to have the wisdom to know the difference.
30:30
And finally, there's accountability.
30:32
He must be examinable. He is not a Lone Ranger with his
30:36
own private interpretation of the Bible.
30:38
He submits himself to a confession of faith.
30:40
In our context, that's the Westminster standards.
30:43
This is what protects the church from that tyranny of personality
30:46
we talked about earlier. He can stand up and say, look,
30:48
don't just take my word for it. This is what the Church has
30:51
confessed for centuries. So as we start to wrap this up,
30:54
let's bring it home for the listener.
30:55
Most of us listening right now aren't elders, but some are.
30:59
What is the call to action here? The sources have a very direct
31:02
word for any elders who might be listening.
31:05
Repent of treating your study as theology as optional.
31:08
You simply cannot guard the flock if you don't know the
31:10
terrain. You cannot refute error if you
31:12
don't know the truth deep in your own bones.
31:14
You have to be a student. You have to be a theologian.
31:17
It's not an optional add on to the job.
31:20
And for the rest of us, for the people sitting in the pews every
31:23
Sunday. The call is to expect this kind
31:26
of leadership and then to support it.
31:27
And here is the really hard part.
31:29
Don't punish your elders for doing their job.
31:32
That's a big one. Don't punish elders for doing
31:34
their job. It happens all the time.
31:37
An elder stands up to refute a popular error or to biblically
31:40
correct a divisive person, and the congregation gets
31:43
uncomfortable. People start saying, why can't
31:45
we just all be positive? Why do we have to be so negative
31:48
and draw so many lines? The sources urged the listener.
31:51
Don't demand peace at any price. If you hamstring your own
31:55
defenders, you are essentially opening the gate for the Wolves
31:58
yourself. We need to see that their
32:00
vigilance, their willingness to fight, is for our safety.
32:04
Yes, and ultimately we need to remember who they are trying to
32:08
mimic, who they are pointing to. The Chief Shepherd.
32:11
Christ, He is the ultimate guardian of the truth.
32:14
He fed and he fought. He did both perfectly.
32:17
He held fast to the Word in the wilderness.
32:20
When Satan came to tempt him, he answered every single temptation
32:23
with it is written. He refuted the Pharisees with
32:27
surgical precision. He drove the money changers out
32:30
of his father's house, but he also fed the 5000, He washed his
32:34
disciples feet, and he laid down his life for the sheep.
32:37
And our elders are just under shepherds, trying their best to
32:41
look like him. That is the goal.
32:43
That's the whole calling. Well, here is a final thought to
32:45
chew on as we close today. The sources suggest that a
32:48
church that refuses to draw lines, a church that refuses to
32:52
build walls around the truth, will eventually find that others
32:55
will draw the lines for them. That is a profound and sobering
32:58
reality to end on. The culture will draw the lines,
33:01
the wolves will draw the lines, and a church without walls isn't
33:04
a safe pasture. It's just an open range for
33:07
predators. And sheep do not last long on
33:09
the open range. No, they sure don't.
33:11
This has been a heavy topic, but I think a really necessary one.
33:14
We hope it has been hygienic for your soul.
33:17
A bit of good preventive medicine.
33:19
Absolutely. Thank you for joining us on this
33:21
deep dive into reformed thinking.
33:23
Remember, we're just guides to this material.
33:26
Go read the sources for yourself and most of all, dig into the
33:30
word yourself. Amen to that.
33:32
Thanks for listening, We'll see you next time.