Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Velvet Steel: The Qualification of Gentleness (Epieikēs) in the Office of Elder

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The Velvet Steel: The Qualification of Gentleness (Epieikēs) in the Office of Elder · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome back to the show. We're calling this one Reformed
• 0:02
  Thinking. It's good to be back.
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  Today, we're doing what you know what we love to do.
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  We've got this massive stack of sources in front of us.
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  We've got articles, some theological essays, Greek
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  lexicons, really the works. The whole pile whole.
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  Pile and we're going to try and get to the bottom of a really
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  specific biblical idea. Yeah, and this isn't just, you
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  know, some abstract academic thing.
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  We're really trying to act as guides here through some, let's
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  be honest, pretty dense material.
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  It can be. So you can see what actually
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  matters for, well, for your life, right?
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  Before we jump all the way in, I think we should probably set the
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  coordinates, so to speak. We we should be clear about the
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  lens we're using to look at all this stuff.
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  That's a good idea, Yeah. It helps you, the listener, to
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  know where we're standing. Both of us here were Protestant
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  Christians. And specifically, we really
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  emphasize Reformed theology. Our standard is the Westminster
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  Confession of Faith. So when we're talking about,
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  say, church structures or definitions from the Bible
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  today, that's the soil we're digging in.
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  We're looking at this whole topic through the lens of
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  historic, you know, confessional Protestantism.
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  OK, so with that framing in place, let's unpack this.
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  We're looking at a problem today that the sources we have are
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  describing as well, a crisis. But it's not the usual kind of
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  crisis. It's not that the church budget
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  is in the red. It's not, you know, the roof is
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  leaking again. Or a lack of programs, right or.
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  We need a more volunteers for the nursery.
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  It's none of that. No, it's something much more
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  subtle and because of that, I think much more dangerous.
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  It flies under the radar. The sources are all pointing to
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  what they call a crisis of tone. Tone.
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  Now, I have to admit, when I first saw the other notes, it
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  felt a little subjective. I get that, you know, like
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  complaining of the color of the carpet is it's just a preference
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  thing. But the sources are really,
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  really firm on this. They argue that the modern
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  church is facing a situation where we've confused worldly
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  ideas of strength with biblical authority.
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  That's the core tension right there.
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  I mean, think about the image of a leader in our culture.
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  If you just close your eyes for a second and picture a strong
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  leader, what do you see? Well, I see a guy in a suit,
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  probably walking fast. He talks loud.
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  He walks into a room and just commands the space.
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  He's decisive. He doesn't take no for an
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  answer. That's the image.
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  That's it. That is precisely the image the
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  world rewards the unyielding person, the combative 1, the
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  strongman. And the danger, as our sources
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  are pointing out, is that the Church often just baptizes this
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  Spirit. What do you mean by that?
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  We take that worldly aggression, we put a little religious
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  language on it, maybe a Bible verse, and we call it boldness.
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  So we mistake sharpness for courage.
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  We think if a leader is loud or if he could just, you know,
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  destroy someone in a debate, he must have real authority.
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  And if they're severe, we just assume they're being faithful.
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  But we have to look at the text. We have to.
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  And the central text for our whole discussion today is First
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  Timothy chapter 3, verse 3. OK, this is the famous list of
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  qualifications for an overseer, an elder.
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  Yes, and right there in that list, Paul writes that an
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  overseer must be gentle. The Greek word I think is a
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  pikeys. That's the one.
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  EPI Hayes And the thesis we're seeing in all these documents is
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  that gentleness is not just a personality preference.
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  It isn't a suggestion. You know that it would be nice
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  if the pastor was a polite guy who held the door open for
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  people. No, it's a non negotiable A
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  moral qualification for the office.
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  It is, and the sources use this fantastic metaphor for it.
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  They call it the velvet steel. I love that image.
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  Velvet steel. It sounds like AI don't know an
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  80s band name or something, but it's a theological concept.
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  It is, and it implies A conviction that cannot be bent.
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  That's the steel, but it's sheathed in grace.
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  That's the Velvet. So just to be clear, we are not
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  talking of being a pushover. Not at all.
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  Not even close. OK, let's get into the weeds
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  then. Section 1 Exegesis and
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  definition. We really need to figure out
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  what this word actually means. Cuz when I hear gentle, I'm
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  gonna be honest. I think of a grandmother
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  knitting a sweater. Right.
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  Or maybe a very sleepy kitten. It doesn't sound like leader.
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  And that's the problem with our modern English ears, you know,
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  That's why we have to look at the Greek, the word EPI eyes.
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  It's derived from 2 parts, EPI, which means something like
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  fitting and Icos meaning reasonable or fair.
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  One of our sources mentioned a translation by the writer
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  Matthew Arnold. He called it Sweet
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  reasonableness. That is a beautiful way to
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  capture the idea. It really is.
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  But to get the full weight of it, we have to look at how
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  someone like Aristotle defined it.
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  The sources bring up Aristotle's contrast between epicia, which
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  is this equity or gentleness, and a word.
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  Get ready for it, Acrobodicayos. Acrobodicayos.
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  That sounds like a dinosaur it. Sounds intense?
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  Because it is. It means strict justice.
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  Aristotle argued that there's a huge difference between just
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  applying the strict letter of the law and applying equity.
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  OK, the gentleman, the Epicayos man, knows when not to apply the
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  strict letter of the law precisely to avoid an injustice.
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  Can you give us a real world example of that?
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  Because I think we get hung up on justice being the highest
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  good, you know, just applying the rules no matter what.
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  Sure. Think of how about a leader who
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  is, let's say, technically right.
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  Maybe a church member missed a deadline for a ministry
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  application by an hour, or they technically violated some minor
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  procedure in the bylaws. The leader has the rule book on
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  his side. He could demand the last ounce
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  of his rights. He could say, Nope, you're out.
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  And he would be technically correct.
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  He has the law on his side. He does.
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  But the EPI Guys man doesn't do that.
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  He looks at the context. He looks at the person.
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  Maybe that member was in the hospital all week.
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  Maybe they're struggling with something at home.
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  The gentleman doesn't insist on the last ounce of his rights.
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  He is equitable rather than exacting.
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  He knows how to apply truth with wise restraint.
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  So it's about knowing when to yield, even when you have the
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  right not to. That is it.
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  That's the heart of it. It's a man whose convictions
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  have not made him cruel. The sources also point out
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  something really fascinating about where this word sits in
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  the text of First Timothy 3.3. They call it the sandwich.
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  Context is everything right? Paul places the word eppo aikis
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  right between two negatives. It's intentional.
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  On one side you have not violent.
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  The Greek there is my Pope known.
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  Which literally means not a striker doesn't.
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  It yes, someone who hits whether that's physically or more often
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  verbally and then on the other side of gentle you have not
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  quarrelsome or Amashon. Which means not a fighter or a
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  warrior. Exactly.
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  So think about that. You have the striker on one
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  side, that's the bully who uses force, and you have the fighter
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  on the other, the guy who treats ministry like a combat zone,
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  always looking for an argument. And right in the middle.
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  Right in the middle, the antidote to both, is the
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  gentleman. This is interesting because I
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  think a lot of guys, maybe especially guys who get into
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  theology and specifically reformed theology, they get into
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  it because they like the fight. Oh yeah, they see themselves as
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  warriors for the truth. And look, there is a place for
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  defending the faith. We are not denying that for a
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  second. But Paul is saying that the
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  basic nature of the elder cannot be that of a brawler.
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  If you wake up in the morning looking for a fight online or in
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  a meeting, you're not qualified to lead God's people.
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  The gentleman refuses carnal weapons.
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  He isn't physically throwing punches, obviously, but he also
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  isn't throwing verbal punches just to win an argument or to
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  feel superior. The fighter creates a culture of
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  war. The gentleman creates a culture
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  of peace. Precisely.
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  That's the goal. So this brings us back to that
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  velvet steel metaphor. I want to make sure we have this
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  absolutely clear. The steel is the orthodox spine.
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  Yes, refuting error, guarding the deposit of faith.
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  As Paul says, you cannot have a leader who folds on the truth.
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  That is not gentleness. That's just cowardice, right?
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  If a man sees he's a wolf coming for the sheep and says, well,
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  you know, I don't want to be mean to the wolf.
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  He's not gentle. He's a traitor to the flock.
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  But the velvet is a self abnegating spirit.
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  It's a spirit that refuses to quarrel over preferences or
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  personal rights. He doesn't need to win every
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  conversation. He doesn't have to have the last
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  word. So again, it's not niceness.
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  No. Niceness is often just a desire
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  to be liked. It's a social pleasantry.
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  It's avoiding conflict for your own comfort.
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  Gentleness is strength under holy control.
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  It is choosing not to crush someone when you absolutely have
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  the ability and maybe even the right to do so.
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  That distinction is huge. It really is.
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  OK, moving into Section 2, let's look at the systematic and
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  confessional basis for this, because we said at the top,
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  we're coming from a reformed perspective.
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  How does something like the Westminster Confession play into
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  this idea of gentleness? This gets right into
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  ecclesiology of the doctrine of the Church, and we have to make
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  a key distinction between two types of authority.
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  There is what we call magisterial authority and then
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  there's ministerial authority. OK, break that down for.
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  US magisterial authority belongs to the civil magistrate, the
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  government. They hold the authority of the
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  sword. They can use force and coercion
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  to make you obey. If you break the speed limit,
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  they can find you. If you commit a crime, they can
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  jail you. They can force your body to be
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  in a certain place. They could force compliance.
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  They can, but the church, the church officers hold the
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  authority of the keys. From Matthew 16, opening and
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  closing the Kingdom via the word.
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  Exactly. And because an elder cannot
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  force the conscience, he can't put you in jail for sinning, he
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  can't fine you for bad theology. His only tool is persuasion.
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  He has to use the scriptures. He has to.
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  He has to open the Bible and convince you that this is what
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  God says. And because his only tool is
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  persuasion, gentleness becomes the necessary delivery
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  mechanism. You cannot bludgeon someone into
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  a change of heart. You can scare them into acting
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  right for a week, but you cannot change who they are on the
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  inside with force. This reminds me of the section
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  the sources on Christian Liberty.
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  The Westminster Confession in chapter 20 says God alone is
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  Lord of the conscience. A vital, vital doctrine.
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  It means no human being, no pastor, no elder, no king has
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  the right to step in and play God in your life.
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  So how does gentleness connect to that?
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  The sources mention a character from the New Testament, a guy
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  named Diatrophes. Yes, from the Little book of
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  Three John Diatrophes is described as the one who loves
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  to be first. He is the archetype, really, of
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  the violent elder. And what does he do?
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  He tries to bind consciences to his own opinions.
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  So if Deca Trifis likes a certain type of worship music or
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  a certain schooling option for his kids, he starts acting like
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  it's God's law for everybody else.
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  Exactly. He erases the line between God's
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  command and his own preference. He makes his personal taste the
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  standard of holiness for the whole church.
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  But the gentle elder, the API Cos man, he constantly
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  distinguishes between. Thus saith the Lord, and thus
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  thinks the elder. That is a freeing distinction
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  it. Is the gentle elder yields on
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  matters of indifference? The theological term for that is
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  Ade Hafra, right? These are things that aren't
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  essential to salvation or commanded by Scripture.
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  He will stand firm on Scripture. He's not going to budget on the
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  resurrection or the Trinity, but he doesn't insist on his own way
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  in all the Gray areas of life. So he's not trying to clone
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  himself. He isn't trying to make everyone
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  in the church dress like him, talk like him, and educate their
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  kids exactly like him, no. His job is to form Christ and
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  others, not himself. That's the difference.
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  This leads us, I think, naturally into the biblical
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  theology. We need to look at the heart of
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  the shepherd. The sources draw this massive,
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  really stark contrast between true and false shepherds in the
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  Old Testament. You really can't understand the
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  New Testament requirement without seeing this Old
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  Testament backdrop. I mean, look at Ezekiel 34.
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  That is a scary chapter. It's terrifying.
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  It's God indicting the shepherds of Israel.
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  It's a courtroom scene, basically.
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  And what is the primary charge? He says they ruled with force
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  and harshness. And the result of that was that
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  the sheep were scattered. They ran away.
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  Harsh leadership always scatters the flock and makes them pray
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  for wolves. It drives them away from the
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  sanctuary. Now contrast that image with
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  Isaiah 40, verse 11. That's the prophecy of Yahweh
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  himself coming as a shepherd. And how does he handle the
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  flock? The text says he gathers the
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  lambs in his arms and he gently leads those that are with young.
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  It's so tactile, it's so careful.
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  He isn't driving them with a whip from behind, he's carrying
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  them in front. And the Septuagint, the Greek
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  translation of the Old Testament that the apostles use that
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  actually uses our word Here in Psalm 86 verse 5, the lore is
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  described as achies, good and forgiving.
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  So the implication is if an elder is harsh, he isn't acting
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  like God. He's misrepresenting the one he
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  works for. An ambassador who misrepresents
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  the King is a bad ambassador. And this whole theme finds its
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  ultimate fulfilment, of course, in Christ.
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  The sources point straight to Matthew 11.29.
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  It is the only place in all the Gospels where Jesus describes
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  his own heart, his own inner nature.
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  He doesn't say I am powerful and mighty though he is.
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  He doesn't say I am sovereign and in control, though he is.
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  He says I am gentle and lowly in heart.
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  And he says his yoke is easy and his burden is light.
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  Which means it brings rest, not bruises.
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  It fits the shoulder of the weary sheet.
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  There's also the reference that comes up again and again in the
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  sources to the bruised Reed from Isaiah 42.
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  A bruised Reed he will not break, and a smoldering Wick he
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  will not quench. Just think about that image for
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  a second. A Reed that's already damaged,
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  bent. A Wick that's barely flickering.
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  Just a tiny wisp of smoke left. Yeah, the violent man snaps the
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  Reed because it's useless. It can't hold any weight
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  anymore. He snuffs out the Wick because
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  the smoke is annoying. He wants efficiency, he wants
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  results. But the Messiah, he protects it.
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  He nurtures it back to health. He cups his hands around that
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  little spark until it's a flame again.
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  And the implication for an elder is profound.
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  The elder is an under shepherd. If he is harsh, he is preaching
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  a false gospel with his behavior.
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  How so? What do you mean by?
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  That he's preaching a covenant of works.
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  He's implicitly saying perform perfectly or be crushed to get
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  your act together or get out. But Christ preaches a covenant
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  of grace. He says, come to me, you who are
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  weary, and find rest. Be healed.
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  That is a heavy realization. Your tone is your theology.
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  You can preach grace from the pulpit all day long, but if
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  you're a bully in the elders meeting, you are actually
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  preaching works. Inevitably, people believe your
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  tone more than they believe your text.
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  Wow. OK, so we've established what
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  gentleness is and why it's so theologically grounded, but the
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  sources spend a lot of time on the counterfeits.
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  They call this section the Two Ditches.
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  Right, because whenever you talk about a virtue, you have to
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  watch out for the extremes on either side.
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  The devil doesn't care which side of the horse you fall off
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  of as long as you don't stay in the saddle.
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  OK, so air #1 is the error of severity.
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  The sources call this cage stage Calvinism.
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  It's a bit of a colloquial term, but it's very descriptive.
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  It describes someone who has just learned the doctrines of
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  grace, sovereignty of God, predestination, and they are,
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  you know, pumped up about the truth, but they are often very
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  angry. They have the form of sound
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  words, as Paul puts it, but not the fruit of the Spirit.
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  Exactly. They mistake their own harshness
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  for holiness. They think if they're being
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  mean, they're being serious about the truth.
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  They view gentleness as weakness, or even worse, as
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  compromise. They think if you aren't
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  yelling, you aren't really preaching.
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  That's the diotrophy spirit again, loving to be first.
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  It is. It's arrogance.
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  Masquerading is zeal. But then there's the other ditch
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  error #2 the error of laxity. And this looks more like, you
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  know, modern liberalism or a kind of antinomianism.
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  This is where you confuse gentleness with the tolerance of
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  unrepentant sin. The sources call this the Eli
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  error. From First Samuel, Eli was the
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  high priest who refused to restrain his wicked sons.
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  Yeah, his sons were abusing the worshippers at the temple.
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  They were stealing the sacrifices for themselves.
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  And Eli just kind of said, no, no, boys shouldn't do that.
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  He was passive. That wasn't gentleness.
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  That was parental and pastoral negligence.
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  The sources use a really sharp phrase for this.
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  They call it toxic empathy, where you affirm sinners and
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  their destruction rather than loving them enough to call them
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  to repentance. We have to steer clear of both
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  of those ditches. We don't want to bully, but we
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  don't want a coward either. A surgeon who is afraid to make
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  an incision isn't gentle. He's committing malpractice, but
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  a surgeon who cuts without any anaesthesia isn't a doctor.
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  He's a torturer. We need the skilled, gentle
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  hand. The sources also identify some
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  modern cultural idols that make this really hard for us.
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  Specifically, the first one is the CEO model.
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  This is rampant in the church today.
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  We treat the church like a business.
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  We value efficiency metrics results.
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  And if you're focused on quarterly growth and market
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  share, gentleness just looks inefficient.
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  Correct. Patients takes too long.
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  If you treat sheep like employees, you fire the slow
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  ones. You manage them out.
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  You say you aren't contributing to the vision, so you need to
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  go. But you can't do that in a
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  family. You don't fire your kids for
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  being slow. Then there's the influencer
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  model. Outrage as a virtue.
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  If you are quarrelsome on social media, you get clicks, you get
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  followers. The algorithm loves a fight, so
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  we platform people who have the exact spirit Paul prohibits in
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  an elder. And we call it prophetic
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  courage. We do, but often it's just
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  fleshly anger dressed up in a robe.
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  We're training a generation of young men to think that being a
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  leader means owning people on Twitter.
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  Which is tragic. It's just tragic because you
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  cannot shepherd a pixel. You have to shepherd a person
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  face to face. And the third idol mention is
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  mystical authoritarianism, the. God told me, Leader.
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  The one who claims to have a direct private line to God that
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  no one can question. And that is a way of bypassing
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  scripture to dominate people. It's a trump card.
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  You can't argue with me because God told me that shuts down the
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  conscience. It is the exact opposite of the
• 18:07
  gentle elder who persuades people via the open Bible.
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  It's a form of spiritual abuse. OK, let's try to get really
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  practical here, Section 5 case studies, because it's one thing
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  to be gentle when everyone agrees with you and everything's
• 18:19
  going well. Gentleness is proven under
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  pressure. Anyone can be gentle when
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  they're getting their way. The first distinction the
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  sources make is between how you handle sheep and how you handle
• 18:29
  wolves. This is critical.
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  This is polemics one O 1. You have a text like Temple
• 18:33
  Timothy 2.25 which tells the servant of the Lord to correct
• 18:37
  his opponents with gentleness. OK, but then you have Titus
• 18:40
  1.13. Which says to rebuke them
• 18:43
  sharply. So which is it?
• 18:45
  Gentle or sharp? How do you know which one to
• 18:47
  use? You have to look at the object.
• 18:49
  Who are you talking to? To the sheep?
• 18:52
  The struggling, wandering, confused believer in the flock.
• 18:55
  You use gentleness. Your goal is restoration.
• 18:58
  You don't break the bruised Reed.
• 18:59
  But to the wolf. The false teacher, the one who
• 19:02
  is actively trying to devour the flock.
• 19:04
  You rebuke sharply. The goal there isn't
• 19:07
  restoration, it's protection. You use the shepherd's staff to
• 19:10
  beat the wolf, not to beat the sheep.
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  And the big mistake is mixing them up.
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  Yes, treating sheep like wolves, mauling the injured brother
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  because he asked a dumb question, or just as bad,
• 19:20
  treating wolves like sheep, letting them dine on the flock
• 19:23
  because you want to be nice. OK, so let's walk through case
• 19:25
  study. One rebuke.
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  What does a gentle rebuke actually look like in practice?
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  I think the best way to think of it is as medical, not punitive.
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  Like the surgeon analogy you used earlier, Yes.
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  A gentle rebuke addresses the sin without attacking the
• 19:41
  dignity of the person. It doesn't use shame as a weapon
• 19:44
  to control them. So no sarcasm, no exaggeration.
• 19:47
  No, you always do this or you never listen.
• 19:50
  It avoids belittling. It says, brother, I love you.
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  This behavior is wrong and it's hurting you and I want you back.
• 19:56
  I am for you, but I am against the sin in your life.
• 19:59
  Case study two discipline Church discipline is.
• 20:03
  A really heavy topic. It is.
• 20:05
  It's one of the hardest things that church has to do, and the
• 20:07
  tone makes all the difference in the world.
• 20:09
  It should be marked by grief. Not triumph.
• 20:12
  Never triumph. An elder should never sound like
• 20:14
  a judge who is enjoying handing down a sentence.
• 20:16
  He should sound like a father who is losing a child.
• 20:19
  The tone should be this hurts me more than it hurts you.
• 20:22
  Or at least this hurts me because I love you and we're
• 20:25
  doing this because we want you to wake up.
• 20:27
  If there's even a hint of vengeance, or I told you so in
• 20:30
  the tone, it is not the discipline of Christ.
• 20:32
  It's just payback. OK, case study three leading
• 20:36
  change. This is where a lot of friction
• 20:38
  happens in churches. A pastor comes in, he wants to
• 20:41
  move the church in a new direction.
• 20:43
  Maybe he wants to change the music style, or the liturgy, or
• 20:45
  the church's governance. And the temptation for a strong
• 20:48
  willed leader is to be a bulldozer.
• 20:50
  Get on board or get out of the way.
• 20:52
  So how does a gentle elder do it?
• 20:54
  Patient instruction He teaches. He allows time for consciences
• 20:58
  to be persuaded by Scripture. He realizes that people, real
• 21:02
  people, change slowly. He doesn't punish questions.
• 21:05
  He doesn't treat slowness as rebellion.
• 21:07
  That is a key phrase from the sources.
• 21:10
  Some sheep are just slow. They aren't rebels, they're just
• 21:13
  processing. They need time.
• 21:15
  The gentle leader waits. He matches his pace to the pace
• 21:18
  of the flock that. Requires a lot of trust in God's
• 21:20
  timing, not your own. It does.
• 21:22
  It means trusting the Holy Spirit to move people rather
• 21:25
  than your own force of personality or your clever
• 21:28
  arguments. So we've got the definition, the
• 21:30
  theology, the examples. Now let's talk about Section 6,
• 21:34
  evaluation and cultivation. If I'm a listener and maybe I'm
• 21:37
  looking for a new church, or maybe I'm on a pastoral search
• 21:40
  committee, how do I spot a gentle elder?
• 21:43
  The sources suggest a few practical tests.
• 21:46
  The first one is the reaction test.
• 21:48
  What happens when you tell him no?
• 21:50
  Exactly how does he behave when he's contradicted?
• 21:52
  Does he escalate? Does he get defensive?
• 21:55
  Does he attack the person instead of the idea?
• 21:58
  A man can seem very gentle when you're praising him.
• 22:00
  Everyone is gentle when they're being worshipped.
• 22:02
  The test is conflict. The test is disappointment.
• 22:05
  When things don't go his way, does the monster come out?
• 22:07
  OK. Second one, the home test.
• 22:09
  This comes straight out of First Timothy 3 versus 4 and five.
• 22:12
  The family is the primary proving ground for leadership.
• 22:15
  If he is polite in the pulpit, you know Mr. Rogers on Sunday
• 22:19
  morning, but he's a tyrant at the dinner table.
• 22:21
  He is disqualified. If his wife and his kids are
• 22:23
  walking on egg shells around him.
• 22:25
  That is a massive red flag. If his children are afraid of
• 22:28
  his temper, he cannot be a father to the Church of God.
• 22:31
  Period. Then there's the speech test.
• 22:33
  Does he use jokes that wound? Is he sarcastic?
• 22:37
  Does he consistently win arguments but lose brothers in
• 22:41
  the process? That's a stinging line, winning
• 22:43
  the argument but losing the brother.
• 22:45
  It happens all the time in theological circles.
• 22:47
  He destroys his opponent's logic, but he humiliates the
• 22:51
  person in the process. That is not epithea.
• 22:53
  And finally, the apology test. Can he say the words?
• 22:57
  Can he say I send with my tone? Not just I'm sorry you were
• 23:01
  offended by what I said, but a real admission was sinful.
• 23:05
  A gentleman is a repentant man. He knows his own heart is prone
• 23:08
  to wander, so he is quick to own his mess.
• 23:11
  Now, what about cultivation? Let's say there's a guy
• 23:14
  listening right now who is realizing, oh, I'm the striker,
• 23:17
  I'm the harsh guy. Is there hope?
• 23:19
  Can he change? Yes, absolutely.
• 23:22
  But not by willpower. You can't just white knuckle
• 23:24
  your way to gentleness. It is a fruit of the spirit.
• 23:26
  So it has to start with union with.
• 23:27
  Christ, it has to start with. Being conquered by Christ's
• 23:30
  love. When you finally realize how
• 23:33
  much mercy you have received, how gentle God has been with
• 23:36
  you, it becomes impossible to be merciless to other people.
• 23:39
  Forgiving people forgive people. That's the principle.
• 23:41
  And the source calls for mortification for killing the
• 23:45
  idols. What idols are we talking?
• 23:47
  About specifically the idol of control.
• 23:49
  The idol of pride. The deep, deep need to be right
• 23:53
  all the time. The gentleman has to die to his
• 23:56
  need to win. He has to trust that God is big
• 23:59
  enough to defend his own truth without our sinful anger.
• 24:02
  And there's a practical step. Mention too, slowing down James
• 24:06
  one point. 19 Be slow to speak. The sources note that most of
• 24:10
  our harshness comes from a failure of pace.
• 24:12
  We react instead of responding. We shoot from the hip.
• 24:15
  And we wound people. Unnecessarily slowing down, just
• 24:18
  taking a breath. It allows grace to catch up with
• 24:20
  our tongue. It gives us a second to ask, is
• 24:23
  what about to say helpful? Is it kind?
• 24:24
  Is it necessary? And finally.
• 24:26
  Accountability. You need a plurality.
• 24:28
  Of elders, you need other men around you who can look you in
• 24:31
  the eye and say hey, your tone in that meeting was off.
• 24:34
  Men who can correct. Each other without fear if you
• 24:37
  are the only. Voice or if you've surrounded
• 24:40
  yourself with yes men who are afraid of you, you will
• 24:42
  inevitably drift toward harshness.
• 24:45
  You need brothers who aren't impressed by you.
• 24:47
  We're coming to the end here. The actual The sources offer
• 24:51
  this beautiful final vision. They call the gentle Elder an
• 24:55
  eschatological signpost. That's a big theological.
• 24:58
  Word for a simple, beautiful truth.
• 25:00
  Eschatological just refers to the end times, the age to come,
• 25:05
  the new heavens and the new earth.
• 25:06
  Right and. In that coming Kingdom, the lion
• 25:09
  lies down with the lamb. There is no violence, there is
• 25:12
  no coercion. The war is over.
• 25:14
  So an elder who? Rules with Epicia is modeling
• 25:17
  the manner. Of the coming Kingdom.
• 25:18
  Right now in this fallen world, He is a little preview of
• 25:21
  heaven. When you are around him, you
• 25:23
  should get a taste of the peace that is coming for God's people.
• 25:26
  He's showing us what the King. Is like yes he is a.
• 25:29
  Signpost pointing to the Prince of Peace.
• 25:31
  So here's the final charge. From our deep dive today to the
• 25:34
  church, look for men whose firmness feels like safety.
• 25:39
  That is the goal. Firmness that feels safe, not
• 25:42
  soft, but safe to the aspirant. The guy listening who wants to
• 25:46
  be a leader someday. Do not seek to rule until you
• 25:50
  have been conquered by the gentle shepherd you cannot give.
• 25:53
  What you do not have if you haven't tasted his gentleness in
• 25:57
  your own soul, you will never be able to truly offer it to others
• 26:01
  and finally to. You the listener.
• 26:04
  Maybe you've been hurt by harsh leaders.
• 26:06
  Maybe you've been under a striker or a fighter in the
• 26:09
  church. The sources are so.
• 26:10
  Clear on this, they want you to know.
• 26:12
  Look past the under shepherd, look to Christ.
• 26:16
  He is truly gentle and lowly. The failure of a human leader
• 26:20
  does not change the heart of the King.
• 26:22
  That is a good word to end. On it's the only word that.
• 26:24
  Sustains us the velvet steel. Strength under control.
• 26:28
  It's what the Church needs. It's what Christ gives.
• 26:31
  Thanks for diving. Deep with us today.
• 26:32
  It's a pleasure. We'll see you next.
• 26:34
  Time.