leadership selection filters: 1 . character 2. competency 3. calling

1 Pet. 2:25, “You were like sheep that wandered away, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Protector of your souls”

John MacArthur, The character and effectiveness of any church is directly related to the quality of its leadership.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to regard them very highly in love because of their work

Leadership Selection Filters:

1. Character2. Competency3. Calling

1. Godly leaders live with integrity in their closet.

- (2) Disciplined (self-controlled, not addicted to wine)

1 Timothy 4:7, Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

- (2) Disciplined

Titus 2:11-13, 11 For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, 12 instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

- (2) Discerning (sensible)

Romans 12:2, Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God

- (3) Satisfied (not greedy)

Philippians 4:11, I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am (prison epistle)

- (8) Authentic (not hypocritical)

Matthew 6:1, Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven

- (9) Gospel centered (holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience)

Tim Keller, The gospel is not the ABC’s of the christian life, it is the A-Z of the christian life.

Tullian Tchividjian, As I’ve said before, I once assumed (along with the vast majority of professing Christians) that the gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in order to be saved, while afterward we advance to deeper theological waters. But I’ve come to realize that “the gospel isn’t the first step in a stairway of truths, but more like the hub in a wheel of truth.”

2. Godly leaders lead faithfully in their home.

- (5) Pastoral service with their family (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?)

Psalm 128:1-6, 1 How happy is everyone who •fears the Lord, who walks in His ways! 2 You will surely eat what your hands have worked for. You will be happy, and it will go well for you. 3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your sons, like young olive trees around your table. 4 In this very way the man who fears the Lord will be blessed. 5 May the Lord bless you from Zion, so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life 6 and will see your children’s children

- (4) Exercising gracious, compassionate & sacrificial leadership (one who manages his own household competently, having his children under control with all dignity)

Ephesians 6:1, Children, obey your parents as you would the Lord, because this is right.

Ephesiains 5:22-26WIVES - Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, 23 for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.

HUSBANDS - 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.

SEXUALITY - 1 Corinthians 7:3-5, A husband should fulfill his marital responsibility to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. 4 A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another sexually—except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

- (2) Faithful as a spouse (husband of one wife)

3. Godly leaders serve capably in their church.

- (4) Godly desire (“If anyone aspires to be an •overseer, he desires a noble work.”)

- (2) Gifted ability (able teacher) – Elder only

- (6) Visible evidence of tested faith (He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and fall into the condemnation of the Devil.)

4. Godly leaders live transparently in their community.

Alexander Strauch, “He is a man with an irreproachable life in the sight of others. He is free from any disgraceful blight of character or conduct. Hence critics cannot discredit his profession or prove him unfit as a community leader. Since all God’s saints are to live holy and blameless lives, since the world casts a critical eye at the Christian community, and since leaders led primarily by example, a blameless life is indispensable to the Christian elder.”

- (2, 7) Teflon faith (above reproach, Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the Devil’s trap)

1 Thessalonians 3:13, May He make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His •saints. •Amen.

- (2) Respected faith (respectable)

1 Timothy 4:12, Let no one despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

- (2) Sacrificial (hospitable)

Hebrews 13:1-3, Let brotherly love continue. 2 Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. 3 Remember the prisoners, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.

- (3) Gentle (not a bully but gentle)

Philippians 2:3, Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves

- (3) Pursuing peace (not quarrelsome)

Romans 12:18, If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.

- (3) Pursuing peace (not quarrelsome)

Romans 12:18, If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.

Source Material:

What is the gospel?: Greg Gilbert

IX Marks: http://www.9marks.org/answers/what-gospel

Dr. Bruce Ashford: http://theoecologyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/AshfordR%202.pdf

Tim Chester & Steve Timmis, “The Bible is the story of God creating a new humanity, a new people who will be his people. ‘I will be your God, and you will be my people’ is a central refrain running through the Bible”

Andy Crouch, “The gospel is the proclamation of Jesus, in [two] senses. It is the proclamation announced by Jesus – the arrival of God’s realm of possibility (his “kingdom”) in the midst of human structures of possibility. But it is also the proclamation about Jesus – the good news that in dying and rising, Jesus has made the kingdom he proclaimed available to us.”

The gospel from our perspective

The gospel from our perspective

1. God (the righteous creator)(Gen. 1:1)

(1 John 1:5, Rev. 4:11, Rom. 2:5-8).

The gospel from our perspective

2. Man (the sinner)(Gen. 1:26-28, Ps. 51:5, Rom. 3:23)

(Eph. 2:1-3).

The gospel from our perspective

3. Christ (the Savior)(John 1:1, 1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 7:26, Rom. 3:21-26, 2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Cor. 15:20-22).

The gospel from our perspective

4. Response (faith and repentance)(Mark 1:15, Acts 20:21, Rom. 10:9-10).

The gospel from God’s perspective

The gospel from God’s perspective

1. CreationGod creates(Gen. 1:1; 1 Cor. 8:6) (John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2)(Gen. 1:2)(Col. 1:17)(Heb. 1:3)(Ps. 104:10-14).

The gospel from God’s perspective

2. FallWe distort(Genesis 3)(Romans 3)

The gospel from God’s perspective

3. RedemptionGod works on our behalf(Gen. 2:17)(Gen. 3:15)(Gal. 3:16)(Gal. 4:4)(John 3:16) (Rom. 8:20-22)

The gospel from God’s perspective

8. Restoration (Consummation)All things are restored

(Romans 8:22-24)

The implications of the gospel

1. The kingdom(Mark 10:45)(John 1:14)(Heb. 7:26)(Rom. 3:21-26, 5:12-21)(Acts 2:24)(Rom. 4:25)

The implications of the gospel

2. The power of the gospelAppropriate responses to the gospel

The implications of the gospel

- Repent and believeMark 1:14-15, After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of God: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news!”

The implications of the gospel

- Rest and rejoiceRomans 8:31-32, What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?

The implications of the gospel

- Love Christ’s peopleJohn 13:35, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The implications of the gospel

- Speak the gospel to the worldMatthew 28:18-20, Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The implications of the gospel

- Long for himPsalm 42:1-2, As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?

The implications of the gospel