When Right Isn't Obvious

So, how are the wisemen who visited Jesus like East Texas firemen? They both come from 'afar'.

Okay, sorry. But, having dropped my second child off at college and dealing with a couple of very minor issues with him since and a couple of things with my daughter who's a senior this year have shown me how much harder parenting is from afar than while the kids are still in the house. When I want to do some parenting with my youngest I just have to call him away from the Wii or wait till he gets home from work. Much more convenient.

I was at the Nehemiah Network prayer lunch last week. The Nehemiah Network is a gathering of pastors from all around Central Arkansas. This is the group behind Cityfest and Sharefest. Anyway, one of the pastors from one of the largest churches in the area shared that several years ago his son had been away at college 1 day and they received a call from the ER that he had alcohol poisoning. From the bubble of a sheltered house straight to rush week.

Respond to that. It's your son. Or, it's your pastor's son. Or, it's your fellow elder's son. What do you do? Is there a verse that specifically describes this situation? Is he no longer qualified to be an elder or pastor? Maybe at first he's okay, but what would he have to do over the ensuing weeks to disqualify himself, if anything?

Wise decisions. Would they be a qualifier or filter? Wisdom is not listed in the qualifiers. But it sure is implied in every qualifier. Having one wife, no brainer. Kids raised well. Not arrogant. Not prone to anger. Not a drunkard. Not violent. Not greedy. Hospitable, devoted to good, sensible, upright, devout and self-controlled. It would seem to me that wisdom is the foundation for each of these.

Then, there's the critic. The next qualifier is the ability to recognize sound doctrine, encourage it and correct what's wrong. So, an elder must be a critic. Must be able to criticize humbly. Doctrine isn't just the big and obvious like our doctrinal statement. It is also our doctrinal position that a husband should love his wife like Christ loves the church. So and elder will be a critic of how husbands treat their wives. There are many other behaviors that are doctrinal-based like sacrificial-giving, parenting, worshipping, quiet times, faith-sharing, etc.

Oh, and there's the other side of criticism. Here's a real shocker! An elder will be criticized by members of the congregation, who, by lack of qualification are not elders. An elder must be able to receive criticism humbly and without knocking the critic out.

Joseph didn't have leadership books to help him negotiate the meeting between his family and Pharaoh. Nor did he have any presedence on how the handle the food situation when the people ran out of money. Yet, he demonstrated tremendous wisdom in how he handled both situations.

So, how do you handle situations where there is not a clear right nor wrong? It's your son who's lying in the ER too far away and way too close to death. Or, it's your pastor's son who's lying there and you know some of the people in the church will not respond well to this. You may have some criticism for your pastor. And, you know you will be criticized for how you handle him. How do you receive criticism? How do you give it? Is your doctrine sound?

Can you imagine a church where the people love each other enough only major on major issues and when faced with a major issue they remain united and respectful of one another? It sure would cut down on church-hopping!

The only way to prepare for any of this is by growing in your knowledge of Jesus and the truth that is in keeping with godliness (v.1) A close walk. You'll be ready for much more. Ultimately, isn't that the only qualifier as each verb in the list above is indicative of a man's position in and with Jesus?

There's no way to specifically prepare for everything. But there is a way to prepare for anything. These are the men who will comprise the group from whom our elders will be chosen.