Growing into Christ (5)

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach… 1 Timothy 3.2

The Elder and His Work
David Dickson (1821-1885)
“The office and work being spiritual, it is necessary that elders should be spiritual men. It is not necessary that they be men of great gifts or worldly position, of wealth or high education; but it is indispensably necessary that they be men of God, at peace with him, new creatures in Christ Jesus; engaged in the embassy of reconciliation, they must be themselves reconciled. We must love the Master, and the work for the Master’s sake.”

The word bishop in our text is overseer, and refers to those who are appointed to shepherd the flock of God. The shepherds God seeks are to be a specific kind of people, as Paul explains in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. How often in our day are church leaders elected for all the reasons Dickson says are “not necessary” – “great gifts or worldly position, of wealth or high education.” And how infrequent it is to find men serving in leadership who “love the Master, and the work for the Master’s sake”? If your elders or leaders are of this latter kind, give thanks daily to the Lord, and encourage and assist them in their important work. If you do not have such leaders, then you must devote yourself to casting a vision for such men, providing the disciple-making energy they need for growing into Christ, and preparing them for this high calling of shepherding God’s flock. For people to grow into Christ as disciples and witnesses of the Lord, they need true spiritual men. Pray that God will raise such men as shepherds in churches everywhere.

How would you define a “spiritual man” or a “man of God”? What criteria are used to select leaders in your church?

If Men Will Pray
Paul explicitly declared that men everywhere should lift holy hands in prayer, so that the Gospel could flourish (1 Tim. 2.1-8). So how is it with the men of your church? Are they men of prayer? Do they take no rest, and give God no rest, seeking Him in prayer? Men at Prayer provides resources for you to use in enlisting, equipping, and encouraging your men for prayer. Watch this brief video, then begin developing a strategy for leading the men of your church to take their place on the wall, seeking the Lord for revival, renewal, and awakening in our day. If you need helping thinking this through, or you’d like to talk about this effort, send me an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.All quotations are from David Dickson, The Elder and His Work (Dallas: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1990).