Seize the Moment – Day 547
High Standards for Leaders!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, September 15. P
Do you have high expectations of people who hold leadership positions in your church?
We all do! It is normal and right to desire of our leaders to have an integrity of faith and practice that manifests God’s love throughout their lives—at home, in the church, and in the community. The problem is not having high expectations of leaders, it is not having grace and mercy for them when they fall short. I have yet to meet a leader who is fully qualified all the time.
Correspondingly, 1 Timothy 3:2-5 sets high standards for the New Testament Church and its qualifications for elders:
An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?).
Seize the moment and pray for the current and future leaders in your congregation. It is not surprising that few people are willing to serve as leaders in the church today as our culture moves away from biblical standards, but never forget that none of us are qualified to be members or leaders in the Church except by God’s grace.