We're studying the book of Titus, and this morning we continue in our series in verses 5 through 9 on the required character for a pastor.   And I perhaps ought to say by way of brief introduction, at least to you as a congregation, if not on the tape, that if I review a little bit and if I belabor a few points with which you are familiar, I want you to understand that I'm very concerned about this material in Titus chapter 1 because I want the Lord to use it in other churches and in the lives of other men in ministry across our country.   I think there's a tremendous need to direct the church's attention back to the issue of who is qualified to minister.   There are so many unqualified people in ministry today and because of that the church does not have the proper models that it should have for godliness and sanctification and righteousness and thus the church has descended to a low level of spiritual living.

我们正在学习提多书，今天早上我们继续我们的系列，在第 5 节到第 9 节中讨论牧师所需的品格。我也许应该通过简短的介绍说，至少对你们作为一个会众来说，如果不是在录音带上，如果我稍微回顾一下，如果我详细阐述了你们熟悉的几点，我希望你们明白，我非常关注提多书第一章中的这些材料，因为我希望主在其他教会和其他人的生活中使用它我们全国各地从事事工的人。我认为非常需要将教会的注意力引回到谁有资格服事的问题上。今天有这么多不合格的人从事事工，正因为如此，教会没有在敬虔、成圣和公义方面应有的适当模式，因此教会已经下降到较低的属灵生活水平。

I'm concerned that not only you understand these truths, but I am concerned that what I say get on tape and get into the hands of people that are going to need to hear these things because they're at the point in their own life where they're evaluating whether they're suited for ministry, and also these people who lead church pulpit committees and who select leadership for churches need to understand the nature of these standards and requirements.   So I'm trying to be somewhat careful and thoughtful as I go through here and not assuming too much for the listener who may hear the tape, or should it become something that's in print eventually, the person who might read it.   And if I say things with which you're familiar, you'll understand that's the reason why.

我担心，不仅你明白这些真理，而且我担心我所说的话会被录音带，落到那些需要听到这些东西的人手中，因为他们正处于自己生命中评估自己是否适合事工的阶段，以及这些领导教会讲台委员会和为教会选择领导的人，需要了解这些标准和要求的性质。因此，当我在这里阅读时，我试图保持一些谨慎和深思熟虑，不要为可能听到录音带的听众，或者它最终是否应该成为印刷品，可能阅读它的人假设太多。如果我说的是你熟悉的事情，你就会明白这就是原因。

I am concerned about this whole issue of church leadership.   I'm concerned about the kind of person that is being allowed to preach in the pulpit, that is being allowed to minister the Word of God, that is being elevated to the point of pastorate or eldership in the church.   I think we have to call the church back to evaluating these people on the basis of the standards that are explicitly given in Scripture.   They're not oblique; they're not hard to understand. They're clear, and they're very obvious, both in Titus chapter 1 and 1 Timothy chapter 3 and a number of other places in the pastoral epistles to which we refer and allude as we go through even this text.   So I want this series to speak to the church at large, as well as to our own church.

我担心整个教会领导问题。我担心的是，什么样的人被允许在讲台上讲道，被允许服事神的话语，被提升到教会的牧师或长老职位。我认为我们必须呼召教会重新根据圣经明确给出的标准来评估这些人。他们不是间接的;他们并不难理解。它们很清楚，而且非常明显，无论是在提多书1章和提摩太前书第3章，还是在教牧书信中，我们在阅读这段经文时所提到和暗示的许多其他地方。因此，我希望这个系列能够对整个教会以及我们自己的教会说话。

I also want you to know that the things that I'm covering here, the things that I'm talking about, have been part and parcel of the life of Grace Church since I first came here.   When I first came to Grace Church I obviously wanted to teach and preach the Word of God, but I also wanted to pour my life into men, to build men who would be men who could effectively minister as pastors and elders in the church.   And from the very outset we set these standards and these principles down as the required character for pastors and elders and have endeavored through the years to abide by these standards.   And God, I believe, has blessed and God has honored His Word in that effort.   I also want to say to you that the men who fit these standards and are therefore qualified for ministry do so not by their own talent but by the goodness and the grace of God, who works in them to make them suitable for ministry.

我还想让你知道，自从我第一次来到这里以来，我在这里所讲的事情，我所谈论的事情，一直是恩典教会生活的重要组成部分。当我第一次来到恩典教会时，我显然想教导和传讲上帝的话语，但我也想把我的生命倾注在人身上，培养出能够有效地在教会中担任牧师和长老的人。从一开始，我们就将这些标准和原则定为牧师和长老所需的品格，并多年来一直努力遵守这些标准。我相信，神已经祝福了，神也在努力中尊重了他的话语。我还想告诉你们，符合这些标准并因此有资格从事事工的人不是靠他们自己的才能，而是靠神的良善和恩典，神在他们里面工作，使他们适合事工。

Now having said that, let's look to Titus chapter 1, verses 5 to 9, and again part three in our study of the required character for a pastor.   Some contemporary church leaders fancy themselves as business men, or media figures, or entertainers, or psychologists, or philosophers, or presidents, CEOs, lawyers.   Yet those notions contrast sharply with the symbolism that Scripture employs to depict pastors and spiritual leaders in the church.   For example, in 2 Timothy chapter 2 Paul uses seven different metaphors to describe a spiritual leader.   He calls the minister a teacher, a soldier, an athlete, a farmer, a workman, a vessel and a slave.   Each of those images evokes ideas of sacrifice and labor and service and hardship.   They speak eloquently about the complex and varied responsibilities of spiritual leadership.   And not one of those word pictures makes the ministry glamorous.   That's because it's not supposed to be glamorous.   Leadership in the church is not a mantle of status to be conferred on the church's aristocracy.   It doesn't come by seniority.   It isn't purchased with money.   It isn't inherited through family ties.   It doesn't necessarily fall to people who are successful in business or finance.   It isn't doled out on the basis of intelligence or education or human talent.   Its requirements are faultless character, spiritual maturity, a willingness to serve humbly, and a skill in teaching.   It may go to the rich; it may go the poor; it may go to the bond; it may go to the free; it may go to those who are unknown in the world; it may go to those who are well-known; it may go to those who have failed to be successful in an enterprise in life, at least as the world measures success; it may sometimes go to those that are very successful, but that has nothing to do with it.

话虽如此，让我们看看提多书第一章第5至9节，以及我们研究牧师所需品格的第三部分。一些当代教会领袖自诩为商人、媒体人物、艺人、心理学家、哲学家、总统、首席执行官、律师。然而，这些观念与《圣经》用来描绘教会中的牧师和属灵领袖的象征意义形成鲜明对比。例如，在提摩太后书第二章中，保罗用了七种不同的比喻来描述一位属灵领袖。他称牧师为教师、士兵、运动员、农民、工人、船只和奴隶。这些图像中的每一个都唤起了牺牲、劳动、服务和艰辛的想法。他们雄辩地谈到了精神领导的复杂多样的责任。这些文字图片中没有一个能让事工变得迷人。那是因为它不应该是迷人的。教会的领导权不是授予教会贵族的地位。它不是靠资历来的。它不是用钱购买的。它不是通过家庭关系遗传的。它不一定落在商业或金融领域取得成功的人身上。它不是基于智力、教育或人类才能来分配的。它的要求是品格完美、灵性成熟、愿意谦卑服务以及教学技巧。它可能会流向富人;穷人可能会消失;它可能会用于债券;它可能会流向自由人;它可能会流向那些在世界上不为人知的人;它可能会流向那些知名的人;它可能会流向那些在生活中未能取得成功的人，至少在世界衡量成功时是这样;它有时可能会流向那些非常成功的人，但这与它无关。

Our Lord's favorite metaphor for the spiritual leader in the church was the one He used most often to describe Himself, and that was “shepherd” – “one who tends God's flock.”   Every church leader is a shepherd. That really does sum up what we do - feeding, leading, nurturing, caring, comforting, protecting, correcting - like a shepherd does his sheep.

我们的主最喜欢用比喻教会中的属灵领袖来形容自己，那就是“牧人”——“照料神羊群的人”。每个教会领袖都是牧羊人。这确实总结了我们所做的——喂养、领导、养育、关心、安慰、保护、纠正——就像牧羊人对待他的羊一样。

Interestingly enough, we should remind ourselves that shepherds are without status.   In any given culture where shepherds exist, they occupy the lowest, the lower rungs on the social ladder, don't they?   Shepherds are lowly people.   It is a semi-skilled, at best, profession.   In fact, you can replace a shepherd with a dog.   I've seen dogs do a tremendous job of shepherding in New Zealand.   So it's a semi-skilled task, has no status, belongs to the low rungs of social ladders, and that's fitting because the Lord Himself said, "Let him who is greatest among you become as the youngest and the leader as the servant" (Luke 22:26).

有趣的是，我们应该提醒自己，牧羊人是没有地位的。在任何有牧羊人的文化中，他们都占据着社会阶梯上最低层、较低的阶梯，不是吗？牧羊人是卑微的人。这是一个半熟练的职业，充其量只是一个半熟练的职业。事实上，你可以用狗代替牧羊人。我见过狗在新西兰的牧羊工作非常出色。因此，这是一项半熟练的任务，没有地位，属于社会阶梯的低层，这是合适的，因为耶和华自己说：“你们中间最大的，要成为最小的，领袖的要成为仆人”（路加福音 22：26）。

God has ordained, then, that this be a role of humble service, loving service.   The leaders are not called to be governing monarchs but humble slaves.   They're not called to be slick celebrities but laboring servants, not called to be charismatic personalities but faithful shepherds.   The man who leads God's people must above all things exemplify sacrifice, devotion, lowliness, and a love for and ability to communicate God's truth.

因此，上帝已经命定了这是一个谦卑服务的角色，爱心服务。领袖们不是被呼召为执政的君主，而是谦卑的奴隶。他们不是被呼召成为圆滑的名人，而是劳苦的仆人，不是被呼召成为有魅力的人，而是忠心的牧羊人。领导上帝子民的人首先必须以牺牲、奉献、谦卑、对上帝真理的爱和能力为榜样。

I think Jesus Himself gave us the pattern when He washed His disciples’ feet, doing something that only the lowest slave did - the dirtiest, filthiest, most undesirable job there was - washing dirty feet.   And Jesus did it and said that's how I want you to minister.

我认为耶稣自己给了我们一个模式，当他为门徒洗脚时，他做了只有最低等的奴隶才会做的事情——最肮脏、最污秽、最不受欢迎的工作——洗脏脚。耶稣做到了，并说这就是我希望你服事的方式。

Now one great difference between spiritual shepherding and just plain old shepherding is that plain shepherding is, as I said, semi-skilled - a dog can do it to some degree.   In biblical times, you remember, young boys did it.   David was a young boy, and typically young boys did the shepherding because it didn't take a lot of skill, while the older men did the more difficult and complex tasks.   But that's not true in the spiritual dimension of shepherding.   Shepherding is not a semi-skilled function spiritually. It's not for young boys; it's for mature men.   It is not semi-skilled; it takes a tremendous amount of skill.   It is very, very complex; it requires hard work, much wisdom.   Not everyone can meet the qualifications, and of those who do meet the qualifications, few seem to excel at it.   Spiritual shepherding demands a godly and a gifted and a multi-skilled man of integrity, one who can be a teacher and a soldier and an athlete and a farmer and a slave - a vessel and at the same time maintain the humility of a boy shepherd.

现在，属灵牧养和普通的老牧羊之间的一个巨大区别是，正如我所说，普通牧养是半熟练的——狗可以在某种程度上做到这一点。你还记得，在圣经时代，小男孩这样做了。大卫是一个小男孩，通常小男孩做牧羊，因为这不需要很多技巧，而年长的人则做更困难和复杂的任务。但在牧养的属灵层面上，情况并非如此。牧养在属灵上不是一种半熟练的功能。它不适合年轻男孩;它适合成熟的男人。它不是半熟练的;它需要大量的技能。它非常非常复杂;它需要努力工作，需要很多智慧。不是每个人都能达到这些资格，在那些符合这些资格的人中，似乎很少有人擅长它。属灵的牧养需要一个敬虔、有恩赐、多才多艺的正直人，一个可以成为教师、士兵、运动员、农夫和奴隶的人——一个器皿，同时保持男孩牧羊人的谦卑。

I suppose we would be safe in saying that many of the best known and most visible religious leaders utterly fail to measure up to the biblical standard, and that is certainly a grief to the heart of the Lord of the church, because as a result of inept shepherding you have a weak church.   In fact, churches can survive almost every kind of problem except the failure of the shepherds.   The shepherds can destroy their sheep, and without the proper shepherds they go astray and are vulnerable.

我想我们可以肯定地说，许多最著名和最引人注目的宗教领袖完全没有达到圣经的标准，这无疑是教会主心中的悲伤，因为由于牧养不善，你们的教会是软弱的。事实上，教会几乎可以在所有类型的问题中幸存下来，除了牧羊人的失败。牧羊人可以毁灭他们的羊，如果没有合适的牧羊人，他们就会误入歧途，变得脆弱。

Paul was passionately convinced that churches had to have the right kind of shepherds, the right kind of leaders.   And all through his ministry he set about to see that this occurred.   For example, back in the fourteenth chapter of the book of Acts, he says we went in and evangelized and then we nurtured and then we appointed shepherds, elders, overseers, pastors. That was the pattern.   Acts 14:21 to 23 sort of gives you in one little passage what Paul did everywhere - lead them to Christ, nurture them along the path of sanctification, and give them leadership.   That was Paul's passion.   He knew that they had to have spiritual leadership.   The sheep without a shepherd are scattered and devastated.

保罗热切地相信，教会必须有合适的牧人，合适的领袖。在他的整个传道过程中，他开始着手看到这种情况发生。例如，在使徒行传第十四章中，他说我们进去传福音，然后我们养育，然后我们任命牧人、长老、监督、牧师。这就是模式。使徒行传 14：21 到 23 在一段小经文中告诉你保罗到处所做的事——带领他们归向基督，在成圣的道路上培养他们，并给他们领导权。这就是保罗的热情所在。他知道他们必须有属灵的领导。没有牧羊人的羊群四散，满目疮痍。

Now when you look at the New Testament you find three terms are used, as we've noted, for the shepherd or the pastor - terms “elder,” “overseer,” and “pastor.”   They're all interchangeable.   For example, look at Titus for a moment, right here in chapter 1, verse 5, and you will see the word "elders" there. Paul tells Titus to “appoint elders.”   Then down in verse 7 he calls them “overseers.”   He says “the overseer must be above reproach.”   He's using “elder” and “overseer” interchangeably.   “Elder” speaks of the age and maturity of the man; “overseer” speaks of his function of leadership.   You could add the word "pastor," which speaks of his function of feeding the sheep.   In Acts 20 you also have the same use of those terms interchangeably.   Paul is talking in verse 17 about the elders from Ephesus meeting him at Miletus.   And down in verse 28 he tells them “the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd.”   Elders are overseers who shepherd.   “Elder,” “overseer,” “pastor” - all the same person.   In 1 Peter chapter 5 you find it again interchangeably used, the word “elders” in verse 1 and then in verse 2 are to “shepherd” and “exercise oversight.”   Elders are mature men who feed and lead the flock.

现在，当你查看新约时，你会发现，正如我们所指出的，牧人或牧师使用了三个术语——“长老”、“监督”和“牧师”。它们都是可以互换的。例如，看看提多书，就在第1章第5节，你会看到那里的“长老”这个词。保罗告诉提多要“任命长老”。然后在第 7 节中，他称他们为“监督”。他说“监督必须无可非议”。他交替使用“长老”和“监督”。“长者”指的是男人的年龄和成熟度;“监督”谈到了他的领导职能。你可以加上“牧师”这个词，这说明他喂养羊群的职能。在使徒行传 20 章中，这些术语的相同用法也可以互换使用。保罗在第17节谈到以弗所的长老在米利都与他会面。在第28节，他告诉他们“圣灵立你们作监督，牧养人”。长老是牧养的监督者。“长老”、“监督”、“牧师”——都是同一个人。在彼得前书第5章中，你发现它再次互换使用，第1节和第2节中的“长老”一词是“牧养”和“监督”。长老是喂养和领导羊群的成熟男人。

That's the simple plan of God for leadership in the church - not a hierarchical thing, not a very complex structure.   There isn't any kind of hierarchy that has developed - for example, through years in the church, particularly in Europe and more liturgical churches here where you have pastors and then you have presbyters and then you have bishops and all of that kind of thing - that's all a fabrication of men that has no relationship to biblical terminology or design.   Under the plan of God, leadership is by men who are spiritually mature, who take the oversight and shepherd and feed the flock.   These men must exemplify spiritual virtue.   Why?   Because they are the models the people are following to spiritual virtue.   We're not to be godly for our own sake alone, but for the sake that we might establish a pattern for others to follow.

这是神对教会领导的简单计划——不是一个等级制度，不是一个非常复杂的结构。没有任何等级制度已经发展起来——例如，在教会中，特别是在欧洲和这里更多的礼仪教会，那里有牧师，然后有长老，然后有主教等等——这都是人的捏造，与圣经的术语或设计无关。在上帝的计划下，领导是由属灵成熟的人来领导的，他们负责监督、牧养和喂养羊群。这些人必须以身作则，以身作则。为什么？因为它们是人们在精神美德方面所遵循的榜样。我们不应该只为我们自己而敬虔，而是为了我们可以建立一个模式供其他人效仿。

The ministry, then, belongs to those who can meet by God's grace the qualifications.   Not everyone can be an elder.   Not everyone can be a pastor and an overseer.   This office is reserved for qualified men who meet the character standards outlined in the text before us, and also in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and a number of other places where you have glimpses of it in the pastoral epistles.   The leadership of the church calls for teaching; it calls for preaching, obviously of sound doctrine.   It calls for decision-making.   It calls for determining church policy.   It calls for careful stewardship of all funds.   It calls for protecting and defending the flock, for disciplining sin, for praying, ruling, organizing, ordaining other leaders, exhorting, rebuking.   In general, all that responsibility belongs to some very skilled and gifted and called and prepared men. And again I want to say, it is by God's grace that such men exist.   We cannot achieve this level.   Our giftedness comes from God's Spirit, and whatever we are before God in terms of righteousness and virtue is by God's grace and God's grace alone.

因此，事工属于那些能够靠着神的恩典达到资格的人。不是每个人都能成为长老。不是每个人都能成为牧师和监督。这个职位是为符合我们面前经文中概述的品格标准的人保留的，也是在提摩太前书第 3 章和你在教牧书信中瞥见的许多其他地方。教会的领导层需要教导;它需要讲道，显然是纯正的教义。它需要决策。它需要确定教会政策。它要求仔细管理所有资金。它要求保护和捍卫羊群，管教罪恶，祷告、统治、组织、按立其他领袖、劝勉、责备。一般来说，所有这些责任都属于一些非常有技能、有恩赐、被呼召和准备好的人。我想再说一次，这样的人是靠着神的恩典而存在的。我们无法达到这个水平。我们的恩赐来自神的灵，无论我们在神面前的公义和美德，都是靠神的恩典，而且只有神的恩典。

Now in Crete the churches had been around for a long enough time to have started having problems.   It doesn't take very long and they were beginning to have some problems.   In fact, there was confusion over doctrine in these churches in Crete.   We know that in chapter 1, verse 9, the elder is to “hold fast the faithful word,” and he is “to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”   So obviously in the island of Crete - that island of 160 miles in length where there were a hundred cities at least, according to the ancient writers - there were churches all over the place. They were young; they still needed a lot of work. Verse 5 says there were things that still had to be “set in order” and straightened out.   But mostly they needed leadership.   Why?   Because there was unsound doctrine being taught, and somebody had to come into that situation - contradict the wrong things and teach sound doctrine.   Chapter 2, verse 1, Paul says to Titus, "Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine."   Over in chapter 3, verse 9, "Shun foolish controversies, genealogies, strifes and disputes about the Law; they're unprofitable and worthless."

现在，在克里特岛，教会已经存在了足够长的时间，以至于开始出现问题。没过多久，他们就开始遇到一些问题。事实上，在克里特岛的这些教会中，对教义存在混乱。我们知道，在第1章第9节，长老要“持守忠心的道”，他要“用纯正的道劝勉人，驳斥那些反驳的人”。很明显，在克里特岛——根据古代作家的说法，这个长160英里的岛上至少有一百座城市——到处都有教会。他们很年轻;他们仍然需要做很多工作。第5节说，有些事情仍然需要“整理”和理顺。但大多数情况下，他们需要领导。 为什么？因为有人教导了不纯正的教义，必须有人进入那种情况——反驳错误的事情，教导纯正的教义。第二章第1节，保罗对提多说：“你们要说与纯正的道理相称的话。”在第3章第9节，“你们要避开关于律法的愚拙的争论、家谱、纷争和争论;这些都是无益的，毫无价值的。

Obviously all of this was going on in the church - false teaching, false doctrine.   Verse 10 even talks about “a factious man” - could be even a heretical man who is teaching perverted things.   So these churches were feeling the effect of error being taught, and they needed men who could step to the leadership and teach sound doctrine with authority.   There were also false teachers who were the ones purveying the error, and verse 10 talks about “rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,” coming from Judaism and wanting to hold to its legalistic principles.   There were people who were, verse 14, teaching “Jewish myths, commandments of men, turning people away from the truth.”   Over in chapter 3, as I noted, “a factious [or heretical] man” is to be warned twice and then he is to be rejected completely because he's “perverted and is sinning” and is “self-condemned” because of it.   They were having to deal with some personalities here, not just the issues of doctrine but some people that were teaching error.

显然，这一切都在教会里发生——错误的教导，错误的教义。第10节甚至谈到“一个虚伪的人”——甚至可能是一个教导事物的异端人。因此，这些教会感受到了被教导的错误的影响，他们需要能够站到领导面前，带着权柄教导纯正教义的人。还有假教师是传播错误的人，第 10 节谈到“悖逆的人、空谈的、欺骗的，尤其是那些受割礼的人”，他们来自犹太教，并希望坚持其律法主义原则。第14节，有些人教导“犹太人的神话，人的诫命，使人远离真理”。正如我在第三章中指出的，“一个虚伪的人”要被警告两次，然后他要被完全拒绝，因为他“，正在犯罪”，并因此而“自我定罪”。他们不得不在这里与一些人物打交道，不仅仅是教义问题，还有一些教导错误的人。

To add to that, the pagan culture had invaded the church.   Look at chapter 1, verse 12. It says that one of their prophets said “Cretans are liars and evil beasts and lazy gluttons.”   But these people - this characterized all of Cretans - some of these people who lived like that had infiltrated the church.   Down in verse 16, these are people who “profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him,” they are “detestable, disobedient, worthless for any good deed.”   Over in chapter 2, verse 12, Paul says we have been instructed by the grace of God “to deny ungodliness and deny worldly desires and live sensibly, righteously, godly in the present age,” because in verse 14 God has sought “to redeem us from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself a people of His own...zealous for good works.”

除此之外，异教文化已经侵入了教会。请看第1章第12节。它说他们的一位先知说：“克里特岛人是说谎者、邪恶的野兽和懒惰的贪吃者。但这些人——这是所有克里特岛人的特征——其中一些过着这样生活的人已经渗透到教会中。在第16节，这些人“自称认识神，却以行为不认神”，他们“可憎恶，悖逆，行任何善事都一文不值”。在第2章12节，保罗说，我们蒙着神的恩典的指示，“要舍弃不敬虔，舍弃世俗的情欲，在今世过明智、公义、敬虔的生活”，因为在第14节，神寻求“救赎我们脱离一切不法的行为，为自己洁净自己的子民......热心做好事。

So the pagan culture had invaded the place and there were people involved in lusts and sins and evil things. That needed to be dealt with.   So on the one hand it required teachers who could teach sound doctrine, leaders who could refute false teachers, people who could confront sin, discipline sin, deal with sin.   And that all to counter the invasion of pagan culture.

因此，异教文化入侵了这个地方，有人卷入了情欲、罪恶和邪恶的事情。这需要处理。因此，一方面，它需要能够教导纯正教义的教师，能够驳斥假教师的领袖，能够面对罪、管教罪恶、处理罪恶的人。而这一切都是为了对抗异教文化的入侵。

And then there was some general leadership.   Look at chapter 2 for a moment and you'll see in the beginning of chapter 2, verse 2, older men; verse 3, older women; verse 4, young women; verse 6, young men; bondslaves, masters.   Now what you have here is order of all the various groups in the church being dealt with - the older women, the younger women, the older men, the younger men, the slaves, the masters, the whole structure of the church. Everybody needed to be taught what they were to do.   That's oversight.   That's leadership.   That's what an episkopos, or “an overseer” does.   So there was the need to teach sound doctrine, the need to confront false teachers, the need to deal with an invading pagan culture, and to bring everybody into a proper understanding of what their role in the church was.   And then the overarching process of just moving all these people towards sanctification was absolutely critical.   In verse 14 of chapter 3 he kind of wraps up by saying, "Let our people learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful."   In other words, if you're going to be evangelistic you've got to live a godly, virtuous, holy life.   So the point was for the sake of evangelism as well - all of this needed to be dealt with.

然后是一些一般领导。看看第二章，你会看到第二章第二节的开头，年长的人;第3节，年长的妇女;第4节，女青年;第6节，男青年;奴隶，主人。现在，你们在这里看到的是教会中所有不同群体的秩序——年长的妇女、年轻的妇女、年长的男人、年轻的男人、奴隶、主人，以及教会的整个结构。每个人都需要被教导他们应该做什么。这就是疏忽。这就是领导力。这就是 episkopos 或“监督者”所做的。因此，需要教导纯正的教义，需要对抗假教师，需要应对入侵的异教文化，并让每个人都正确地了解他们在教会中的角色是什么。然后，将所有这些人推向成圣的总体过程绝对至关重要。在第3章第14节中，他总结说：“让我们的百姓学会行善，以满足迫切的需要，免得不结果子。换句话说，如果你要传福音，你必须过敬虔、有美德、圣洁的生活。所以重点也是为了传福音——所有这些都需要处理。

Now that's the reason Paul says to Titus in verse 5, "appoint elders in every city."   You can't accomplish these things without leadership.   And you know as well as I do that if Titus had just shown up and hadn't had a letter from Paul and said, "All right, you guys, we're going to pick some elders in this church," somebody would have said, "I'd like to nominate Bill because he's got a lot of money and he's very successful and he's over a lot of people and he can organize like crazy."   And somebody might stand up and say, "Well, I'd like to nominate my husband. He's really a wonderful guy, and I think he ought to be on this group of elders, too. And besides, we'd like to know what's really going on on the inside of this deal."   And somebody else might stand up and say, "Well, I know this guy over here. He's very erudite; he's well-read; he's highly educated; we'd like to choose him."   And just to make sure that kind of free-for-all didn't happen, the apostle Paul gets this letter to Titus that he can hold in his hand and say, "Here is the God-inspired criteria, and it has nothing to do with popularity, and has nothing to do with money, and it has nothing to do with success, education, or whatever."

这就是保罗在第5节对提多说：“各城都要立长老”。没有领导力，你就无法完成这些事情。你和我一样知道，如果提多刚刚出现，没有收到保罗的信，并说：“好吧，你们，我们要在这个教会里挑选一些长老，”有人会说，“我想提名比尔，因为他有很多钱，他非常成功，他控制了很多人，他可以疯狂地组织起来。有人可能会站起来说，“好吧，我想提名我的丈夫。他真的是一个很棒的人，我认为他也应该加入这群长老。此外，我们想知道这笔交易内部到底发生了什么。其他人可能会站起来说：“好吧，我认识这里的这个人。他非常博学;他博览群书;他受过高等教育;我们想选择他。为了确保这种混战不会发生，使徒保罗拿了这封写给提多的信，他可以把这封信拿在手里，说：“这是神所默示的标准，与受欢迎程度无关，与金钱无关，与成功无关。 教育，或者其他什么。

Titus then is armed, as it were, with the data in verses 5 to 9 for the selection process that he must accomplish in these various churches.   He's got to do it fast because in chapter 3, verse 12, Paul says he wants him to come to Nicopolis as soon as Artemas or Tychicus arrive to take his place.

然后，提多就用第5节到第9节的数据武装起来，用于他必须在这些不同的教会中完成的选择过程。他必须快点做，因为在第 3 章第 12 节，保罗说他希望他在阿尔特玛或推基古到达后立即到尼哥波利来接替他的位置。

Now the qualifications are explicit and non-negotiable.   Let me begin in verse 6 and remind you of them.   Namely, "If any man be above reproach, the husband of one wife” - or better, “a one-woman man” – “having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion, for the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self- controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict."

现在，资格是明确的，不容谈判的。让我从第 6 节开始，提醒你这些问题。也就是说，“若有人无可指责，就是一个妻子的丈夫”——或者更好的是，“一个女人的男人”——“生儿女信道，不被指为放荡或悖逆，因为监督必须无可指责，作为神的管家，不任性，不暴躁，不沉迷于酒，不好斗，不喜污秽的利益，但要好客，爱好善。 明智、公正、虔诚、自制，坚守符合教义的忠实话语，以便他能够用纯正的教义劝勉并驳斥那些反驳的人。

There shouldn't be any vaguery about that, it is absolutely crystal clear the kind of man that is suited for this ministry.   And the over-arching concept that really defines everything is the statement in verse 6 and verse 7 that this man “must be above reproach” - it is repeated twice, as it is repeated also in 1 Timothy chapter 3.   It means there's no cause for criticism of his life, no cause for criticism of his character, no mark, no blight, no issue of sin, no defect that in any way makes his credibility as the example and the teacher of divine truth suspect.   He is to be the model of spiritual life to which the others desire to attain.   His unreproachable character, his blameless character, makes him suitable and unique and specifically set for this kind of work.

这不应该有任何含糊之处，绝对清楚哪种人适合这个事工。真正定义一切的总体概念是第 6 节和第 7 节中关于这个人“必须无可指责”的声明——它重复了两次，就像在提摩太前书第 3 章中也重复的那样。这意味着没有理由批评他的生命，没有理由批评他的品格，没有标记，没有枯萎，没有罪的问题，没有缺陷，以任何方式使他作为榜样和神圣真理的老师的可信度受到怀疑。他要成为其他人渴望达到的精神生活的典范。他无可指责的性格，他无可指责的性格，使他适合、独特，并专门为此类工作设定。

Now I told you that, overall, “above reproach” falls into four categories.   We already looked at the first one, sexual morality, which appears in the statement, “a one-woman man.” The pastor must be one whose life exemplifies God's ideal of one man, one woman, for life - not only maritally, but morally - faithful to his wife, if indeed he is married - devoted, loyal, loving, faithful.

现在我告诉过你，总的来说，“无可非议”分为四类。我们已经研究了第一个，性道德，它出现在声明中，“一个女人的男人”。牧师必须是上帝一生理想的典范，即一男一女，终生——不仅在婚姻上，而且在道德上——忠于他的妻子，如果他确实结婚了——忠诚、忠诚、爱心、忠诚。

And then we looked, secondly and last week, at the second issue of family leadership.   It says also in verse 6 he is to be a man who has “children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.”   That's a very important message from last week because some people have wanted to say this phrase "having children who believe" should be translated "having faithful children,"   and all it means is they're obedient, they don't have to be Christians, they don't have to be believers, they just have to be obedient.   And I tried to show you last time that that's not what the text is saying.   And the New American Standard translators have translated it accurately, "having children who believe."   The word pistos, which is from the verb peithō, “to believe,” is used over sixty times in the New Testament.   Sometimes it is translated "faithful," sometimes it is translated "believing," but it always, when referring to persons other than God or Christ, refers to a Christian.   No one who is a non-believer is ever said to be “faithful.”   It refers to those who believe in the gospel and are thus called “faithful” - those who believe in God and are thus called “faithful.” It is used to refer to God, the faithful Creator; to refer to Christ, the faithful High Priest; several times of God; several times of Christ.   It is used to refer to the faithful Scripture, that is, that it is loyal and trustworthy to the truth.   But the most frequent usage of it is to people, and in searching through the whole New Testament - every single use of the word - I can't find any use that doesn't refer to a believer.   You could sum up the meaning of the word "faithful" in Acts 16:15 with the phrase, "faithful to the Lord."   To be faithful means to be faithful to the Lord.

然后，我们第二次也是上周，研究了家庭领导力的第二个问题。在第6节中，他也说，他要成为一个“信的儿女，而不是被指为放荡或悖逆”的人。这是上周的一个非常重要的信息，因为有些人想说“有信的儿女”这句话应该翻译成“有忠心的儿女”，这意味着他们是顺服的，他们不必是基督徒，他们不必是信徒，他们只需要顺服。上次我试图向你们表明，这不是经文所说的。而《新美国标准》的译者们也准确地翻译了它，“生了信的人”。pistos 这个词来自动词 peithō，意思是“相信”，在新约中使用了 60 多次。有时它被翻译为“忠心”，有时被翻译为“相信”，但当提到上帝或基督以外的人时，它总是指基督徒。没有一个非信徒被称为“忠心”。它指的是那些相信福音并因此被称为“忠心”的人——那些相信上帝并因此被称为“忠心”的人。它用来指上帝，信实的造物主;指的是基督，忠心的大祭司;上帝的几次;基督的几次。它用来指信实的圣经，即它对真理忠诚和值得信赖。但它最常用的是对人，在搜索整本新约圣经时——这个词的每一次用法——我找不到任何不指信徒的用法。你可以用“忠于耶和华”这句话来概括使徒行传 16：15 中“忠心”一词的含义。忠心意味着忠于主。

Let me give you an illustration.   What does it mean to have a faithful child?   Having a child who is faithful?   Having a faithful child?   That same phrase is used in 1 Corinthians 4:17 to refer to Timothy, and there it says Timothy is a “faithful child.”   What is a faithful child?   Not an obedient child only, but a loyal child, loyal to the faith, a believer such as Timothy.   First Corinthians 4:17 says Timothy is a “faithful child," that is, “he is my son who is a believer and faithful to what he believes.”   And Revelation 17:14 sums up by saying believers “are the called and chosen and faithful.”

让我给大家举个例子。拥有一个忠心的孩子意味着什么？有一个忠诚的孩子？有一个忠实的孩子？哥林多前书 4：17 也用了同样的短语来指代提摩太，并说提摩太是一个“忠心的孩子”。什么是忠心的孩子？不仅仅是一个顺服的孩子，而是一个忠诚的孩子，忠于信仰，像提摩太这样的信徒。哥林多前书 4：17 说提摩太是“忠心的孩子”，也就是说，“他是我的儿子，是信的，忠于他所信的”。启示录 17：14 总结说，信徒“是被召、被拣选、忠心的”。

Furthermore, just looking at it from a logical standpoint, apart from the word itself, if it said the children only have to be faithful but not Christians, would anyone consider the child of a pastor faithful if they were obedient but rejected the gospel?   No matter what they did in terms of their obedience, they would be considered by all as unfaithful at the most crucial point, the point of the faith.   No matter what the children might have been faithful to, if they were not faithful to the Christian gospel and believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, they would be considered unfaithful children, disobedient to God, who commands us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and disobedient to their father who called them to Christ as well.

此外，仅从逻辑的角度来看，除了这个词本身之外，如果它说孩子只需要是忠心的，而不是基督徒，那么如果牧师的孩子顺服但拒绝福音，有人会认为他们是忠心的吗？无论他们在顺服方面做了什么，在最关键的一点，即信仰的点上，他们都会被所有人认为是不忠的。无论孩子们对什么忠心，如果他们不忠于基督教福音和信主耶稣基督的人，他们就会被认为是不忠心的孩子，不顺服上帝，上帝命令我们相信主耶稣基督，也不顺服他们呼召他们归向基督的父亲。

Furthermore, they're not just to be believing, but they are to be “faithful” because they are “not accused of dissipation or rebellion.”   By the way, as I noted last time, those are things adult children do, not little children, so he's likely speaking about adult children here who have reached the point of saving faith.   First Timothy 3 seems to emphasize the smaller, younger children who have a simple faith - accepting what their father teaches - who are obedient, who are under control.   And their simple faith ultimately emerges into a saving faith.   So this is a very unusual individual, who by God's grace and God's sovereign purpose and plan has believing children.

此外，他们不仅要相信，而且要“忠心”，因为他们“没有被指控为散漫或悖逆”。顺便说一句，正如我上次提到的，这些是成年子女所做的事情，而不是小孩子，所以他在这里很可能说的是已经达到得救信心的成年子女。提摩太前书第3章似乎强调的是那些信仰简单的小孩子——接受父亲的教导——他们顺服，在控制之下。他们简单的信心最终变成了一种得救的信心。因此，这是一个非常不寻常的人，靠着上帝的恩典和上帝至高无上的旨意和计划，他有了相信的孩子们。

There's a fourth category that we will look at in the future and that's in verse 9, and that has to do with his teaching skill - sexual morality, family leadership, and number four is teaching skill. We'll look at that in the future, the fact that he must hold fast the faithful Word and be able to teach and all of that.   But for this morning I want us to look at the third in these four categories, and we'll just call it general character - general character, verses 7 and 8, “The overseer must be above reproach as God's steward.” And here comes the general characterization - first there are five negatives, and then there are six positives: “not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled.”   The man who is marked by these qualities is a man who has the general character to go along with the family leadership, to go along with the sexual morality, to go along with the teaching skill that equips him for this task.   The man who is marked by these qualities, by the way, will have power. He will have power, not only the power of God because of the holiness of his life, but credibility, honor, respect, admiration, love, and all that will endow him with authority and power to lead.   He will be the man who can effectively lead the church.

我们将来要看第四类，那就是在第9节，这与他的教学技巧有关——性道德、家庭领导，第四是教学技巧。我们将来会研究这一点，他必须紧紧抓住忠心的话语，能够教导等等。但今天早上，我希望我们看看这四类中的第三类，我们就称之为一般品格——一般品格，第 7 节和第 8 节，“监督作为神的管家，必须无可指责。这就是一般的特征--首先有五个消极因素，然后是六个积极因素：“不任性，不脾气暴躁，不嗜酒，不好斗，不喜肮脏，但好客，热爱善良，理智，公正，虔诚，自制。具有这些品质的人是一个具有与家庭领导相随、与性道德相一致、与他能够胜任这项任务的教学技能的一般品格的人。顺便说一句，具有这些品质的人将拥有权力。他将拥有能力，不仅因为他生命的圣洁而拥有上帝的能力，而且由于他生命的圣洁，还有信誉、荣誉、尊重、钦佩、爱，以及所有将赋予他领导权柄和能力的东西。他将成为能够有效领导教会的人。

Now let's look at the beginning of verse 7 and just see how he opens up the section on general character. "For the overseer"; there's that word again. It's used five times in the New Testament, four times of pastors, once of Christ, and when it's used of Christ in 1 Peter it's translated “Guardian.”   That's a great word.   We are guardians. Pastors are the teachers and the feeders but also the guardians.   It comes from the word episkopos. The middle of that word, skop, is the word from which we get skeptic in English. Where you look and search and you examine everything very closely, we say someone is skeptical, and we mean by that that they're very analytical and they want to look everything over very carefully, and you add the epi at the beginning, the preposition, and you get this kind of man who is over and looking into everything.   That's an “overseer,” that's a guardian, “paying close attention.”   It was used to describe the gods who kept watch over the people and over their nations.   And then it was used to describe those religious leaders who represented those gods and watched over religious communities.   And then it moved into the Christian church, and it was used of those who ruled the church.

现在让我们看看第 7 节的开头，看看他是如何打开关于一般品格的部分的。“为监督者”;又出现了那个词。它在新约中使用了五次，牧师用了四次，基督用了一次，在彼得前书中用到基督时，它被翻译成“守护者”。这是一个很好的词。我们是监护人。牧师是教师和喂养者，也是监护人。它来自 episkopos 这个词。这个词的中间，skop，是我们在英语中产生怀疑的词。当你观察和搜索并非常仔细地检查一切时，我们说有人持怀疑态度，我们的意思是他们非常善于分析，他们想非常仔细地查看所有内容，然后你在开头加上 epi，介词，你就会得到这种结束并调查一切的人。那是“监督者”，是“密切关注”的守护者。它被用来描述守护人民和国家的神。然后它被用来描述那些代表这些神并守护宗教团体的宗教领袖。然后它进入了基督教会，并被用于那些统治教会的人。

In 1 Thessalonians the verb proistēmi is also added to it, “to have charge over.”   So here are these people who are watching over and looking over and guarding the church, and they're in authority over it as the delegated authorities of Christ.   They are to rule, 1 Timothy 5:17 says, they are to “rule well.”   Hebrews 13 says they're in charge, 1 Thessalonians 5 says they're in charge.   And these men who have this responsibility, says verse 7, “must be above reproach.”   Verse 6 says “if any man be above reproach.” Verse 7 adds the word “must”; it is a necessity.   It is not an option; it is a necessity.   Why?   Because he is responsible to lead the flock of God as God's steward, and to lead that flock to the kind of life that God wants, which must be the kind of life that he exemplifies.

在帖撒罗尼迦前书中，动词 proistēmi 也被添加到其中，“负责”。因此，这里有这些人，他们看顾、看守和看守教会，他们作为基督委派的权柄，掌管着教会。提摩太前书 5：17 说，他们要“好好统治”。希伯来书 13 章说他们负责，帖撒罗尼迦前书 5 章说他们负责。第7节说，这些负有这个责任的人“必须无可指责”。第6节说，“若有人无可指责”。第 7 节添加了“必须”一词;这是必要的。这不是一种选择;这是必要的。为什么？因为他有责任作为上帝的管家带领上帝的羊群，并带领那群羊走向上帝想要的生活，这必须是他所标榜的那种生活。

It's a frightening standard for me, for anyone who stands in this particular responsibility.   He is not able to be accused.   He is not able to be laid hold of because of some scandal or sin that mars him.   On the contrary, he is a man without reproach who can establish a pattern that others can follow.   That little phrase "as God's steward" is very important, very important.   A “steward” was oikonomos in the Greek. He managed the “house”; oikos is the word “house.”   He set the law for the house – nomos, “law”; oikos, “house.”   He was the law of the house.   He didn't own it; he was a steward of it.   He managed it; he managed the people; he managed the resources.   He made sure the work got done. He made sure the crops were in. He made sure the food was stored.   He made sure the people were fed.   He made sure the servants did all the right tasks, that the right allotment of work was sorted out among the people who could serve.   He took care of those who needed to be corrected.   He took care of those who needed to be trained.   He took care of those who were wounded or ill.   He managed the house.   That was what a steward did.

这对我来说是一个可怕的标准，对于任何承担这一特殊责任的人来说。他不能被指控。他不能因为一些丑闻或罪恶而被抓住。相反，他是一个无可非议的人，能够建立别人可以效仿的模式。“作为上帝的管家”这句话非常重要，非常重要。“管家”在希腊语中是 oikonomos。他管理着“房子”;oikos 是“房子”这个词。他为房子制定了律法——nomos，“法律”;Oikos，“房子”。他是家里的律法。他不拥有它;他是这支学校的管家。他做到了;他管理人民;他管理着资源。他确保工作完成。他确保庄稼已经收获。他确保食物被储存起来。他确保人们吃饱。他确保仆人完成所有正确的任务，在能够服务的人中分配正确的工作。他照顾那些需要纠正的人。他照顾那些需要训练的人。他照顾那些受伤或生病的人。他管理着房子。这就是管家所做的。

And if you look back to 1 Timothy, it's very important to note this. In 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15, Paul says to Timothy, "I'm writing so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God."   “Timothy, I'm writing so you'll know how someone is supposed to exercise his stewardship, his managing role, his oversight in the household of God.” And Paul is saying the church is a household - it's God's household; He owns it.   The children are His children.   They belong to Him, “but your responsibility is to manage it for Him, all the resources, all the people blending their giftedness, feeding them proper diet of spiritual truth, correcting them, disciplining them, caring for them, loving them, restoring them.   You need to manage the household of God.”   That is also why back in verse 5 of chapter 3 Paul says to Timothy, "(if a man doesn't know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)."   Because it is a household; it is God's household. That's why I said last time that the family is the proving ground for the ability to manage God's household.   We are stewards; we don't own it; it doesn't belong to us.   We are directly answerable to God, and “it is required of stewards,” 1 Corinthians 4:2 says, “that a man be found” - What? – “faithful, trustworthy.”   In 1 Peter 4:10 it says that we are stewards, “good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”   We are dispensing God's grace to the household of God.   We manage for God His household, just like a steward managed a household for a land owner.   It's a very, very sacred task because the Lord paid a high price for this household, didn't He?   He purchased it with His own blood, Acts 20 says, verse 28.   The church is not mine; the church is not yours; the church is His.   “We are not our own, we are bought with a price,” 1 Corinthians 6:19 says. Hebrews 13:17 says I have to “give an account” to God for how I “watch over your souls.”   This is a stewardship from God - a serious responsibility for which I will be accountable when I face the Lord.   And that accounting will happen.

如果你回顾提摩太前书，注意这一点非常重要。在提摩太前书第3章和第15节，保罗对提摩太说：“我写这封信，是要叫你们知道在神的家里应该怎样行事。“提摩太，我写这封信是为了让你知道一个人应该如何行使他的管家职责、管理角色和监督上帝的家。”保罗说，教会是一个家庭——它是上帝的家庭;他拥有它。孩子们是他的孩子。他们属于他，“但你的责任是为他管理它，所有的资源，所有的人，混合他们的恩赐，喂养他们适当的属灵真理，纠正他们，管教他们，照顾他们，爱他们，恢复他们。你需要管理上帝的家。这也是为什么在第3章第5节，保罗对提摩太说：“（人若不懂得管理自己的家庭，怎么看顾神的教会呢？因为这是一个家庭;这是上帝的家。这就是为什么我上次说过，家庭是管理神家庭的能力的试验场。我们是管家;我们不拥有它;它不属于我们。我们要直接对神负责，哥林多前书4章2节说，“管家是被要求的”——什么？– “忠诚，值得信赖。”在彼得前书 4：10 中说，我们是管家，是“上帝多方面恩典的好管家”。我们正在将神的恩典分赐给神的家。我们为神管理他的家庭，就像管家为地主管理家庭一样。这是一项非常非常神圣的任务，因为主为这个家庭付出了高昂的代价，不是吗？他用自己的血买了它，使徒行传 20 章说，第 28 节。教会不是我的;教会不是你的;教会是他的。“我们不是自己的，是用价钱买来的，”哥林多前书 6：19 说。希伯来书 13：17 说，我必须向神“交账”，因为我是如何“看顾你们的灵魂”的。这是来自上帝的管家职分——当我面对主时，我将对此负责。这种会计将会发生。

Now, God then is looking for people sexually pure, who have demonstrated the ability to lead a household to salvation, to sanctification, and to service, and have demonstrated they can handle all of the resources and they can feed and nurture and care for that household.   I think that's why the Lord said “if you can't handle money, why would I give you souls?   If you can't prove that you can handle the mammon, then why would I give you the true riches?”   That's why I think Jesus said, “If you're faithful over little, I'll give you much.”   Spiritual leadership belongs to those who have proven that they can manage their own household, and thus are given the task of managing the household of God.   They must then be men who take the oversight and who exercise it with impeccable character.

现在，神正在寻找性纯洁的人，他们表现出带领一个家庭得救、成圣和服事的能力，并证明他们能够处理所有的资源，他们可以喂养、养育和照顾这个家庭。我想这就是为什么主说：“如果你不能处理钱，我为什么要给你灵魂？如果你不能证明你能处理玛门，那我为什么要给你真正的财富呢？这就是为什么我想耶稣说：“如果你对小事忠心，我就给你很多。属灵领袖属于那些已经证明自己可以管理自己家庭的人，因此被赋予管理上帝家庭的任务。然后，他们必须是承担监督并以无可挑剔的品格行使监督权的人。

Now let's go back to Titus and see the specifics of that character.   And we're just going to get barely started because we're already out of time - isn't that terrible?   There are two things here just to mention, and I've already alluded to them.   Verse 7 gives a list of negatives; verse 8 gives a list of positives.   There are five negatives; there are six positives.   Now, the simple way to understand this is to take two points.   Point one, what a pastor must not be.   Point two, what a pastor must be.   It's that simple - what a pastor must not be, verse 7; what a pastor must be, verse 8.

现在让我们回到提多，看看那个角色的具体情况。我们只是刚刚开始，因为我们已经没有时间了——这不是很可怕吗？这里有两件事要提，我已经提到过了。第 7 节列出了否定因素;第 8 节列出了积极的一面。有五个负面因素;有六个积极因素。现在，理解这一点的简单方法是采取两点。第一点，牧师不能成为什么样子。第二点，牧师必须是什么样的人。就这么简单——牧师不能成为，第 7 节;牧师必须是什么样子，第 8 节。

In verse 7 you have a listing of the kind of things that must be absent in this man's life.   And at least let's get started.   Number one, this man is “not self-willed,” “not self-willed.”   An interesting word, very strong word in the Greek.   It means “to have a self-loving arrogance.”   It means to be literally “consumed with yourself, seeking your own way, your own satisfaction, your own gratification,” to the point, of course, that you “disregard others.”   We might say this is “a head-strong person”; this is “a self-seeking person.”   We might even say this is “a stubborn person.”

在第 7 节中，你列出了这个人生命中必须缺少的那种东西。至少让我们开始吧。第一，这个人“不任性”，“不任性”。一个有趣的词，在希腊语中非常强烈的词。意思是“有自爱的傲慢”。它的字面意思是“沉迷于自己，寻求自己的方式，自己的满足，自己的满足”，当然，以至于你“不顾他人”。我们可以说这是“一个任性的人”;这就是“一个自私的人”。我们甚至可以说这是“一个固执的人”。

False teachers, by the way, are described in the same terms in 2 Peter 2:10 as being “daring and self-willed and they don't even tremble when they revile angelic majesties.”   They're so arrogant and so daring and bold in their arrogance and so self-willed that they will tread where angels fear to tread. They don't have the sense to even realize the powers they're dealing with in the kingdom of darkness.   There's a certain egotism that makes them so arrogant that nothing stands in their way. They have no regard for the authority or the power of any other.

顺便说一句，在彼得后书 2：10 中，假教师被描述为“胆大包天，任性，他们辱骂天使的威严，甚至不颤抖”。他们如此傲慢，如此大胆，如此大胆，傲慢又如此任性，以至于他们会踏上天使不敢踏足的地方。他们甚至没有意识意识到他们在黑暗王国中正在对付的力量。有一种自负主义使他们如此傲慢，没有什么能阻挡他们。他们不顾他人的权威或权力。

You see, it's important to say this because in the world's system the first thing people look for in looking for a leader is somebody who is a strong, aggressive, natural leader.   And very often the SNL, as he is called - the “strong natural leader” - is just the opposite of the kind of person that should lead effectively in the church.   It doesn't mean he's not strong. It doesn't mean that this man should be without convictions - we'll get to that.   But very often the man who leads in the church is selected because of his strong natural leadership ability, and what drives it is not concern for God and truth, but what drives it is a sense of ego fulfillment - a need to be in charge.   And when things don't go the way the guy wants them to go, it's very frustrating for him and everybody else.   No one who is dominated by self is fit for this kind of task.   You have to examine your heart all the time on this one.   I'm always kind of laughing when some young man in the ministry asks me, How did I finally reach true spirituality?   Or as one young man put it one time, “When did you finally become humble?”   And as soon as I answered him, I'm not humble anymore, you know, so it's a Catch-22 question. As soon as you just announced your humility, you lost it.   We all fight this.   We all fight the battle of the flesh and self-will and self-desire. But a man who is to be a leader in the church is a man who is not self-willed. He has to continually suppress his own desires - the desires of his flesh, desires for his own self-glory and self-gratification.   He must not despise others because they get in his way, the way of fulfilling his own desires.

你看，这么说很重要，因为在世界体系中，人们在寻找领导者时首先寻找的是一个强大、积极进取、天生的领导者。很多时候，他所说的“强大的自然领袖”——与应该在教会中有效领导的那种人恰恰相反。这并不意味着他不强壮。这并不意味着这个人应该没有信念——我们会谈到这一点。但很多时候，在教会中领导的人是因为他天生的领导能力很强而被选中的，而驱动它的不是对神和真理的关注，而是驱动它的是一种自我满足感——一种负责的需要。当事情没有按照这个人想要的方式发展时，这对他和其他人来说都是非常令人沮丧的。任何一个被自我支配的人都不适合做这种任务。你必须一直检查你的心。当事工中的某个年轻人问我时，我总是有点笑，我是如何最终达到真正的灵性的？或者正如一位年轻人曾经说过的那样，“你什么时候终于变得谦卑了？当我回答他时，我不再谦虚了，你知道，所以这是一个第 22 条军规的问题。你刚宣布谦逊，就失去了它。我们都在与之抗争。我们都在为肉体、自我意志和自我欲望而战。但一个要成为教会领袖的人，是一个不任性的人。他必须不断地压抑自己的欲望——他肉体的欲望，对自己荣耀和自我满足的欲望。他绝不能因为别人妨碍他，妨碍他实现自己欲望的道路而鄙视别人。

No one dominated by self is fit for this task. This is the kind of person the world chooses.   And I think Jesus said it as well as it could be said in Matthew chapter 20; in verse 25, he said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them."   In the pagan world they always pick people who dominate them.   They're always looking for a leader, and leadership to them means power and authority and dominance.   And He says “their great men exercise authority over them, but it is not so among you, whoever wishes among you to be a leader, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:25). So the man who is chosen for this role of leadership must not be a self-willed man.   He has to give space for other people and other people's leadership and direction.   Most of all he seeks out to know the mind and the heart of God and to do only what He would desire done in His church.

没有一个被自我支配的人适合完成这项任务。这是世界选择的那种人。我认为耶稣说的和马太福音第20章一样好;在第25节，他说：“你们知道外邦人的官长统治他们。在异教世界中，他们总是选择支配他们的人。他们一直在寻找领导者，而领导对他们来说意味着权力、权威和统治力。他说：“他们的大人对他们行使权柄，但在你们中间却不是这样，你们中间谁愿意作领袖，就当作你们的仆人”（马太福音 20：25）。因此，被选为领导角色的人一定不是一个任性的人。他必须为其他人以及其他人的领导和方向提供空间。最重要的是，他寻求了解上帝的思想和心意，并只做他希望在他的教会里做的事。

Secondly - and this goes along with it - he says in verse 7 he's not to be “quick-tempered.”   Recently I was talking to some people from a church, and they were telling me the problems of this church and didn't know how to resolve them.   And I said, "Well look, obviously you're very upset with your pastor. What is it about your pastor that causes you such concern?"   And they said, “he gets angry all the time.”   I said, "He gets angry?   Well what do you mean?"   “Well in a meeting he'll just blow up, and then he'll stomp out of the meeting.   What should we do?”

其次，这也随之而来，他在第7节说，他不应该“脾气暴躁”。最近我和一些教会的人交谈，他们告诉我这个教会的问题，但不知道该如何解决。我说，“好吧，你看，显然你对你的牧师很不高兴。你的牧师是什么让你如此担心？他们说，“他总是生气。我说：“他生气了？那么，你什么意思？“好吧，在会议上，他会大发雷霆，然后跺脚退出会议。我们该怎么办？

And the right answer, of course, was “you should get another pastor because he's not qualified” – “not quick-tempered.” That word, “quick-tempered,” is used only here, orgilos, though its cognates are frequent - the word orgē, from which the word wrath, anger comes, a smoldering kind of anger that resides under the surface.   Everybody is going to lose it now and then a little bit and get upset about something.   I mean, that can happen in your lifetime.   We all have to face the reality of that.   But this is talking about a person with what we would call a temper - that's always under the surface and at given points it just erupts.   It's this, it's this sort of constant, lasting, nurtured hostility maintained in the heart, and periodically it bursts out.   It's probably behind what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:24 when he said, “The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind and patient when wronged,” and putting up with evil graciously.   And when things don't go the way he wants them to go, that's all right, that's fine, that's okay.

当然，正确的答案是“你应该再找一位牧师，因为他不合格”——“脾气不急躁”。“脾气暴躁”这个词只在这里使用，orgilos，尽管它的同源词很常见——orgē这个词，愤怒、愤怒这个词就是从这个词中来的，是一种潜伏在表面之下的闷烧愤怒。每个人都会时不时地失去它，并为某些事情感到不安。我的意思是，这可能发生在你的有生之年。我们都必须面对现实。但这是在谈论一个脾气暴躁的人——这总是在表面之下，在给定的时刻它就会爆发。就是这样，就是这种持续的、持久的、培育的敌意，一直存在于心中，并且周期性地爆发。这可能是保罗在提摩太后书 2：24 中对提摩太说的话背后，他说：“耶和华的仆人不可争吵，遇了冤枉，总要仁慈忍耐”，并恩典地容忍邪恶。当事情没有按照他想要的方式发展时，没关系，没关系，没关系。

And James really sums it up. Anger produces nothing of value, absolutely nothing of value in spiritual leadership.   James 1:20, "The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God,” “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."   The man of God will not be angry, he will not be hostile, he will not be quarrelsome, he will not be fuming on the inside because he's not getting his way - that is not an appropriate man for spiritual leadership.   He is a man who can take a no, he is a man who can be set aside and another man's decision can preempt his.   He is a man who can turn things over to other people who do it in ways that he might not think are best, and he is a man who can deal with that with joy in his heart and gratitude and kindness and patience.   He is a man who can allow people around him to fail until they learn to succeed, because he doesn't tie his ego up in everything they do.

詹姆斯真的总结了这一点。愤怒不会产生任何有价值的东西，在属灵领导中绝对没有任何价值。雅各书 1：20，“人的怒气不能成就神的义”，“人的怒气不能成就神的义”。属神的人不会生气，不会敌对，不会争吵，不会因为不按自己的意愿而内心发怒——这不是一个适合属灵领导的人。他是一个可以拒绝的人，他是一个可以被搁置的人，另一个人的决定可以抢占他的决定。他是一个可以把事情交给其他人的人，这些人以他可能认为不是最好的方式去做这件事，他是一个可以带着内心的喜悦、感激、善良和耐心来处理这个问题的人。他是一个可以允许周围的人失败，直到他们学会成功的人，因为他不会在他们所做的每一件事中束缚自己的自我。

Well, let me just mention a third one and we won't discuss it because it opens up a whole different issue.   He says this man is to be “not addicted to wine,” “not addicted to wine.”   That's a tremendous word.   That word is paroinos, and it literally is the word oinos, “wine,” and para, “alongside.”   Not someone who is “alongside wine.”   Now we're getting a little more specific about this man's lifestyle.   He's a man who is humble and unselfish and a man who is patient, kind, and not easily angered. And if he does get angry, he gets angry about the things that make God angry - that's righteous indignation.   And he's a man who is literally “not alongside wine.”   To find out exactly what that means, we're going to have to wait, because our time is gone.   We're also going to learn a few more things about what he's not to be, and then we'll go into verse 8 and cover what he is to be.   I'm not sure we'll be able to do that next Sunday morning; we'll see with our communion service.   If not, we'll have to put it off until the next time we can get back to this text.

好吧，让我只提第三个，我们不会讨论它，因为它会引发一个完全不同的问题。他说这个人要“不要沉迷于酒”，“不要沉迷于酒”。这是一个了不起的词。这个词是 paroinos，字面意思是 oinos，“酒”，para，“旁边”。不是“与酒并列”的人。现在我们对这个人的生活方式有了更具体的了解。他是一个谦卑、无私的人，是一个耐心、善良、不轻易生气的人。如果他真的生气了，他就会为那些让上帝生气的事情而生气——这就是义愤。他是一个字面意思“与酒不并驾齐驱”的人。要弄清楚这到底意味着什么，我们将不得不等待，因为我们的时间已经过去了。我们还将学习更多关于他不该成为什么的事情，然后我们将进入第 8 节并涵盖他将要成为什么。我不确定我们能否在下周日早上做到这一点;我们将通过我们的圣餐仪式来观察。如果没有，我们将不得不将其推迟到下次我们能回到这段文本时。

Father, we do thank You this morning for Your Word and for this time and this lesson.   Although we didn't finish this first section and hoped we would have been able to do that, You know. And perhaps what was said was needful and will be helpful to our dear folks here and many others elsewhere in the future.   Father, we are not fit for such a task except by Your grace.   It is Your grace and Your power and Your mercy that has preserved me and any who fit these qualifications from besetting sins and scandalous sins that could cause our life to bear a reproach. It is Your grace that has gifted us.   It is Your grace that has called us.   And Your grace that has done it all.   We thank You for that preserving grace, that sustaining grace, that grace that has kept us from “the great transgression,” as the psalmist called it, which put such a mark on life that ultimately this spiritual leadership is not possible. Thank You for that preservation. Thank You for all those men in our church and in churches elsewhere who fit the qualifications, who are the kind of men You want in Your church, giving it leadership. Thank You for those men.

天父，我们今天早上感谢祢的话语，感谢祢的话语，感谢祢的这次和这一课。虽然我们没有完成第一部分，但希望我们能够做到这一点，你知道的。也许所说的话是必要的，并且将来对我们亲爱的在这里和其他地方的许多其他人都有帮助。天父啊，除非靠你的恩典，否则我们不适合胜任这样的任务。正是你的恩典、你的能力和你的怜悯，保护了我和任何符合这些资格的人，免于缠绕我们的罪恶和丑恶的罪，这些罪可能使我们的生命受到责备。是你的恩典赐给了我们。是你的恩典呼召了我们。而你的恩典已经做到了这一切。我们感谢你，赐予你那保守的恩典，那支撑的恩典，那使我们免于诗篇作者所说的“大过犯”的恩典，它在生命中留下了如此大的印记，以至于最终这种属灵领导是不可能的。感谢祢的保守。为我们教会和其他地方教会中所有符合资格的人感谢你，他们是你想要在你的教会里的人，给予它领导。为那些人感谢你。

And we pray, O God, that You might keep them pure, and keep them holy, and keep them faithful, and keep their families faithful.   And that You might raise up more generations of such men who can step into the leadership of the church - not because they're humanly talented, but because they're spiritually qualified - that Your church might be led by those kinds of leaders who can lead us to Christ's likeness.   I thank You for men like that in my life who set the pattern for me to follow, and I pray that there may be many more in generations to come.   We thank You for the young men, even now, who are training at the Master's Seminary, who to this point are qualified and they meet those standards.   And, Lord, I pray that You'll keep them there and that You'll preserve them and protect them in the days ahead that they might know and experience the fullness of a life of effective ministry, that they might become patterns for others to follow, that they being like Christ might be His true representatives.   We thank You for the instruction You've given us and what yet awaits us as we study this rich book, in Christ's name.   Amen.

神啊，我们祈求你保守他们纯洁，保守他们圣洁，保守他们忠心，并保守他们的家人忠诚。求你兴起更多世代这样的人，他们能成为教会的领袖——不是因为他们有人类的才能，而是因为他们在属灵上有资格——这样你的教会就可以由那些能带领我们走向基督样式的领袖带领。我感谢你，在我的生命中，有这样的人为我树立了榜样，我祈祷未来几代人可能会有更多的人。我们为那些在大师神学院接受培训的年轻人感谢你，他们到目前为止都是合格的，他们符合这些标准。主啊，我祈求祢保守他们，在未来的日子里保守他们，保护他们，使他们知道并经历有效事工的圆满生活，使他们成为其他人效仿的榜样，使他们像基督一样成为祂真正的代表。我们感谢你赐给我们的指示，以及当我们奉基督的名学习这本丰富的书时，等待着我们的是。阿门。