Aspire, What Does That Mean? -02
And do I really want to be an elder someday?
Here again is 1 Timothy 3:1.
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
This verse does not appear to be an open invitation. The phrase, “If anyone aspires,” is an “if,” not a should. Paul did not write, “everyone should aspire,” as if it were a Christian duty. It might stand to reason, that a godly person would want to pursue the noble task of the office of overseer.
I would want my sons to hold the office when they’re older. Yet sometimes God has different plans for His people. And it does not make them less important to God or the Church. It is also true that God uses Christian teachers in many arenas, without them ever holding office. Many women, for instance, have been effective influences for the good of the church without the authority and responsibility of the office.1
Furthermore, the “anyone who” will be quickly qualified by Paul in the next sentences to prevent the unprepared. Not everyone will be fit for the task. Character traits must be evident in the one who aspires to the office. Things like: gentleness, not loving money, being hospitable, acting as a good manager of his household, etc.2
Desiring to share the things God’s taught you is a good quality. Being a good teacher is helpful. Yet neither trait is sufficient. The office is more demanding. It involves people. It requires the controlling of yourself in time and space. You will need to be aware of other households. You will need to keep a godly perspective under difficult circumstances. You mustn’t drop the ball. There are no breaks. You will need to love.
The office of overseer (presbyter, elder) demands you invest your life for the sake of others. It is much more than preaching sermons and leading bible studies.3
So “aspiring” to be an elder might NOT be for everyone. But what does it look like in a person?
The word aspire is translated from the Greek word: ὀρέγεται (oregetai). It means stretches forward to. If anyone stretches forward to the office of elder. ὀρέγεται is also defined as to be strongly inclined toward something. It is to be pulled towards something. So, if anyone is inclined toward, or is being pulled towards the office of elder, “he desires a noble task.”
The subject of the sentence is the man who aspires to be an elder. The office is the object the man stretches to. He is pulled toward it. He would like to take on the task. He is willing to bear the office. More than willing; he is inwardly compelled.
Some men would rather push the office away. They cringe at the thought of carrying that kind of burden. “No. Thank you very much!” Yet, then one will be strongly inclined to sign up to serve with the local fire department. And another might stretch forward to work with assembly line machinery. Or a third will find he pulls toward artistic expression.
Make no mistake. I am not comparing hobbies or occupations to the church office. I am only describing the sensation of aspiration. Aspiration is a strong desire, a longing, an ambition.
Finally, any man, who aspires to such a burden-ladened task, ought to do so soberly. Eyes wide open. There may be a handful of men in your church today who aspire to be an overseer, but they are not ready for it. You may be one of them. Give it time. Keep aspiring for a couple more decades. Stick to your knitting and leave it in God’s hands.
I want my daughters to be thoroughly equipped thinkers for the benefit of the church and for the benefit of their own homes. I want them to share what they know about God with other members of the congregation, with coworkers, with neighbors, with me, etc. Paul’s instruction about women not teaching or having authority in the church (1 Tim. 2:11-15) is connected to the leading and officiating duties of the elders and deacons.
There is more. Here is what Paul writes, “2Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”
Both of those tasks are important and to be highly prized in an elder. However, the office requires much more. Specifically, it requires prayerfulness. Congregational awareness. The fostering of fellowship. The pains of Church discipline; one result being to guard the Sacramental table, as well as the body and soul of the one who has sinfully offended it.