“This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.” (1 Timothy 3:1)
Being an elder/overseer/pastor is a noble task, a beautiful work, a good thing to do.
Why?
It is an important work. Jesus designed the church to have elders for the health of the local church. Elders encourage people to keep faithfully following Christ in the face of false teaching and persecution.
It is a privileged work. Not everyone gets to do it. Only those qualified for the task and appointed by the local church.
It is a beautiful work. It is a beautiful task to serving beautiful people who belong to a beautiful Lord. The church is who Jesus is building. The church is who Jesus bought with His precious blood. The church is who Jesus will marry.
Serving God as an elder of a local church is good thing to do.
Do you still see it this way?
It is possible that you don’t. If you no longer see being an elder as a good thing to do, it will lead to serving as an elder in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons.
Elders are men who aspire, want to, desire to serve as overseers.
It is a God-given aspiration. The Holy Spirit makes elders. The desire for being an elder comes from the Lord.
It is a healthy aspiration. It is a good desire to want to serve God and to serve His people by shepherding them.
The apostle Peter reminds us that those who serve as elders are to do so willingly. They should want to do this work.
Why is it important that we want to be elders?
Because when it become hard work and discouraging work and painful work, the temptation will be to give up. Only those who want to be elders will press on and persevere.
Do you still want to be an elder? Do you still desire to do this work?
Keeping watch over our lives means asking ourselves whether we still see being an elder as a noble work and whether we still want to do it.