Scripture Reference: Acts 6:1-8

Saved

No one is qualified to hold an elective office in the church until that individual has received Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior. This basic requirement for church leadership is stated in Acts 6:3, “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you . . .” The admonition is to pick out brethren, those from within the family of Christ Jesus.

The Bible teaches that these first-ordained leaders were to be selected from the membership of the body of Christ. In the early church, the members of the church were regenerate, born again. The Bible tells us in Acts 2:38 that they had repented of their sins. Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost that people needed to repent of their sin and trust Christ as Savior. Those who were in the Jerusalem church gladly received the word of Simon Peter that Jesus was the Savior and that they needed to turn to Him in faith in order to be saved. Luke went on to tell us that those who received the preaching of Peter that Jesus had been resurrected and was the Savior were added to the church (Acts 2:47).

One of the tragic weaknesses of many churches is that good men and women have been placed in office, but they have never been spiritually born again. When it comes to choosing leaders for any position of responsibility in the church, the first questions we should ask are:

• Has this person a clear testimony to the saving grace of God?
• Does this person’s life give evidence of a true change of heart?

The great author Walter B. Knight delights to tell the story of his cat, Timmy:

The family loved Timmy. There was one thing, however, that they disliked in Timmy, he preyed on the birds that nested in the trees in the backyard.

One day Timmy was eating a robin. Knight snatched the unconsumed portion of the bird from the cat. He sprinkled it with red pepper. Then he dangled the morsel temptingly before the cat. Instantly the cat’s sharp teeth closed on it, only to drop it the next instant! The cat sputtered and ran away, meowing.

Did that rather drastic procedure break the cat’s habit of catching and killing more birds? No. It was the cat’s nature to catch birds. Knight could not break Timmy’s bad habit by working on him externally.

The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. It is human nature to sin. For confirmation read your daily newspaper. Lopping off a twig or a branch here and there does not change humanity’s sinful nature. We must be changed inwardly before we will act right outwardly. Not external reformation, but inward regeneration is the answer to the human sin question. The great preacher George Whitefield, when asked why he preached so often on the text, “Ye must be born again,” replied that it was because ye must be born again!

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.