As the time of the apostles was drawing to a close, and hearing news that the church in Ephesus was being assaulted by both false teaching and the inroads of worldliness, Paul's response was to write to Timothy to tell him to stay in Ephesus.   He also told him to appoint men as elders and deacons.  It is here that we find some of the most elaborate discussion of the characteristics of church leaders in the New Testament.

It is interesting what is absent: Paul nowhere, absolutely nowhere, requires these men to have extensive knowledge of the wider culture.   He does not forbid it; he does not say it is not useful in some sense; it is simply not a relevant criterion for eldership.   In fact, of course, part of the problem at Ephesus was that some knew the wider culture all too well and had come to look even physically very similar to it: some of the women were dressing like the world around, advertising their sexual independence and social ambition by adopting the hairstyles and aesthetics of the New Roman Woman.  That was a moral problem and one that Timothy and the elders needed to address.

Thus, instead of pointing to those who are savvy about the way the wider culture operates, Paul focuses mainly on moral character.  It is this passage, 1 Tim. 3: 1-7 that the Riders of the Ref21 Apocalypse are going to focus on.

Before addressing specific qualifications, however, Paul starts by saying that anyone who aspires to the office of an overseer desires a noble task.

The task of overseer is a noble one for the simple reason that the message which lies at the heart of the church is a noble message: the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is because of this inherent nobility in the message that the messengers are to exhibit certain qualities of character.    In other words, the nature of the gospel itself determines the qualifications for ministry; and these qualifications are not negotiable.

I suspect there is no lesson regarding church leadership today which needs to be more emphasized than this.   I have commented before on how the mechanisms of power and influence in the modern world favour the young: technology, aesthetics, the cult of youth.  That makes it all the more important to realize that the gospel is counter-cultural not simply in terms of its underlying message (human beings cannot save themselves) but also in its churchly manifestation: the things the world considers strong, powerful and influential (generally things associated with youth) are not only nothing in the eyes of God; he positively delights to use that which the world despises in order to extend his kingdom in order that all the glory will go to him.

That applies at all levels of church life.  Think of that person in your church that, frankly, you consider to be a bit embarrassing because of the way they look/speak/dress/smell.  Do you not know that God delights in using those the world despises -- such as that person -- to build his church?  And it applies in its own special way to those who lead the church: they are not to be like the various swaggering braggarts, brash showmen, professional statesmen and slick pundits that the world uses to peddle its wares; they are to conform to the characteristics of leaders as described in subsequent verses by Paul; and these characteristics are determined solely by the nobility of the gospel message and of the gospel calling.

In short: the serious, noble message of the gospel demands messengers who are equally serious, noble and of good character.   Do you cringe at the language of nobility and character?  That simply says something about how the wider culture has shaped your view of the ministry.