“(A leader) must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.” - Apostle Paul, 1 Tim. 4:7

From 1 Timothy 3, here's the list of qualifications for Overseers - for those who should be leading the church

1. Above reproach

2. Faithful to his wife

3. Temperate

4. Self-controlled

5. Respectable

6. Hospitable

7. Able to teach (which we'll come back to next time)

8. Not given to drunkenness

9. Not violent but gentle

10. Not quarrelsome

11. Not a lover of money.

12. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)

13. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.

14. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

When I look at that list, I realize that they all focus on what people inside the church or organization think of a particular person. The attributes are all those which you would expect to be important to Christians, and when you're looking for people to lead and influence he life of the church, there aren't any surprises there!

What does the Community have to say?

But this last one is about the opinions of those outside of the church.

My cousin was in real estate. Rod was my mother's sister Evelyn's son. His dad, Harry Halcrow, was the first person I knew who had been adopted. His birth mother's name was Sinclair. I don't know a lot about Uncle Harry, except that he was really good at telling stories of questionable veracity. Rod was their son, and as I said, he was in real estate.

Rod was older than me, and I didn't really get to know him until we were pastors in Hamilton in the late '80's. Rod called me to ask if I would officiate his wedding for him. We spent more time during those few weeks than at any other time in my life. Rod owned a ReMax franchise, and was very successful, but he had nothing to do with the church, and wanted nothing to do with it. And one of the reasons he told me that he had turned his back on God was because of the behaviour of Christians. He hated dealing with Christian business men and women. As he described it, they wanted everything for nothing, were cheap, always trying to take advantage of people, and were all around hypocrites. When it came to churches, he simply refused to do business with them.

How sad.

A Good Reputation

Paul says Christian leaders must - not just should, but must - have a good reputation with those outside of the church.

I'm afraid Christians often have much higher standards for others than they do for themselves. One rule for me, and another for thee.

Jesus put it in a really simple way: "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no" (Matt. 5:37). Be who you say you are.

The bottom line word is credibility.

Credibility in Media

These days, everyone in politics and the news media is facing a credibility problem. I saw a brief cut from an episode of the old Lou Grant show, in which the lead character, played by Ed Asner, said to his boss, "We don't make the news," to which he replied, "Yes we do, by choosing which news we cover." Does the media make stuff up? Unfortunately, sometimes the answer is yes, but the bigger issue is what stories they choose to tell, what they choose to emphasize, and how they tell the story. Over the last number of years, Donald Trump often referred to the "Fake news media." A while back, Joe Biden told the President of India "The Indian press is much better behaved than the American press. And I think, with your permission, we should not answer questions because they won't ask any questions on point." In other words, the media won't do what we - the leaders - want them to do. They won't ask the questions we want them to ask. They won't tell the story the way we want the story to be told. I'm sorry, Mr. President - but that's not their job, and this is the reason that you and all politicians, and the media in general, have lost credibility. Some more than others, granted, but we simply don't know what to believe, and we don't know who to believe.

Credibility and the Pulpit

We can't have Christian leaders that have low credibility, can't be trusted in the marketplace, or who do not have good reputations with the world.

I have often used the Great Commandment to summarize what the mission of the church, and therefore of Christ-followers, ought to be.

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matt. 22:36-40).

Vertical and Horizontal Love

In all our lives, there must be the vertical relationship with God Himself - we look up to him in worship, adoration, respect, honour, and love. That is the first and greatest commandment.

But Jesus then augments this vertical relationship with two horizontal ones - love your neighbour and love yourself.

The final one, love yourself, is not about narcissism - it's about loving who you are and becoming all God means for you to be. It's about developing your skills, talents, and spiritual gifts to be a fully devoted follower of Christ.

The middle one - loving your neighbour - is demonstrated with two arms reaching out - one in relationship with the church, the body of Christ, and the other in relationship with the world, where we work, live, and serve the vast majority of the time. It is where Christian character is lived out. Loving your neighbour is not about giving food to the food bank or money to the United Way (although that might be there, too). Loving your neighbour is about being genuine, real, and consistent.

Love Your Neighbour

Loving your neighbour is how you gain a good reputation with outsiders. And it's one of the ways that anyone can fail.

Now, we are all aware of people who have good reputations, and have used those good reputations to take advantage of those they know. The news has been filled with people who have been ripped off by investors they trusted. Bernie Madoff, Lehman Brothers, the original Charles Ponzi, and more recently Sam Bank-Fried come to mind. People don't invest their hard-earned money with people they don't trust. But these people, and many others, have broken that trust.

I also know that people who are in business often make mistakes - after all, they are people. They will make promises that they are not able to keep. But there is a difference between making a promise that it turns out you can't keep, and making a promise that you know you can't keep. Sometimes, being fair with your customers and clients can be very difficult. Everything goes in cycles. There are times when the home improvement and construction industries find it impossible to meet deadlines. One company I know well recently experienced demand that was 40% ahead of the previous year, when it was more difficult to obtain some products and supplies, and labour was extremely hard to find. As a result, they were running behind schedule. At other times, demand had dropped, and they were having a hard time keeping their employees busy. So all you can do is your best.

I trust you do, too.