The Elder Must be Sensible (Titus 1:8)

Chapter 18
Our on-line dictionary defines this as “showing sound judgment.” We used to call it having common sense, but it seems that such sense is no longer common, so we cannot use that meaning any longer. I humbly suggest one of the most profound indicators that we are living in the final hours of history is the total lack of common sense in the general population.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; (II Tim. 3:1-5)

Man’s obsession with his own welfare has caused him to lose any ability to make godly sense of anything around him. For even the Christian to show sound judgment in all he does, he must make sure the only obsession in his life is to know God and to know His word. The moment a godly man takes his focus off of God, he takes the chance of ending up like one of the godliest men in the history of man ended up (II Samuel 11). King David took his eyes off of God long enough to lust after another’s wife. He took her for himself, lay with her, had her husband killed in an attempt to cover up his own sin, lost the child born of that adulterous affair, temporarily lost his kingdom to his other son, had most of his wives and concubines raped by that son in the sight of all Israel, and eventually lost that son on the battlefield. If David’s tragedy doesn’t get our attention sufficiently, we should probably take our spiritual temperature to make sure we are connected to Jesus.

God expects the church Elder to be sensible. He will not be the one who makes decisions hastily, but by the same token, he will realize quickly when something is God’s will and will act upon it. In other words, he will not ask God if it is His will that he help the poor, an orphan, a widow, a blind man, a crippled man, or a lame man. God has already made it clear that such people are to be the number one priority of any who claim godliness (James 1:27; Luke 14:12-14). By the same token, he will not assume because a man is carrying a white cane that he is blind. And he will not be quick to give of his finances to everyone who asks (II Thes. 3:10). It is not sensible to give money to a beggar who reeks of alcohol. A drunk who refuses to work for a living is not a poor man. He is a leech on society and should be given the chance to get a job, not a handout. I recall an excellent example of what an elder should not do. Several years ago a young man my wife and I had been helping recover from financial and emotional collapse came to us one day and asked for $300 to go to Wyoming for a job interview. I knew he had personally been binging on alcohol for several weeks prior to that request. He had rejected sound council on numerous occasions. I refused to give him money telling him I would gladly help him again if he was ready to repent and be accountable. He basically told me to get lost and went to an Elder of the church we attended. That Elder (a relatively new Christian) gave him the money instantly without any thought to calling me, though he knew we had been working with this young man for months.

I have watched great multitudes of well meaning Christians incorrectly conclude that lazy gluttons, who are too lazy to work, are the poor and downtrodden of our society. A wise man once said, “These worthless fellows should be encouraged to find a job, care for themselves and those over whom God has given them responsibility, and quit complaining about how tough they have had it. No one makes it through this life without hitting major obstacles along the way. And it’s time we quit coddling these lazy, gluttonous bums and told them to get a job.”