Calvin said there are two tests to determine the purity of a man’s aspirations. First, is the man already doing what the office requires?…Second, if he goes unnoticed in his service (let us say he does not get nominated this go-around), does he keep serving? 

I have noticed an interesting difference between the description of calling of Teaching Elders and Ruling Elders. I have sat in many ordination exams or grabbed coffee with a young man and heard the same passionate story, “I have a deep inward call to ministry. I desire to serve Christ through preaching, counseling, and shepherding a church.” I always love these conversations. However, when it comes to hearing from Ruling Elders, I rarely hear a similar story. They usually tip toe around the inward call. The emphasis in their narrative is that they were not seeking to be an Elder.

When Paul wrote to Timothy regarding the qualifications for Elders he begins with the inward call, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (1 Tim 3:1 ESV). Historically, in opposition to the explicit teaching of the Apostle here, the early church aspired for the man who did not aspire. John Chrysostom was tricked into being Bishop of Constantinople. Basil the Great forced both his brother and his friend – both named Gregory – into Bishoprics though they did not want them. St. Nicholas of Myra was made Bishop only because a man had a dream that the next Bishop would be the first priest to walk through the door in the morning, and that happened to be Nicholas. None of these men sought for or aspired to the office of Overseer. That leads me to the question I really want to ask: why are we so embarrassed by desiring something that Paul calls “noble”?

What does it mean to aspire for something? The Greek word for “aspire” is Ὀρέγεται, which generally means “to aspire to, strive for, desire;” literally, “to stretch oneself out” (BDAG). The J.B. Phillips paraphrase captures this well, when it translates Ὀρέγεται as “sets his heart on.” Webster’s definition for the English word aspire is “to seek to accomplish a particular goal.” Have you experienced that in life before? Maybe you have aspired for a new job? Maybe you have aspired to run a marathon? Maybe you have aspired to get a spouse? I am fairly confident that all of us at some point or another set a goal and stretched ourselves to attain it.

This is the first qualification of the office of overseer: do you want it? This immediately disqualifies those who do not want the office. There are plenty of men, good Christian men, who do not feel called to this particular office. They do not meet the first qualification because they do not aspire for the noble task.

What about those who do have aspirations to office? Such men should be commended for their aspiration, and then carefully divided into two categories I will call ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ for the sake of simplicity.

Let us start with the ‘negative.’ There are men who have aspirations for elder or deacon for sinful reasons. Maybe increased connections? A prominent businessman may want to steer the Church towards utilizing his company or partners more. Or maybe he hopes to influence members to visit his business or use his services. A man preparing to run for political office sees an advantage in “getting on the session” and so puts his name forward by expressing his ‘noble aspiration’ to the office of overseer. Or less obviously problematic, a man who wants to occupy a position of authority simply for the sake of having power and influence in the Church puts himself forward. Any man who aspires to be an elder for selfish gains will make a selfish elder. Another negative would be the one who wants to settle scores. He wants to correct the pastor on everything he has been getting wrong, or fire the church pianist for not being an organist.

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