Qualified to be an elder?

Two days ago we looked at seven basic qualifications for eldership and today we look at seven more to complete our list.
       So, as we move on, an elder should not be “given to drunkenness” or as the NJB has it, “not a heavy drinker.” It appears that in the days of the early church it was widely accepted that God had provided wine as both a beverage for pleasure and for certain medicinal reasons as well. In the evangelical churches of last century and leading up to our day there has been a certain taboo about drinking (gradually fading). Scripture teaches that it is heavy drinking or drunkenness that is wrong. Christian families can interpret that in various ways but all will agree that the basic problem with alcohol is over drinking due to its adverse effect on family and society. 
       That “quarrelling and violence” follow immediately after drunkenness suggests that they are considered as obvious results. Apparently sin seems to come in packages. It’s the “Buy one and get another free” plan. Deviation in one area attracts deviation in related areas. Over against violence stands “gentleness,” the outstanding personal characteristic in social relationships. Gentleness is beautiful in that it builds up rather than tear down. It is powerful in its quiet acceptance of the situation and its effective solution. Then comes that universal desire of mankind to “have money” and as much as possible. It buys you all kinds of stuff that then announces to the world that you have arrived. It is the trumpet blast that royalty is favoring the group with its presence.
       It comes as no surprise that Paul includes “management” as a crucial quality for leadership in that, from a secular standpoint, management and perhaps management alone is not a quality, but the quality, for leadership. But what is interesting in the text is that the elder must be able to “manage his own family well,” not all that important from the world’s standpoint. Remember that the “churches” in Ephesus were “house churches,” that is, groups of believers that met together in the house of one of its members. If one could not manage his own family what chanced would there be that he could manage an even larger “family,” the congregation? Since such management skills are learned over time (the important ones are learned in the doing) it is clear that the “recent convert” does not qualify as yet.
       Paul’s 14 requirements for eldership call for the candidate to “have a good reputation with outsiders” (v. 7). It should b recognized immediately that the quality of life displayed by individual members of the church is the single most important instrument in bringing the outsider to faith in Christ (read what Jesus said in John 17:21, 22 about unity being the church’s most powerful method for outreach.
       At this point you might ask, “How could anyone ever meet all those requirements and become an elder? That question has been asked repeatedly when the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount are being discussed. The best answer, in my opinion is the ethical standard of Jesus is a goal that provides direction, not a literal performance requirement. No one but Jesus could ever live their life at that level of perfection.