The Gift of Godly Pastors, Part 1

1:08Charles Haddon Spurgeon was known as the Prince of Preachers. He preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 38 years, and under his preaching and leadership, the church grew from under 100 in attendance to over 6,000 members. In fact, some of the services that Spurgeon preached in the Crystal Cathedral. In the heart of London, drew almost 25,000 people at one time. By all accounts, Spurgeon was not only an excellent and faithful preacher, but a godly and generous man as well, who was respected by Christians and non-Christians alike. Sadly, Spurgeon battled rheumatism, gout, and Bright's disease his entire adult life, and in 1892 he died at the age of 57.

1:58The funeral procession for Spurgeon was something of legend. Basically, the entire city of London was shut down for the day. His casket was visited by some 50,000 people, and the Metropolitan Tabernacle had to have five consecutive funeral services just to accommodate all of the people who were mourning. Ira Senke, who ministered with D.L. Moody, the American evangelist, and who was a good friend of Spurgeon, spoke at his funeral, and he said these words: When darkness seemed to be spreading over the religious world, we would often cast longing eyes to London and watch what this great captain was saying and doing. We always found inspiration from this pulpit and always felt that in him we had a friend who would stand against all foes, a friend we could safely follow. Many a prayer has come across the sea for him from those who never had the joy of hearing his magnificent voice. Our land loves Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

3:01Charles Spurgeon was a gift to his church in his day, and he continues to be a gift to the church today through his sermons and his writings that many Christians read even now for encouragement. Well, friends, today we enter into the third chapter of Paul's first letter to Timothy. And if you've been with us the past couple of weeks, you've seen in the second chapter how Paul talked about worship and how we were to devote ourselves to prayer because God desires that all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

3:32And then he talked about how men and women should conduct themselves in worship so that it is orderly and honoring to the Lord in accordance with what he has revealed in the scripture and through creation. And then today we come to this passage of scripture where Paul is helping Timothy to understand what kind of men should be leading the church. And what's significant in this passage is that Paul focuses almost entirely on character, the kind of character traits that these men should have. This is important in a day where almost all of leadership is focused on skill and experience. And if you have those things, any kind of character flaws can be overlooked.

4:14This is a very important passage for all of us. Because for many non-Christians or for those who are unchurched, and maybe this is your first Sunday to set foot in a church in a long time, for many of those people, they look at the church and they see men who don't have character. Leading the church. And so maybe you are even one of those people who has hesitated to come back to church because all you've seen is men or even women who lack character leading in churches.

4:46And this is important for all of us who are members here at New Life because, as the scriptures make clear, it is all of our responsibility to recognize leaders in the church and to appoint them for service. So we have to understand what are God's criteria for selecting those leaders? Who are the types of people that God wants to be leading in the church? So this passage may seem to only have relevance if you aspire to be a pastor one day, but it has relevance for all of us in many different ways.

5:18And what we're going to learn today as we go through this passage is that godly pastors who lead by their teaching and example are precious gifts to the church. So let's take a look at the text together now. Here in verse 1, we find the second of Paul's five trustworthy sayings in his letters. And this trustworthy saying is that if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. So the very first thing to note here is that we are talking about an official position in the church. We're not merely talking about a spiritual gift, but an office in the church.

5:59So we will. Talk much about spiritual gifts as we get into the passage and next week as well, but this is focusing on an office. And there are two offices in the church that Paul will elaborate on in chapter 3. One is overseer, and then one is deacon. And the Greek word that is translated overseer is episkopos, it means bishop or overseer. And that term, if you study the scripture, is used interchangeably with a couple of other words. One is presbuteros, it means elder, and the other is poimen, it means shepherd.

6:33And so I'll give you a few examples. The first is in Titus chapter 1. And in Titus chapter 1, Paul says that he leaves Titus in Crete for a particular reason, and that reason is to appoint elders in every church. And when he talks about appointing elders, he then refers to them as episkopoi or overseers or bishops. Acts 20 is another good example. Paul calls for the elders of the church at Ephesus, and then when they arrive, he begins to preach to them, and over and over again, he calls them overseers, episcopoi.

7:09And then in 1 Peter chapter 5, Peter exhorts the elders to shepherd, to poimen, the flock of God that is among them. And so, from these and all of the many different examples that we could point to in the New Testament, you see that these terms are used synonymously: bishop, overseer, pastor, elder. They all refer to the same office. So, some churches have made distinctions between those offices, and I think as a pragmatic organizational principle, that can be fine. But from the scripture, strictly speaking, they're all referring to one and the same office. There's no difference between them.

7:45So, the elders here at New Life, we're in agreement. We'd like to be addressed as bishop from now on. So, if you could start that, that would be great. We're going to talk more in the weeks to come about the necessity of having a plurality of elders, especially as we get into Titus chapter 1. But suffice it to say for now that the model that you see in many churches in America, especially many Baptist churches, where there's a sole pastor at the top of the organizational chart, is a very new development. For over 2,000 years of Christian history, churches were led by a plurality of recognized male elders. It's a very new development to see a church led by one pastor that's known as the pastor of the church.

8:27And so, here at New Life, we do everything that we can to communicate that Alan Duty, that I am not the pastor of New Life. I am one of the pastors here. There are five of us, two of us are on staff, and three of us are not. But all of us have the same title, all of us have the same office, we all have the same responsibility as elders. And so, the question at this point is: what does an overseer do?

8:50What is the purpose? What is the job description of an overseer? Well, as the name implies, an overseer watches over or shepherds a defined body. Body of believers. That would be a local church. So look at what Paul says to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

9:22Ever since Pastor Jason and I met for the very first time as elders in March of 2009, we've had this verse on the top of our elder meeting notes. So every single time you open notes from one of our elders' meetings, that's the first thing you see. Pay careful attention to yourself and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. And it's important in that order. First, we pay attention to ourselves.

9:48We aren't qualified to watch over anyone else unless we are first doing the hard work of watching over our own lives, watching over our own doctrine. And so we do that through praying for one another regularly. We do that through accountability. All of us have Covenant Eyes software where there are reports that go out to the other elders about how we've been spending our time on the internet. Not just what are we looking at, but how much time are we spending and where, so that we are accountable to one another for how we're living our lives, not just in public, not even just in the privacy of our own home, but in the privacy of our smartphone or the privacy of our laptop. We must first watch over ourselves before we're qualified to watch over the flock.

10:30But then, secondly, we are called to watch over the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made us overseers. And so, what this looks like for us, if you've never asked one of us, what do you do in an elder's meeting? We meet twice a month on Sunday afternoon for three to four hours. And two-thirds to three-quarters of that time is spent shepherding the flock. So, a lot of you who are members have already had us reach out to you at one point or maybe multiple points to ask, how can we pray for you? We go through the membership list alphabetically, and we pray for all of our members, lifting you up for your discipleship, your evangelism, maybe things that are difficult in your life right now, financial or health troubles, or anything else. And we seek to shepherd the flock by knowing what's going on in your life so we can care for you. We have an elder care list where we put anybody who has been in the hospital or who's just had a baby or who's struggling with sin in some way, and we make it a specific point to pray for you each time we gather together. So, two-thirds to three-quarters of our time together, every single meeting, is not spent handling business. It's spent caring for people. And that's what we believe that we are called to do from the scripture. In fact, the very first deacons were appointed so that the elders would not have to take away time from praying and from ministering the word to do other things. So, in Acts chapter 6, there were widows who had come into the church who needed ministry. They needed to be fed. They didn't have anybody to take care of them. And the apostles were spending all of their time in that. And look at what the text says.

12:01And the twelve, that is, the apostles, summoned the full number of the disciples and said, It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. So, this is how the early church handled this particular problem. The apostles were happy to serve tables. They were happy to serve. It's just that when they were spending so much of their time serving, they were no longer able to pray for the church and to lead the church through their teaching. And so, they appointed faithful men full of the spirit and wisdom to take care of those things. And that's what we've done here at New Life. Every single time that there is something that's come up that's taking away too much time and energy from our elders, we appoint a deacon to oversee that area of service so that we can concentrate on prayer and ministering the word to the church body.

12:59And so, I want you to notice next that Paul says, if anyone wants to become an elder in the local church, look at what it says, he desires a noble task. Well, why is that task noble? It's not because the men who are carrying out that task are in and of themselves noble. It's because we are tasked with caring for the people of God. That's what makes it a noble task. It's a privilege to pray for the church. It's a privilege to instruct the church. It's a privilege to lead the church. Therefore, it is a noble task. As a pastor, you are leading the church through your teaching and your example. And so, as we're all aware, there are two types of ambition that a person can have: ungodly ambition and godly ambition. Ungodly ambition is when we desire a title with its attendant privileges, but we don't want the responsibilities that come with it. That's ungodly ambition. You want a title because you want the respect that comes with it. But godly ambition is where you desire a position or a title of some kind, not for selfish reasons, but so that you can serve God and serve others.

14:10And so, we must ensure that if we are aspiring to this office, we're doing so with godly ambition, not because we want a title, but because we want to serve. Now, understand, not every man will desire to become an elder in a church one day, and that's okay. That's why Paul says, if you desire this, you desire a noble task. But having said that, every single Christian man, and I might say as well for nearly all of these things, every Christian woman should aspire to have these qualities, these characteristics that Paul is going to outline here. Because you'll notice that most, if not all, of these things are simply the marks of a mature Christian person.

14:52And that's the whole point. Peter is going to say in 1 Peter 5 that pastors are serving as an example to the flock. So, if we're serving, As an example to the flock, then we must be doing something that you yourself can attain to, you yourself can aspire to. And that's those character qualities that we see here. That's why serving as an elder has to be approached with a great deal of sobriety, because we are setting an example by our teaching and by our lives of what a Christian life should look like.

15:22So, if you desire it's the office, if you aspire to the office of overseer, then you desire a noble task. Now, Paul's going to get into the character qualifications. Look at verse 2 with me. He says, Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach. Paul begins this list of qualifications with these words: Therefore, an overseer must be. Must be. This is not a list of suggestions. This is not the qualities of an exemplary elder. This is what any elder must be. He has to possess these traits. None of them are optional. So, unlike in class, 70% is not a passing score here. 95% is not a passing score here. He must be all of these things. But for Sadly, many churches appoint men as elders, as pastors in the church, who don't meet these qualifications. And there are instances that you're probably aware of where men who were recently fired for gross misconduct in their previous church are then hired by another church.

16:50This is why the church loses its influence with the world, because even the leaders are not held to biblical standards. And so he says an elder must be these things. And the first thing that he says is an umbrella qualification that all of the other requirements fall under. He says, a pastor must be above reproach. That phrase means to be blameless in outward conduct. Fabidian Yubuile, who serves as a pastor on the East Coast, wrote a book called Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons. And when he's talking about this particular phrase, he says, this is a man that no one would suspect of wrongdoing or immorality. There's no suspicion that maybe there's something going on that we're not aware of. And that's not to say that an elder is faultless, but it does mean that there's no evidence of grievous sin in his life. There are no habitual sins in his life. That when he does sin, he is quick to repent, to confess those sins to God and to others. And again, this is critical because pastors are examples. To the flock. That's what we are. Christians are learning to think and speak and act like their pastors, so we must be above reproach. We have to conduct ourselves in such a way that no one who finds out that we are serving as pastors would say, I can't believe he's a pastor in a local church. That's what it means to be above reproach. And so the rest of verse 2 is going to state what an elder must be under that umbrella criteria of above reproach. And then verse 3 is going to talk about what a pastor must not be. So then he moves on in verse 2 and he says, an elder must be the husband of one wife.

18:41So the Greek literally reads, a man of one woman, or a one-woman man. The Greek words for man and husband are the same, for wife and woman are the same. And so it can be rendered either way. But he's saying, you must be a one-woman man. Now, this phrase I think has been misunderstood and misapplied in a lot of contexts. Some believe that this excludes single men from serving as pastors because he has to be the husband of one wife.

19:11I'm just telling you right now, if Jesus or Paul applied for a job at New Life, I would recommend that we hire them. I don't think Paul was saying here, you have to be married in order to serve as a pastor. He would have disqualified himself from doing so, even though he served in many different places as a pastor for a length of time. Some people believe this excludes widowers who remarry from serving as pastors in local churches, because then you aren't the husband of one wife. But Paul teaches in Romans 7 that you're only bound in marriage until your spouse dies, and then after that you're free. Not only that, in this same letter in 1 Timothy 5, he urges young widows to remarry and to bear children. And so to forbid that kind of remarriage is almost to forbid marriage altogether, which, as we're going to see in a few more chapters, is exactly what the false teachers were doing. They were forbidding marriage. They were caught up in that worldly thinking that was so prevalent in the first century that the material world was evil. All of the things that you could see and feel and touch were bad. And therefore, you wanted to have as little to do with those things as possible.

20:22In contrast to the biblical teaching, where God said that all that he created was good. Now, some people think that this means this is excluding polygamists from serving as pastors. Well, that, I think, goes without saying. Much of the Mosaic law condemns polygamy. But more than that, polygamy was not widely practiced in Roman or Jewish culture. Don't get me wrong, immorality was rampant. But polygamy was not really a problem in Roman or Jewish culture. And so I think it's unlikely that Paul was saying you can't be a polygamist.

20:58And then some believe that this excludes. Men who have been divorced from serving as pastors. While that might be Paul's intention, and certainly divorce was a huge problem both in Roman and Jewish culture, I'm not sure that that's what he's saying here either. Because I tend to side with John MacArthur, who says, if that's what Paul intended to convey, why did he not say never divorced? Not a one-woman man. So that might be what he's getting at here, and certainly in many cases with divorce, you have not been a one-woman man. And so that has to be said. But I think, friends, above and beyond all of that, Paul is setting an even higher standard. He's saying that a man, with respect to his sexual purity, has to be truly exemplary, has to set an example of complete faithfulness. So if he is married, there's no hint of unfaithfulness in his life.

21:58He's not inappropriate with other women. He doesn't have wandering eyes. He's not looking at pornography. If he's unmarried, then he deals with women, as Paul will later say in this letter, as sisters in Christ or as mothers in Christ, with complete purity. You see, a one-woman man would really stand out in the first century amidst all of the immorality. And friends, a one-woman man stands out today as well, where immorality is winked at or openly encouraged, even in the church.

22:30And so Paul is saying, you must be a one-woman man in order to be an elder. You must be completely faithful and committed to God and to your wife if you are married. So then from there, he goes on to say, an elder must be sober-minded, self-controlled, and respectable. Those three ideas are linked to one another, so I want to treat them as one unit of thought. Sober-minded means temperate, or vigilant, or clear-headed. So any potential elder must be sober-minded. He can't be easily swayed by every new idea that comes around. And what an important word for us in the 21st century, in the age of social media, where there is outrage one day about this particular topic, and the very next day, not a single person is talking about it. But on this particular day, if you are not also outraged and displaying your outrage on social media, you are shunned.

23:33Well, friends, a sober-minded man is outraged about the things that God is outraged about, but he's outraged in the way that God wants us to be outraged. So he speaks out against racism, but he doesn't do so with violence. He speaks out against immorality, but he doesn't do so in a way that is rude or condescending. He's sober-minded. He's self-controlled. So, this is a man who disciplines himself. A self-controlled man is one who reins himself in. He doesn't need other people to rein him in. He doesn't need other people to say to him, Hey, I think you're having too much to eat. He doesn't have to have other people say to him, I think you're having too much to drink.

24:23He doesn't have to have people say, I don't think you should keep staying up that late. I don't think you should keep sleeping all day. He's self-disciplined. He disciplines himself. He reins himself in. He doesn't say yes to every single opportunity because his priorities are clear. He understands them from God's word. So he's a self-disciplined person. And the result of being sober-minded and self-controlled is that you are respectable, as Paul says here. That people both inside and outside the church can look at you and say, That is a man that I would want to pattern my life after. That's the kind of man that I would want my son to grow up to become. That's the kind of man that I would be proud to have my daughter marry one day. Sober-minded, self-controlled, and respectable. And then Paul goes on to say, He must be hospitable.

25:16Well, that word literally means a friend of strangers or a lover of strangers. So, a lot of us, when we think about hospitality, we think about opening our homes to family members or friends. Well, certainly, hospitality is not less than that. If you won't even open your home to friends and family members, what are we doing here? But it's much more than that. It's a love for strangers, for people that you don't know well. It's being willing to open your home and your life to them. And this is important because as Paul teaches in Ephesians 2, we ourselves were once strangers and aliens to God's covenant promises.

25:54But God in Christ came and sought us out when we did not know him. We were strangers and aliens to him. And yet he brought us in. So every time we serve by opening our homes or our lives or both to strangers, we are engaging in acts of hospitality that reflect the gospel. That's what God did. He didn't wait for us to come to him. That would have never happened. We weren't interested in coming to God. He came to us. He made a way. And he took in strangers and aliens. Friends, the home is where the rubber meets the road. As we all know, we can all put on a good face here in the church building. We can put on a good face at the office or out in public. But the home is where the rubber meets the road. It's where you find out who is a man really, who is a woman really, when they're in the comfort and privacy of their own home with the people that they know and love the most. That's where you're going to see: is this man really godly or is he short and rude with his wife?

27:01Is this man really godly? Does he truly take a spiritual interest in others, or does he neglect the spiritual instruction of his own children? Is this man really godly, or is he lazy at home? All of those things and more are clearly seen in the home. Christian men and women learn what it is to be a godly man or a godly woman. They learn what it is to be a godly husband or wife, mother, or father from going into the home. And so, Paul says an elder has to be hospitable so that this can be modeled and demonstrated. I think about how many testimonies I've heard in these nine years from college students who have gone into the homes of life group leaders, some of whom are pastors, and who come out saying, I know now what a Christian marriage should look like. I know now what Christian parenting looks like. I didn't have that growing up, but now I've seen an example of that and what a blessing that is. An elder must be hospitable. The next thing he says is able to teach.

28:07So, in the midst of this long list of character qualities, you come to the first of two abilities that an elder has to have. He must be able to teach. So, a man may meet every other qualification when it comes to eldership in terms of character, but if he doesn't have the ability to teach, then he cannot serve as an elder. And I would define the ability to. Teach as communicating God's word in such a way that others can understand and benefit from.

28:38So, there might be guys out there who you would benefit from their teaching if you could understand it, and others you can understand it, but you don't benefit from it. So, the ability to teach in terms of Christian teaching has to do with helping other people to understand and benefit from your exposition of the Word of God. That's what we could define ability to teach as. And this is important because pastors are essentially teachers. That's what we are. What is a Christian? A Christian is a disciple. What is a disciple? Primarily a learner, one who is learning to follow Jesus and learning to make followers of others as well. So, if a disciple is primarily a learner, one who's learning to follow Jesus and to teach others to do the same, then pastors are essentially teachers. Through our teaching with our words as well as our lives, we're teaching them this is how you make disciples, this is how you follow Christ. So, any elder has to have the ability to teach, whether that's from the pulpit or it's in a classroom or it's in a living room. Every elder has to have the ability to teach. People should be able to say, I came to understand and appreciate God's word in a more full way because of that man's teaching.

30:00So here in verse 2, Paul has outlined what an overseer must be. Then as we transition to verse 3, he's going to explain what an overseer must not be. So let's look there together. He says, he must not be a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. So if the qualities outlined in verse 2 qualify a man to serve as an elder, then these qualities listed in verse 3 disqualify him from serving in that office. And Paul begins with, an elder must not be a drunkard. Now that's fairly straightforward, I think. But this means not habitually drinking to excess. Not one who regularly abuses alcohol. And I think by extension, we could say one who does not abuse prescription or illegal drugs as well. He doesn't abuse any substances. And friends, this is so critical in our day and age because so many college students and so many adults are high-functioning alcoholics.

31:19So many college students and so many adults today are high-functioning alcoholics. They drink to excess many days a week or several days a week, but because It's not directly affecting their studies or their work. People just let that slide. They excuse it. And so Paul says: if an elder chooses to drink alcohol, then he must do so in a way that models temperance and self-control. Why? Look at Ephesians 5 on the screen. Paul says, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

32:07One of our roles as pastors in the church is to not only help you understand what God commands, but why he commands it. And so you see here in Ephesians 5 the what and the why. Nowhere in Scripture is drinking alcohol condemned. And anybody who would say that it's sin for a Christian to consume alcohol is wrong, plain and simple. But what does the text say? Do not get drunk with wine. What is prohibited in Scripture is drunkenness. Why? Not because it's bad. No. But be filled with the Spirit. You see, the whole point of this command is that as Christians, we are supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

32:58We're supposed to be controlled by the Spirit of God. Spirit. So, when we get drunk, or when we abuse prescription drugs, or when we use illegal drugs, we are no longer controlled by the Holy Spirit. We're controlled by those substances. And a Christian is not to be controlled by anything other than the Spirit of God. That's why drunkenness is a sin, not just because people didn't like that. So, understand that. An elder must not be a drunkard, and this is especially important in today's day and age. Next, he says, he must not be violent, but gentle.

33:34Now, that's not necessarily related to excessive drinking, but I think all of us know that excessive drinking often leads to violence with words or actions. A violent man obviously would not make a good shepherd for actual sheep. So, how much less would he make a faithful pastor to real people? You see, a good and faithful shepherd is gentle with the sheep and harsh with the wolves. A good and faithful pastor is kind, patient with both Christians and non-Christians alike, but he's tough with hypocrites and pretenders because that's exactly how Jesus was. Friends, the church is a place for broken people, the church is a hospital for sinners.

34:25Jesus says that any who are humble are welcome to come to him, that acknowledge their. Sin. All of us are broken, pastors included. All of us are in need of a Savior, pastors included. But Jesus was very firm with hypocrites and pretenders, with religious people who talked down to and looked down upon other people because they thought they were better than them. The whole message of the scripture is that every single person, pastors included, needs a savior. And so a good and faithful pastor is kind and gentle with the church because he sees himself first as one who is in need of a savior, one who needs grace and mercy from God because he does not meet the requirements of scripture either.

35:17Paul says an elder must not be quarrelsome. A godly elder doesn't go around looking for fights. And when he finds himself in one, he doesn't escalate the situation with his words or his tone or his body language. Godly pastors look to be peacemakers, not troublemakers. And that's so important because people, just like sheep, they wander off. They make poor decisions. Sometimes they bite the hand that feeds them. And so you want a gentle, peacemaking man who is going and searching for lost sheep. You want a gentle, peacemaking man. Man who is binding up the wounds that people have received from their own sinful choices. You want a gentle and peace-making man. You don't want a violent, quarrelsome man going after sheep and beating them for their sinful decisions or for their mistakes.

36:21Finally, Paul says he must not be a lover of money. And another way to render that is he's not greedy for gain. Look on the screen at 1 Peter 5. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. Friends, love of money is such an epidemic among pastors in America that most people assume before they set foot in a church that all the pastor wants is money. It's such an epidemic that that is the number one thing that unchurch people assume.

37:09And yet look at what Jesus teaches in Matthew 6. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You see, as Christians, and especially as pastors, we're supposed to be storing up treasure in heaven. But the sad reality is that many pastors don't believe, don't functionally believe that there's anything better than this world. So, what you hear in their teaching and what you see from the example of their life is that this world is all there is. So, we have to try to make as much money as we can to get all of the material possessions that we can to make ourselves happy because once we die, that's it. That's the teaching and example that you see from many pastors. The shelves at Barnes and Noble are filled with books like your best life now.

38:15I mean, you cannot be serious. If you live in a mansion in Houston, it might be your best life now. But I can promise you, it's not your best life now if you live in the slums of India, if you live in the shanty towns of Africa, if you live in a small mining community in West Virginia, it is not your best life now. So, what are those people left to conclude that hear those messages and that read those books from those charlatans?

38:46Either God lied to me or these pastors are lying to me. So, Paul says very clearly: an elder cannot be a lover of money because it Contrary to the Christian message. We instead need to store up treasure in heaven. And that will be seen in men who are wise with their money, living beneath their means, saving. It will be seen in pastors who are generous with their money, giving generously to the local church, and then beyond that, giving generously to support ministry around the world. An elder must not be a lover of money, because the world and the church both need to see that.

39:31Well, friends, we're not even done with the list. Next week, we're going to be looking at verses 4 through 8, which is going to talk about him managing his home and the other characteristics of an overseer. But I think already many of us are tempted to just throw up our hands and say, who is sufficient for these things? I mean, I know every single time I study the pastoral epistles, I am challenged. I'm convicted. I look at my life and I see my weaknesses and my faults and my sins. And I wonder, am I really called to this?

40:03Do I meet these criteria? Friends, the reality is that no one but Jesus perfectly meets the criteria for pastors 100% of the time. No one but Jesus. And thankfully, Jesus is our good shepherd. He is our good shepherd who gave his life for an imperfect and sinful church, members and pastors alike. Look at what he says in John chapter 10. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

41:09You see, friends, I think some people become disenchanted with the church, not because they're disenchanted with Jesus, but because they're disenchanted with pastors. And that's why it's so critical that pastors are held to this high standard that we find in 1 Timothy 3. But even when a church has faithful, godly elders, people can still become disenchanted because they're looking to those pastors to save them rather than looking to Jesus. And that is the great danger with topical self-help preaching, is that it puts the pastor in the position of, I am the one who is here to save you from your financial trouble, from your health trouble, from your bad choices.

41:53But pastors cannot save us. Only Jesus can save us. And he did so by laying Down his life willingly of his own accord, only to take it up again. And so, every pastor is going to fail us at different times. I have failed you, I will fail you again. But Jesus will never fail us, he is our good shepherd, and good pastors are a gift to the church because they point to that good and perfect shepherd that Jesus is. Let's pray.

43:02Father, we thank you that you have made clear the kind of men that should be leading in the church. So, we're not just left to come up with a job description and evaluate some skills and experience and maybe a little bit of character on the side, but that you have told us clearly what an elder must be if he's going to serve. And so, Lord, I pray for every man in the church and every woman in the church that we would all aspire to these characteristics, the qualities of a mature Christian. Help us as a church body to grow in holiness so that when people see our distinct lives, as your word says, they will glorify our Father in heaven. They won't glorify us for being religious and committed people, they'll glorify you.

44:02I pray for all the men in our church who aspire to be elders one day. I pray that they would not be discouraged this morning, but that they would be challenged by your grace and in the power of the Spirit to continue pursuing these qualities. And I pray that you would raise up more godly, faithful men to serve this church body. And, Father, I pray for our pastors who serve, for Jason and Cody, for Chris and Derek, for myself.

44:41We ask that you would help us. We are not sufficient in and of ourselves. We need you. We confess our sins and failures. We ask for your forgiveness. We pray that you would help us to model. Faithfulness and repentance. May we be godly examples of the Christian life. And Father, I pray that as our church is led, is shepherded by men of character, that you would grow our church spiritually and numerically so that we can reach this community and reach the world with the good news of the gospel. Thank you, God, for your word to us today. In Christ's name, amen.