Faithful Pastors, Part 1

0:49For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard, or violent, or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. This is God's Word. You may be seated. What is a faithful pastor?

1:27Many people would say they don't know. Because they've never heard of one or seen one before. And who could blame them? In classic literature, like Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, you have guys like the Reverend Arthur Dimsdale, who fathered a child out of wedlock with one of his parishioners. In classic movies, like Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, you have guys like Friar Tuck, an overweight alcoholic with a bad temper. And in classic television, like The Simpsons, you have guys like Father Sean, who seems like a harmless guy who loves playing bingo and shooting paintball guns.

2:13So, what is a faithful pastor? We're going to talk today about that very question in Titus chapter 1, verses 5 through 9. And if you've been here all year, you might be thinking to yourself, now, didn't we just cover this last fall in 1 Timothy 3? Well, yes, we did. But I think we must understand that the reason this subject comes up so often in the New Testament is because God obviously believes this is very important stuff. It's important who is leading the church. That's why there are so many passages in the New Testament devoted to that subject. It's also very relevant to our particular church as we're in the process of considering both. Beavers, one of our faithful members here at New Life, to serve as a pastor here at New Life.

3:07And also, as we all understand, as goes the leadership, so goes the organization. That's true in the church, that's true in the world. We just understand that to be true. And that's why we care so much about who is running our country. That's why we care so much about who's in charge of the companies that we work for. That's why we care so much about who's leading the churches where we worship and serve. As goes the leadership, so goes the organization. But many people, both Christians and non-Christians, inside and outside the church, don't have a biblical understanding of what it is to be a pastor. And so today, what we're going to do is, my hope is that we would be taught or reminded, perhaps, for many of us, what God's word says about pastors, what they must be, what they must not be, and what they do. And so we're going to learn together today that faithful pastors set a godly example in belief and behavior. Let's look now at the text starting in verse 5.

4:18Paul says to Titus, This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. Paul starts off this section with the explicit purpose. This is why I left you there. I left you there to finish what I started, to put what remained into order. And that includes, especially, appointing elders in all of the churches. Now, what is an elder? Well, the Greek word is presbyteros. It's actually used interchangeably in the New Testament with the word episkopoi, which means overseers, and the word poimen, which means pastor or shepherd. So you see here in this passage in Titus 1, he is telling him to appoint elders in the churches, and then if you skip down to verse 7, you see that he calls them overseers.

5:18In Acts chapter 20, when we preach through the book of Acts, rather, a couple of years ago, we saw in Acts chapter 20, he calls for the elders of the church of Ephesus, but then he refers to them in that passage as both overseers and pastors. And then in the passage that we read at the beginning of the service in 1 Peter 5, Peter was talking to the elders of the churches, and he said that their job was to shepherd or to pastor the flock of God that is among them.

5:46So it becomes very clear that in the New Testament, overseer and bishop, elder and pastor, all of these terms are used synonymously. They refer to the same person, the same office. And there's these subtle nuances. That differentiate these words that help us to understand what pastors must be and do. The word elder refers to their maturity. They have to be mature in the faith. The fact that they're called overseers describes their work. What do they do? They oversee the flock of God, they look after its belief and how the people are doing their lives.

6:24They're pastors, their work is most like that of a shepherd with a flock of sheep. All of those things help us to understand what the pastor is to be and do. And I want you to notice as well that he says that he left Titus there to appoint elders in every town. The word is plural, not singular. Now, most of us in America are familiar with the pastor as CEO model of church leadership. But that's actually a fairly modern phenomenon. In fact, that didn't even become more common until about 1900. The biblical model that we find in the New Testament is a plurality of elders in each local church. And I think we see God's wisdom in that. The soul pastor model has burned many churches and has left many pastors burned out. A soul pastor often has very little accountability in his life and in his ministry. And there's no way that a soul pastor can faithfully shepherd more than 75 or 100 people on his own.

7:31And so, I can't tell you how grateful I am now in our 10th year of ministry here at New Life to have faithful elders around me. There is just no way that I could handle all of the teaching, all of the leadership, all of the shepherding that a church this size requires on my own. I've been blessed to work alongside my fellow pastors here for nearly 10 years, and Lord willing, as I just mentioned, we'll be adding another one next month.

8:00And so, Paul commands Titus to appoint elders in every church, and these faithful pastors are going to set a godly example in belief and behavior. Now, in just a moment, we're going to explore the qualifications of elders. And one of the things that you'll notice is that most of the emphasis, almost all of the emphasis, is on character, who these men must be, rather than on skills, what these men do. And you can be a Bible scholar, you can be an outstanding preacher, a great visionary, a gifted leader, but what we will see is that if you are not a godly man, you cannot serve as a pastor. That becomes abundantly clear. And so, what I want to do now is I want to divide verses six through nine into two sections: what a pastor must not be, and then what a pastor must be.

9:01And I choose the word must on purpose because if you look in verse 7, you see the word must. That same word occurs back in 1 Timothy chapter 3. These are not suggestions. Paul is not saying a pastor might be these things, or it would be nice if a pastor could be these things. No, he says both in 1 Timothy 3 and here in Titus 1, a pastor must be, he has to be these things. These are not optional. In this case, a 95% score is not a passing score. It's all or nothing when it comes to these character traits. But sadly, so many churches appoint men as pastors who don't meet these qualifications.

9:46And Paul is clear that an elder must be these things, and because he must be these things, no pastor, no individual, has the authority to appoint any man who doesn't meet all of these qualifications. So let's take time now first to explore what a pastor must not be. Join me in the second half of verse 7. He begins in the middle of that verse, he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain.

10:22The first thing that Paul says is that he must not be arrogant. A pastor, an elder, cannot be prideful. Or full of himself, or puffed up in any way. In fact, if we think back to 1 Timothy 3, this was Satan's downfall. And that's what Paul alludes to. Look on the screen at 1 Timothy 3, 6. He says, he, that is a pastor or an elder, must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

10:57You see, when you're arrogant, you think that you know more than you do, and you're convinced that your performance is better than it actually is. And when you think you know more than you do, and you think that your performance is better than it actually is, it leads to self-righteousness. And that is exactly the very thing that Jesus condemned the Pharisees for. He said, you Pharisees think you know everything. You think that your performance is better than it is. You load people down with these unbearable burdens, and you won't lift a finger to help them. They were self-righteous. That was their problem, arrogant and conceited.

11:37And an arrogant, prideful man can't serve as a pastor in God's church. Because in Jesus' kingdom, he says, the first are last and the last are first. Humble service and not prideful posturing is what God values. An arrogant man can never be a gentle shepherd. So he cannot be arrogant. Second, Paul says a pastor must not be quick-tempered or violent. Godly pastors look to be peacemakers, not troublemakers. And this is so important because people, just like sheep, wander off. They make poor decisions. Sometimes they bite the hand that feeds them.

12:24And if you are not a gentle, peacemaking man, When you are tasked with searching for lost sheep, when you are tasked with binding their wounds, when you are tasked with disciplining those who stray, if you are not a gentle and peacemaking man, you are going to find yourself again and again in situations that lead you to lash out with your temper, to become violent with your words or with your actions, because it's a challenging job. Actual shepherding of sheep is a challenging job, and pastoral ministry is a challenging job in that way. So you don't want a quick-tempered, violent man in that role who's going to beat the sheep rather than lead them, feed them, and care for them.

13:09And I know there must be some of you sitting here today who have been under the leadership of someone who is quick-tempered and violent. And you bear the scars in your body, in your mind, in your heart from that kind of leadership. And so Paul says a pastor can't be quick-tempered or violent. He says, a pastor must not be a drunkard. That seems fairly straightforward. A drunkard is one who drinks to excess, who regularly abuses alcohol. And of course, by extension, that would include any substance abuse, not just alcohol, but illegal drugs, abusing prescription drugs.

13:51And as I mentioned when we went through this passage in 1 Timothy 3 or these qualifications back in 1 Timothy 3, this is so important in our culture because so many adults and so many young people are high-functioning alcoholics. What I mean is that there are so many people in our lives around us every day, at school, at work, who drink to excess nearly every day of the week, but because their work, their schoolwork or their work at their job is not suffering that much, nobody confronts them about it. They think, well, it can't be that big of a deal. Their performance is not suffering that much.

14:34And so, in this society where that is the reality, where we have so many high-functioning alcoholics among us, it's critical that elders, if they choose to drink alcohol at all, will only do so in careful moderation, setting an example for the sheep to follow. And this is so important because look at what we see in Ephesians 5:18. Paul says elsewhere, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is good. Debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

15:06So you see, this is another one of those commands that people just think, well, Christians are prudish about things, whether it's physical relationships with others or alcohol or whatever else. No, he explains the reason here. As Christians, when we are filled with wine, when we are drunk, we are being controlled by wine, controlled by something other than ourselves or what is inside of us. And as Christians, we're not supposed to be controlled by anything other than the Spirit of God. So we don't get drunk with wine because we want to be controlled by God's Spirit and not by anything external to us. A pastor cannot be a drunkard.

15:45And then, fourth and finally, a pastor must not be greedy for gain. Back in 1 Timothy 3, he wrote that a pastor cannot be a lover of money. And love of money is such an epidemic among people in ministry that most people in America today, when they hear that someone is a pastor, they immediately assume all they want is your money. It's such an epidemic. And as Christians, and especially as pastors, Jesus calls us to store up treasure in heaven. That we're supposed to be setting an example, that we're not looking to the things of this world, money or possession. Or anything else to fulfill us, we are looking to Jesus to fulfill us. We're not called to be lovers of money, but lovers of God. But the sad reality is that so many pastors don't believe that there is anything better than what this world has to offer. So they hypocritically preach one thing and do another.

16:52They abuse their office to become rich off the sacrifice and generosity of people in their churches. What a sad reality. An overseer cannot be a lover of money. Rather, he will be wise and generous with his money, demonstrating that he loves God and people more than money and possessions. So, friends, you see here from these first four characteristics what a pastor must not be. And all of this is important because of what we saw back in Titus 1, verse 2. Look there again.

17:29It says that we have hope of eternal life, which God who never lies promised before the ages began. The reason that we have to live in these ways as Christians and especially as pastors is because of the hope that we have. We're setting an example for all other people around us that our hope is not anchored in this world. It's not anchored in the things of this world, it is anchored in God and what He has promised. He never lies, and He has promised us eternal life.

18:00These things are why both elders and deacons must first be tested before they can be appointed to serve in the church. We need time to be able to observe their lives and their conduct to see whether they meet these character qualifications, whether they believe the truth and then live their lives in accordance with it. And as Paul says in 1 Timothy 5, some sin issues only become apparent over time. There are some things that you just can't see right away in someone.

18:32I was reading this book by Scott Sauls the other day, who serves as a pastor in Nashville, and he was saying that the pressure of ministry will squeeze out whatever is on the inside of pastors. And that's true for all of us, isn't it? I mean, Jesus himself said that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So until we can observe potential pastors in the pressures of life and seeing what comes out of them, they can't be appointed because they may not meet the qualifications.

19:05So we see what a pastor must not be. Now we want to shift positively and ask the question, what must a pastor be? So let's go back up to verse 6 together and look there. If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination, Nation. Now skip down to verse 8. He must be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

19:56The very first qualification that Paul always lists is that a pastor must be above reproach. In fact, he says it two times here. He says it in verse 6 and then again in verse 7. And the phrase above reproach doesn't mean faultless. If that's what it meant, then only Jesus would be qualified to serve as a pastor. Only Jesus is faultless. But what the phrase means is blameless. In other words, there's no evidence of grievous disqualifying sin in his life. Like, if you found out this one thing that he had done this one time, that would be it. And more than that, there's no habitual sin in his life. There's not any sin that he protects and coddles and keeps secret and just kind of participates in again and again. That's what it is to be above reproach. And this is all so important because pastors are examples to the flock.

20:52And a Christian is not one who is faultless. A Christian is a repentant sinner. It's a person where he or she says, I worship God, and because I worship God, I seek to continually repent of, to turn away from my sin, to acknowledge it and confess it, and then to walk by faith, to honor the Lord. A pastor has to be above reproach because he's setting the example of a faithful and repentant life. That's why this is, it matters so much. So, elders must conduct themselves in such a way that nobody, either inside or outside the church, would ever say, I can't believe he's a pastor. He must be above reproach. Second, a pastor must be the husband of one wife.

21:48Now, the Greek literally reads a man of one woman, or a one-woman man. And back in our study of 1 Timothy, I argued that I don't believe that that excludes single men. That would exclude Jesus and Paul from serving in that role. I don't think he means to exclude widowers, men whose wives have died. I don't even necessarily think that he meant to exclude men who were divorced before they came to faith in Christ. Obviously, that would require a greater amount of scrutiny and discernment. Because if he meant any of those things, he could say it never divorced or that he must be married.

22:27But rather, what I believe Paul is doing here is he's saying, An even higher standard than any of those particulars, he is saying that a man must be truly exemplary with respect to his sexual purity. That's what it is to be a one-woman man. That he is completely committed to his current or future wife in every way. There is no hint of unfaithfulness in his life. So, this would exclude Christian men who are fornicators or adulterers, or who are known to be flirtatious, or who indulge in viewing pornography. Any of those men would be excluded. And you can understand why a one-woman man would stand out in the first-century culture, where divorce was rampant and polygamy was practiced in certain pockets of society. But how much would that stand out still today in the 21st century, where our culture almost expects both men and women to be unfaithful to one another?

23:30And so, he says that a pastor must be the husband of one wife, a one-woman man. Third, a pastor must have believing or faithful children. Now, I say believing or faithful because there isn't agreement among scholars about how the word pistis in Greek should be translated. It can be translated believing or it can be translated faithful. And so, the people. Who argue that this word should be translated believing, as your translation might say, would say that first, nearly every other time in the pastoral epistles, context would show you that what Paul means is they are a believer, they are a person who trusts in Jesus.

24:18And the second argument for people who would say it should be translated believing would say is: if a pastor can't lead his own children to faith in Christ, how could we trust him to lead anyone else to faith in Christ? Okay, and so those are good arguments. But there is another side who argue for translating it faithful, and that is my own position, is that this word should actually be translated faithful. And the first point that we have to consider is that the point here, as well as back in 1 Timothy 3, is that a pastor must manage his household well. In fact, back in 1 Timothy 3, this phrase is not even used of his children. The point is that he has to manage his household well. His kids are not insubordinate. They're not unruly. In other words, their behavior, their conduct is not bringing reproach on the name of Christ or his ministry or the church. Second, a very important question arises if you try to translate this believing. That is, how would you know for sure that a pastor's kids are believers?

25:24How would you know for sure? I mean, how many testimonies have we heard here at New Life of calling? Students and adults who say, you know, I professed to be a believer when I was a young child, but I came to realize that I had not truly repented of my sin and trusted in Jesus alone for salvation until I was an adult. Third, and I believe this is perhaps the strongest argument for rendering the word faithful rather than believing. How could you hold a pastor responsible for his children's response to the gospel?

26:02Should he be held responsible for his spiritual leadership of the family? Absolutely. A pastor can control whether his children are hearing the gospel. A pastor can control whether he is praying with them and for them. He can control whether he is being faithful in his home, but he cannot control how his kids respond to the gospel. That is outside of his control. He can't make his kids believe any more than he can make anyone else believe the gospel. And so I think that from all of these considerations in the context of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, that God is not saying through Paul, a pastor has to have believing children, but he has to have faithful children. Children whose behavior does not bring reproach on the gospel or on the church. They have to be faithful in that sense.

26:54The fourth criteria is that a pastor must be hospitable and a lover of good. Well, lover of good, that's a great phrase that a lot of us are familiar with from 1 Corinthians 13. And in that passage, Paul says that those who love good don't rejoice in evil, but they rejoice with the truth. So, what a pastor has to do is he has to delight in what is good and godly, he has to love pure and edifying words, he doesn't love evil, he doesn't have secret or even public vices.

27:30And then, hospitality, that's important for two big reasons. First, theologically, any one of us who is not Jewish by descent is a Gentile. And as we learned in Ephesians 3 and elsewhere, if we are Gentiles, then we were once strangers. We were not welcomed into God's family, but through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, Jews and Gentiles together through faith in Christ have been grafted into one. We have been unified with one another and with God.

28:08And so, that's the first reason that hospitality is important. It's because theologically, every time we welcome strangers into our homes, we're doing what God did for us. He welcomes strangers into his family. But, second, it's practical. The home is where the rubber meets the road. So, a man can pretend to be something in public that he's not in private, but once you get inside of his home, you see what kind of a husband he is, what kind of a father he is, what kind of a man he is in the privacy of his own home. And so, hospitality does that. It gives us a window into who he really is, and he's able to set an example. This is what a godly husband is and does. This is what a godly father is and does. It allows people to see on the inside what a Christian man or woman should be doing with their life, how they should be living in light of the gospel.

29:06Fifth, he says a pastor must be self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. Group all those things together in this section. Now, self-control seems to focus on the negative. Self-control is often the ability to say no to something. So, we say a person has self-control if they can say no to staying in bed all day, if they can say no to eating too much or drinking too much. That's what we think of when we think of self-control, the ability to say no. But discipline is different, isn't it? When we think of discipline, it's not just the ability to say no to something, it's the positive ability to say yes to something. So, not just I'm not going to stay in bed all day, but positively, I'm going to rise early to spend time with the Lord and then to serve God's people. Positively, it's not just rise. Refusing to eat too much, it is eating healthy food and exercising, taking care of the temple of the Holy Spirit. Positively, it's not just refusing to take on bad debt, but it's actually stewarding the money and the resources that God has entrusted to you to make the best use of it for the kingdom of God. That's what it is to be disciplined. And when you look at that kind of a person, that kind of a person lives an upright and holy life. It's a person who is known for being godly, for being a man of integrity, where the fruit of the Spirit is evident in his life, in his interactions, in all of his ministry.

30:41And that brings us to the sixth and final characteristic, which is a skill. And you look at what it says: a pastor must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught. So, this is not a character qualification per se, this is a skill. He has to hold firm to something so that he can teach it. What is this trustworthy word that he's referring to? Well, look on the screen. If we go back to 1 Timothy chapter 1, we find this. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

31:28The trustworthy word. Word is the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus on behalf of sinners. That's what the trustworthy word is. That's the good news. The good news of the gospel, in contrast to every other world religion, is that we don't have to try hard to be better people in order to save ourselves. But rather, Jesus, who was the perfect man, came and lived and died and rose again in our place and for our sins. That's the good news of the gospel. Look at what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, this seminal passage. Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preach to you. There's that expression again, holding firm, holding fast, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also. To me.

33:03Now, why is it so important to hold firm to the trustworthy word if you're a pastor? Look again at what he says in this final verse, so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. See, a pastor's job is not just to set a good example in his character, but it's to teach the truth and refute error. That's the one primary skill that all pastors need. They need to hold fast to the trustworthy word so that they're able to teach the truth and refute error. Friends, the truth about God is revealed to us. God has made himself and his will known to us through his word, which faithful pastors then explain and apply to our lives so that we can rightly worship and serve and obey God.

33:59And that truth is always under attack, both inside and outside of the church. People are always trying to add to the gospel. Yes, faith in Jesus is good, but if you want God to accept you, there are certain other things that you must do in order to be right before him. People are always trying to add to the person and work of Jesus. And people are always trying to subtract from the gospel as well. Saying, yeah, you can accept Jesus as Savior. You don't need to repent of your sin and make him Lord of your life. That's optional. People are always adding to and subtracting from the gospel, so pastors have to hold firm to that trustworthy word so that they can teach it and they can refute those who contradict it.

34:48And faithful pastors instruct the church in this sound doctrine, both for the good of those in error as well as so that others are not led astray by their false teaching. Friends, we live in a time where trust in leaders is probably at an all-time low. And I think that's because so many leaders have betrayed the trust of the people that they lead. For many decades, since around 1950 or so, we have tried to pretend as a society that character doesn't really matter in leaders.

35:33That as long as they get the job done, so to speak, it doesn't really matter what they're doing in their private lives behind closed doors. But here now, in 2018, after 50 years of that nonsense, we have seen that no one and no society can go on living that way in the long term. You cannot separate belief and behavior. The problem, of course, is that even the very best leaders don't perfectly connect belief and behavior. There's always a gap between belief and behavior, even for very godly people.

36:15And that's why the gospel is such good news. You see, Jesus is the only leader who not only believed perfectly and taught the truth perfectly, but who behaved perfectly as well, who fulfilled every single command of God. And then Jesus went to the cross, laying down his life, not just for everyday people, but for everyday leaders. People for whom belief and behavior don't perfectly match up. He died for their sins as well. And that's why the Apostle Paul, who arguably is the greatest leader, the greatest pastor of all time, could write in 1 Corinthians 11, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

37:07Imitate me as I imitate Christ. And for a pastor, that should be what all of us are communicating all the time. Imitate me. Follow my example. Follow my belief. Follow my behavior. But only do it insofar as I imitate Christ. See, that's what faithful pastors do. They set a godly example in belief and behavior. Let's pray. Father, I know every single person who is in leadership, whether that's an on-campus organization, in a company, in the community, or in the church, feels the weight of that leadership position.

38:08And so I begin by praying for us. We confess that our belief and our behavior do not match up perfectly. We confess our sin, God, that we have not done perfectly and consistently what you have commanded us to do. And we are so thankful this morning that we can look to Jesus, the perfect leader, our faithful high priest, who sits at your right hand to intercede for all people, including leaders. And so, God, we ask that you would accept his intercession on our behalf for our failures and sins.

39:00And we ask, God, for all leaders in the room, especially for those of us who serve as leaders in the church, that you would continue to sanctify us, continue to match up our belief and behavior until there's no gap left. We know ultimately that will only come, Jesus, when you return and you glorify us, but we still pray for it nonetheless because we want to honor you with our lives. God, I pray for the men and women who came this morning looking for hope.

39:39I pray that they would see Jesus, perhaps for the first time, as the only one who spoke the truth completely and perfectly his entire life, and as the only one whose behavior perfectly honored you all the time. And that they would transfer their trust from themselves or from religion or from doing good works of any kind to Jesus, the only one who is qualified to save them. God, we are grateful for the opportunity to worship you, who sent your only Son for us, that we might know you as your children. We might be adopted into your family.

40:34I pray, God, that our church, which has been blessed with such great elders and deacons and ministry leaders for nearly a decade now, I pray that you would continue to raise up godly men and godly women to serve here at New Life and to point people accurately to Jesus, the great Savior that every one of us needs. We pray all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.