Hebrews the 13th chapter. Let's bow and have a word of
prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we come to you this morning, we thank you. We thank you for
this fine day that you've given to us to meet together once again. Thank you for the brethren and
the sisters that are here today. Lord, we thank you for your mercy,
your grace. We pray that your presence be
among us today. Father, we come now thanking
you for the salvation that we have in Christ Jesus, as we just
sang in that hymn. We thank you for his bleeding
love. We thank you for the good shepherd who gave his life for
the sheep. We thank you for the atonement that makes us one with
God and gives us pardon and peace and reconciliation. We thank
you for the Holy Spirit who brings to us that life that was hidden
with Christ and God. Thank you for the times that
we have together for worship, Lord. We know that they are precious.
We definitely do not take this for granted, Father, that we
have the ability to meet together, to worship, to be edified one
with another, to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be exercised
among us for the help of the saints. Lord, we're thankful
for the word of God that's been given to reveal Christ Jesus,
our Savior, to lead us and to guide us, to direct us with the
Holy Spirit's work within us to teach us these things as they
are pertaining to the Spirit. Father Lord, I ask now for help
to be able to speak. As you know, my throat is really
sore this morning and Lord, as you will and as you direct and
give utterance, Lord, I pray that you do that. Father, I pray
that it might not be a deterrent or it might not hinder anyone from hearing because we
know that the Spirit can give understanding alone. And so we
pray that today that my infirmity might not be seen, but Christ
might be exalted. Father, we again thank you for
all that you've given us here at our church, for the blessings
over the years that you've granted us, love and mercy and grace
and peace and enjoyment of fellowship. And so, Father, I pray that you
might continue those in the many days to come. And we pray, Lord,
that you just might come quickly, send the Lord Jesus Christ to
bring us home. We look forward to our time to
be with you and it's in your name that we pray. Amen. We've been talking about the
two offices that are in the New Testament Church in our series
on the church and we begin a couple of weeks ago looking at the first
office which is the office of pastor. We believe that there
are two offices in the New Testament Church. The office of pastor,
and the office of deacon. These are the only two offices
that are ongoing. If you want to put evangelist
in with that preaching aspect, some people do that. However,
the evangelist is usually one who is ordained to the ministry,
who goes about and preaches the gospel from place to place and as those who begin to believe,
they gather them into churches and they establish churches.
But yet we see that the abiding offices within the local church
on the daily, weekly basis as they gather are the offices of
pastor and the offices of deacon, the office of deacon. We began
to look at the office of pastor a few weeks ago and we've seen
that there were titles that were given to the pastor that are
synonymous. There's a lot of confusion. A
lot of people like to break up these titles and make them to
be separate offices. However, as we looked in the
scripture, we've seen that the words were used synonymously
for the same office. But we've seen that there were
bishops, there were overseers, pastors, shepherds, elders. These
terms were all used and talked about the office of pastor. The pastor has the title bishop
or overseer, it means to be an overseer, but he also, as the
title pastor reflects, is a shepherd, one who leads. And by the fact
of his office, he is therefore an elder within the church who
is to be esteemed for his wisdom, his knowledge, And also his age
could also be part of that as well. We also looked at the duties
of the pastor. We began to look at those last
week. And I'll just kind of reiterate just a few of these things. Won't
go back over all of them because again, my voice, I don't know
how long I'll be able to speak this morning. And so I want to
get into what we wanted to talk about today. But we've seen as
the duties of the pastor, is number one, is the pastor is
to rule over the church or to oversee the church. And whenever
I, again, whenever I say rule, we're not talking about that
he is the dictator, that he's the CEO. That's not what we mean
when we say to rule over. That word rule or oversee means
to govern, okay? It's just to govern by the will
of the people, okay? You guys have chosen me as you've
seen the gifts of God and the calling of God upon me, has chosen
me to be your pastor and has given me that office to oversee
or conduct the affairs of the church, to oversee the people.
It's not a dictatorial reign whatsoever, but it is overseen
by the consent of the church body. So I oversee the affairs
of the church, the worship times, The Bible teaches us that whenever
we come together in the congregation, that we are to do things in order,
decently and in orderly. And in doing so, that takes a
little bit of governing, overseeing. Someone needs to oversee to make
sure things are done in an orderly fashion. But also in overseeing
the church, the pastor, protects the church and that's another
duty of the pastor is to protect the flock or to protect the flock
by pointing out error, by rebuking those who would introduce error,
by teaching the truth. We protect the church by making
sure that they are doctrinally sound, preaching the Word of
God, exposition, expositionally preaching, exegeting God's Word
and letting it say what it says instead of what our little you
know, thoughts and theologies of men might say, we let the
word of God dictate to us how we are to be and what we are
to know. And so the pastor protects the flock and oversees the flock
by preaching God's word, by setting an example. Another duty of the
pastor is to set an example and by admonishing those who need
direction and guidance. Okay, the pastor should be one
who sets the example for the church in faithfulness to the
Lord, as the Lord enables him to, in work, as the Lord enables
him to do the things that he is called to do, that he might
be an example and an encouragement to those. There's nothing more
discouraging to a Christian who's out there struggling to uh, do what they feel that the
Lord wants them to do when they have a pastor that, uh, is just
not a very good encouragement. Uh, who's always, you know, uh,
late, who's always, uh, not participating, who doesn't care anything about
the flock, who, you know, all he does is want to get up and,
and, uh, uh, preach his sermon and then go about his own business.
But for a pastor, To be a protector of the flock, an overseer of
the flock, he needs to be one who is an example to the flock.
And so his life ought to reflect those things that he preaches
and that he admonishes and encourages him. Another duty of the pastor
is that he is to administer the ordinances of Christ. It's one
of the things that the pastor does. is that he administers
the ordinances of Christ. Now, I believe that that's not
only given to the pastor alone, but that any man within the congregation
that the church deems or sees fit to do that can administer
the ordinances. I don't think that's just for
the pastor to do. However, most generally, that
is the duty of the pastor. baptizes when someone needs to
be baptized, and whenever the Lord's Supper is given out, he
is the one who administers the Lord's Supper. But again, like
I said, I don't believe that that is strictly for the pastor
alone, but that is definitely one of the things that he does.
And then the pastor, one of the duties of the pastor is he should
be given to much prayer. over the flock and over himself,
over the ministry of the church. He should be given to prayer.
Now, we looked last week as we finished up at the qualifications
of a pastor. We've seen those in 1 Timothy
chapter 3 and in Titus chapter 1. We've seen that the qualifications
are given for this office. You don't go to a college and
get a degree and that makes you worthy to be a pastor or Qualifies
you to be a pastor. Okay, that's not how one becomes
a pastor. Matter of fact, it was funny.
I Matter of fact, you would just say I'm gonna actually read this
to you. I threw it in the trash I got a thing in the mail out
here this morning of a place out in California,
it's a missionary school. And they were talking about how
they are worried about there isn't eligible faithful men to
take these places in churches anymore because all the Bible
school institutions are going by the way of liberalism. and
getting away from God's word and that missionaries are not
being able to be instructed on how to become how to be missionaries
and to go out and do the work of a missionary and all these
things about how if it wasn't for these bible colleges then
you know what are we going to do and the matter of fact that
was one of the last phrases that was in this letter that was sent
to me asking for support of their college was The fact of what
are we gonna do if we do not have these institutions training
our men to be pastors and missionaries, their term is missionary. And
how is God's word gonna be spread throughout this world and how
churches are gonna be pastored? I just kind of chuckled. And
I said, well, the way that God intended for it to happen. God's
gonna raise up men and gonna give them the gift to do those
things, and the churches are gonna call those men to do those
works and set them apart for that work. They don't need the
schools. I really thought about keeping
that letter and writing that guy back and just kind of telling
him. There's some guys that watch
on Facebook, Gabriel and Steven, Uh, they both kind of live out
in this areas out in Lancaster, California. Uh, but anyway, see,
that's the thought of men. The thought of men is that, uh,
you know, I can go to a school and be trained by another man,
uh, in how to be a pastor and how to, uh, uh, be a, uh, evangelist. And that's just not how it works.
This is a gift of God. Uh, remember we read that at
the very beginning of our study on this, that he has given gifts
to men, and one of those gifts is to be pastors, teachers, and
evangelists. That is not a gift that you learn
by human invention, by human wisdom, by human instruction.
I can admonish men on how to be good pastors. I can admonish
men on how to deliver a sermon. Of course, I'm not the best one
to do that, My sermon outlining and delivery is very, very bad. Men can be instructed in the
things of men, but they cannot be given that gift by human wisdom. Only the Holy Spirit can give
that. So the qualifications of a pastor isn't necessarily just
meeting these regimented qualifications, But first and foremost, a pastor
must be called to that ministry by the Holy Spirit. God must
call the man to the ministry, and when called, he has to meet
these requirements. Now, I don't think God's gonna
call a man to the ministry if he doesn't meet the requirements
that God requires for the man called to have, okay? But God can call a man to the
ministry And then we must see that he, how do we know that
God has called him to the ministry? Well, one of the ways we know
that God has called him to the ministry is by the qualifications
that God has prescribed for the office of pastor. If he doesn't
meet those qualifications, then we know that God hasn't called
him because again, God is not calling those men that he has
not given the qualifications to. But anyway, we've seen the
qualifications of the pastor and those qualifications, need
to be evident in the man, in the one who is desiring the office
of bishop, or desiring the office of pastor. And so we need to,
as a church, be mindful of those things. You as a church, when
you look for a pastor, if ever you were to look for a pastor,
if anything the Lord would take me, kill me, take me home, or
take me somewhere else, then you would need to follow
the word of God and how the word of God teaches you to look for
those things, okay? Don't look at man's devices on
how to do these things, okay? Programs are not the way to do
it. God's program is the way to do
it. But today, let's look at another aspect of the office
of pastor, and that is the proper treatment and care of a pastor. Now, I wouldn't even talk about
this if it wasn't for the fact that the Word of God teaches
this, okay? Because right now, and I'll be
honest with you, whenever I'm teaching, especially about pastoral
things that involve the office that I hold, that becomes very hard for me
because it can easily sound like it is self-serving. service myself,
okay? And that's not the case. Again,
we are preaching the whole counsel of God's Word, and we have to
preach and teach as we go through the epistles. We preach and teach
what Paul has instructed the churches and the preachers of
those churches in how to conduct the affairs and the business
of the church, okay? And so I just want to say that
at the onset, is that this is not a sermon to pat myself on
the back. It's not a sermon to boost the
efforts towards me or to pat my pocket or to, you know, cause
you to, you know, I'm looking for glory and I'm telling you
so you'll give it to me. Okay, that is not what this is
about. This is to instruct the church on what the Bible says
about how our, and this goes for me too, This is my mindset
on not only how I should be, but what a biblical pastor is
to be like. And so, please don't think that
I'm trying to boost myself. Again, for those who may not
have been listening to some of our other messages, we do not
believe in a hierarchy, okay? We do not believe that even though
the pastor, the office of pastor is the overseer of a church,
we do not believe that he is some kind of a royalty or a pope
or a priest of some kind that has intrinsic value within himself
because he should be treated like royalty or anything like
that. However, the Bible does say some things and we can't
get around these things that the Bible speaks about. And you'll
find that if you follow these admonitions of scripture, that
you're gonna find that the relationship of the pastor and the flock will
be a lot better. It will be a blessed fellowship
in both ways. Now, and I'm saying that from
the vantage point of how the flock treats the pastor, but
also as I've already been preaching about over the last few weeks,
how the preacher treats the flock. Okay, it's a two-way street here. The pastor isn't supposed to
get it, you know, have a big head and think that he is more
than what he is governed by in scripture. Okay, he is to be
an example and to lead by example. He is to be a servant of the
people as a shepherd. He's watching over the flock
and serving the flock by being the one who watches over them
and to feed them the word of God and to not go outside of
the bounds of that ministry that has been given to him. And then
the flock also has a responsibility to the pastor. And that responsibility
ought to be considered. And so that's what we want to
look at today. And we would be remiss if we
didn't speak of these things because they are taught in the
word of God. You know, there are some that
want to run again, and I don't mean to You know, I'm getting
all off track here today, but maybe it's just because I don't
feel good. There's a lot of people that
go to far extremes, you know. You have the preachers on one
side that are health and wealth preachers, and they think that
they ought to just be lavishly treated, you know. You know,
I've seen videos where these people come and they bow down
before these men. They kiss the rings. Uh, you
know, they, uh, uh, treat them as royalty and everything. And,
uh, matter of fact, those men will even say, you know, you're
not to, uh, touch one of God's anointed, you know, they consider
themselves God's anointed and that you shouldn't touch them
or say anything wrong against them or anything like that. And
then you go to the other extreme and you have people that say
that, uh, you know, the pastor, uh, of the church, uh, you know,
he, You know, if you ever say anything or hold any respect
or honor or anything to that, then you're putting him up on
a pedestal. You're making him out to be a Pope. Or if they
give any kind of monetary support to that pastor, then that pastor
is now a hireling, that that pastor is working for money and
everything. And we have these far extremes
and everything, but the Bible teaches something that is a balanced
look on both of those things, okay? Yes, a pastor should not
be a hireman. We might get to that one day
when we get to that portion, but we wanna see a balance in this.
The members of a church should follow a prophet from the teaching
and exhortation of their pastor. There in Hebrews chapter 13,
if you would, look at verse 17 with me, Hebrews 13. Verse 17. It says, obey them that have
the rule over you. Now, let's stop right here. We
already know that the Bible has made clear that is the office
of pastor who is the overseer or the ruler, the bishop, the
word bishop there means overseer or ruler, okay? So we know that
Paul here in Hebrews is talking about the pastors, okay? Obey them that have the rule
over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls
as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy
and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. Now, this is an admonition to
the church here in the way that you treat and consider your pastor. And the admonition is this, it
is profitable to you to with, and we can just look at this
and, you know, I noticed that if you look at this verse and
go backward in this verse, you'll find out what the admonition
is. It says, if we go, it is profitable
for you instead of unprofitable, what's profitable for you? It
is profitable for you that with joy, those who are having to
give an account for your souls, that you submit yourselves to
those who have rule over you and obey them. Okay? That would
be the admonition. Now, does that mean that you
have to do everything that I tell you to do? Is that what that's
talking about? No. But there are men who wants to be dictators
that think that you do not cross the pastor in any way. That's
not what this is talking about. Matter of fact, that word obey
there in the scriptures is translated
trust eight times. Trust them that have the rule
over you. No, there's seven times it's
translated obey, but eight times it's translated trust. That word
six times is translated have confidence in. Have confidence
in them that have the rule over you. Three times that word is
used and defined in scripture as believe. Believe them that
have rule over you. Two times, be confident. Be confident
in them that have the rule over you. And then 22 times, the word
is translated or used, defined by God, as persuaded. persuaded
by them that have the rule over you. What does this mean? If we look at all those words
and how the scripture defines that word obey there, okay? Well, it means that if we trust
that God has provided a gift to the church in the office of
pastor, and the man that fills that office has truly been called
of God, meets all the qualifications required by scripture, and the
church by the Holy Spirit has been led by the Holy Spirit to
see that gift in that man, to recognize that, then that man
is a gift to that church and that because of that being a
gift from God to the church, they ought to trust, have confidence
in, believe, be confident, be persuaded by and obey that pastor. Why? Because of the pastor, because
of his office of itself? No. Why? Because he is exemplifying
a man of God who preaches the word of God. Now, what if I was
a man that was up here not preaching the word of God, that I was telling
you fables, and yet you, whenever you went to your Bible was seeing
Well, man, he said that, but this is what the Bible says.
That's not what the Bible says. Well, then I'm not a, I'm not
a, I'm not one who is to be listened to because I am not preaching
the word of God. Okay. If one has been given the
gift by God, he is going to be instructed by God and he's going
to teach and preach the things of God. But if he doesn't, then
yeah, we don't listen to that. We don't, we actually go and
correct him. on those things. We correct them,
rebuke them. We'll see that here in just a
few minutes, but the word obey there is not in a strict, you
know, everything I say you have to do. If I tell you, okay, you
need to quit your job next week and go to work over here. Okay. The pastor doesn't have any authority
in that. What's, what's it talking about? It's talking about in
the things pertaining to the word of God. Now, is there checks
and balances? Absolutely. What did the, the
church in, uh, Berea, the Berean believers do. But when Paul came
and preached the truth of God, the Bereans listened to that
and then they went home and they seen whether or not the word
of God corroborated, you know, if what Paul was saying is coming
from the word of God. So they didn't take what Paul
was saying without looking at the word of God. But whenever
they seen, hey, this man is preaching the word of God, then what did
they do? then they listened to, they obeyed, they were persuaded
by, they had confidence in the man who was doing that. So it
all hinges upon, is the pastor a faithful preacher of the word
of God? If that pastor is a faithful
preacher of the word of God, he's been given to you as a gift
for your help, for your profit, not monetary profit, for your
spiritual profit. and it's good for you, it's profitable
for you to listen to that and not be so antagonistic against
everything. That doesn't mean the pastor's
always gonna be right, okay? But it means that God has given
you a gift to listen to, to instruct you, to help you, to watch over
you, and that it's always good to do that, but again, always
in accordance with God's word. But looky there, it says, obey
them that have the rule over you. Now again, as I said a while
ago, this word rule, it doesn't mean that I'm the CEO, that I'm
the dictator. This word rule three times means
esteemed. Three times in scripture this
word is used to mean to have rule. Two times this word in
scripture means to be governed. or to be a governor. Ten times this word in Scripture
is used to mean counted or to count. Four times it's used to
be think. So it says, obey them that have
been counted or governed over you. So we are to obey them that
have the governing over you. So that word rule is one who
governs. I govern the place, but I'm not
the king, okay? I govern what happens here, but
I'm not the final authority. The church, as led by Christ
in the word of God, is the final authority in the matters of the
church, but the pastor with the consent of the body is the one
that keeps that order, okay? So the rule that we have is a
leading or an influence or a control in counsel, okay? That's what
it means to rule, to leading in respects to influence, okay? How do I rule over you? Will
I influence you by my life? I influence you by the word of
God, and by teaching, by correction, by rebuke, by reproof, and instruction
in righteousness, okay? I rule by leading in counsel. When you need counseling, I will
counsel you with the word of God, okay? That's how we rule,
not with an iron fist as a dictator. It says, obey them that have
the rule over you and submit yourselves. Well, that's a hard
word to grasp for a lot of people, you know it? Because we're so
full of pride and arrogance. You mean I need to submit to
somebody else? I think, and I'll be honest, I think that's one
of the number one reasons why a lot of people do not go to
churches that are legitimate churches, that do preach the
gospel, They may not believe on every little tiny aspect of
everything, but they keep themselves from going to these churches
because they have a problem with authority and submission, okay? And I think that's why a lot
of people are not in churches today. It isn't because that
it's too far to drive. It isn't because I can't find
a church that preaches the gospel. That's not the case in a lot
of instances. In a lot of instances, I mean,
you just think about our area here. I mean, I think with just
in our area, this four states area, or maybe even reaching
down to Northeast Oklahoma, Northwest Arkansas, South Central Arkansas,
middle of Missouri here and everything. I can think of like 13, 14, 15
churches just right off the top of my head that are preaching
the gospel, the true gospel, and are practicing the New Testament
Ecclesiology. So in doctrine and in practice,
they are following the New Testament. And I could go there and worship. Do I believe everything that
that church may actually believe? No, I don't. But there is enough
there that I still can go and minister one to another with
and submit myself to the authority of that church and to come under
the rule or the oversee the oversight of the pastor of that church,
okay? What does that word submit mean?
Well, you know what? That word behind that word submit
is found only in one place in scripture, and that's in this
verse right here. And it means to yield to, to not resist, to give way to, to
be weak under. So that's saying obey them that
have the rule over you and yield yourselves to their rule or to
their oversight, to their governing, to their counsel, okay? Yield yourself. Why? For they watch for your souls. For they watch for your souls. I looked into that word watch
also, that word watch means to be attentive. They're attentive
to your souls. You know, a lot of times we don't
look after even our own souls. We go through our lives just
living life and we're not, you know, thinking about our own
position. We're always worried about everybody
else's, you know, we're quick to judge everybody else's life. But yet we don't take into consideration
our own lives sometimes and how it's affecting others, how it
may be a hindrance to others, how it may be an encouragement
to others or not an encouragement to others. But yet the pastor,
in the gift that God gives him, gives him a restlessness where
he is continually being attentive over those who are under his
watch care. And I know Sister LeWitt could probably corroborate
this by Brother Howard, the years of ministry he has, that he was
always praying and worried about what was going on in the flock.
Always, always struggling with, you know, hate to see this one
being unfaithful, hating to see this one thinking wrong thoughts
about the scripture, you know, being not being faithful to the
church, not being faithful to the word of God or whatever the
case might be. And so whenever we see that or
the struggles that we might have, you know, worrying about, you
know, hey, we have a loved one in our congregation who's sick
or who's in the hospital or who's having family problems and all
that kind of stuff. And so we spend a lot of sleepless
nights vigilant and looking after the people of God. Okay, so one
of the reasons why that we ought to obey them that have the rule
overs and submit ourselves to that man is because they watch
out for your souls. Now again, brethren, are there
men out there that aren't like this? Absolutely they are. That's
not who this is talking about. Remember, this is talking about
scriptural godly pastors that God has sent and given to scriptural
godly churches. And so the people in those churches
should follow the admonition here if that is the case, okay? It's just not a blind following
after some man who has claimed himself to be a preacher. If
that man shows forth these things, then we should do that. And I'm
telling you that a pastor who had been truly called to be a
pastor is gonna give himself to vigilantly watching and being
attentive to the flock. He says, for they watch for your
souls. Now, does that mean watch for
their souls like he can save your soul? No. What does the
word soul mean? Well, 40 times the word soul
is translated life. They watch after your life, how
you live, what's going on in your life, okay? Three times
it's translated mind, how you think. He watches over how you
think. Are you thinking scripturally?
Are you thinking properly about God? Are you thinking properly
about this doctrine, about this verse? Are you thinking doctrinally?
Are you thinking properly about the service of God? the love
and the relationship among the brethren, the fellowship among
the brethren? Are you thinking rightly? He is watching after
your life, your conduct, your thinking. The word also is translated
heart one time. How you feel, your emotions.
He's watching out how you feel and think and live. You're saying, well, who's he?
Who's he to be doing that? Who does he think he is to be
watching out after everybody? Oh, he's out there watching everybody's
life. That's why he's called a pastor. That's why he's called
a pastor. That's why he's called an overseer.
He is overseeing not only the government of the church, but
the lives of the church. He's overseeing those things
and looking after them. Why? So he can come and stamp
you out and say, get out of this church? No. So he can come with
aid by the word of God. So he can come with encouragement,
rebuke. So he can instruct to help with
the word of God. So he looks after your souls.
Now look, it says, now here's the opposite side for pastors. Listen to this pastors. As they
that must give an account, that means that the pastor's
gonna give an account before God for how he pastors. Is he being vigilant, attentive? Is he overseeing? Is he ruling
well? See, we're going to be giving
an account. See, I'm not going to give an account on what you
do. I'm going to give an account on how I pastor. Every pastor will give an account
on how they pastor. That they may do it with joy. See, we got to give an account.
Now, why does Paul say that? Why does Paul throw, as they
must give an account, in the middle of an admonishment to
you as a congregation, and then end it with an admonishment to
you as a congregation. Why does he throw that little
passage in there? As they must give an account to let the pastors
know, hey, you're gonna be given an account. Well, he's telling
you that pastor is gonna be given an account before God. And so
if that pastor is being a faithful pastor, he knows I am doing this
not Well, not for the people. He's doing it for the people.
But first and foremost, the pastoral work is to be done for Christ. To follow after Christ and to
be obedient to Christ. The way I pastor here, I should
pastor as unto the Lord. Because I'm going to give an
account to Him as His under-shepherd who has put me over the flock.
And so my accounts, I'm going to give an account to him. And
so why is he telling that to you as the congregation? Because
you ought to know if that pastor is faithfully coming to you and
looking after you and ruling over you well as a pastor should,
don't get upset for him doing his duty. Don't get upset as
he is following up on his duty as the pastor by looking into
your soul, by looking into your life, by looking into your mind,
by looking into your heart and seeing, are you thinking right?
Are you understanding right? Are you living right? Are you
following the word of God and thus either encouraging you or
coming in and rebuking you, correcting you? Is he doing those things? Don't get mad at him. Why? Because
he's going to give an account to God. He is doing it because
he's got to give an account to God. He's accountable to him. So don't
be grievous to him for doing what he's supposed to do, because
that is unprofitable for you. If you cause him grief, then
what's he gonna do? He's gonna slacken his job and
not do what God has designed to be a help for you. See, if
the pastor is all the time having to walk on eggshells because
he thinks, I'm gonna offend this one, I'm gonna offend that one,
you know, this one's gonna be mad at me, or, you know, I'm
gonna have to kowtow to everybody, you know. You know, if the pastor's
always like that, or is always getting grief whenever I come
to you and talk to you about, hey, I've noticed that, you know,
that you've not been very faithful in your attendance. You know, what's going on? Hey,
I've noticed that you're beginning to, you know, I seen the other
day on Facebook that you posted, you know, this little paragraph
about this, You know, that's really not what the scriptures
teach, you know, or, you know, whatever the case might be, if
the pastor comes down and you become grievous over that, you
know, mind your own business, preacher, you know. Realize that
the pastor, if it's truly a God-ordained thing, a God-ordained man, a call by the church, recognize
the qualifications, the man is faithfully administering the
office of pastor, That's for your good. It's not for your
detriment. It's not for your harm. It's
for your good. But see, so many people take
offense instead of looking at it as a helpful thing. It's good
to have a faithful shepherd who loves you and is looking out
after you and is, more than anything, preaching and giving you the
word of God. That's a wonderful thing. And
so we should Let him do that and let it be
a joyous thing to him and not one that is a grief to him, that
it might be unprofitable for you. Look if you would at 1 Thessalonians
chapter five. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, look
with me if you would at verse 12. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5,
verse 12. It says, and we beseech you brethren
to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord
and admonish you. Okay? Paul here is telling the
church at Thessalonica, know them which labor among you and are over you in
the Lord, and who admonish you, and to esteem them very highly
in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves.
Okay, so here we are admonished as a congregation to those who
are over us in the Lord and labor among us in the Word of God and
admonish us by the Word of God that we are to esteem them highly
in love. What's that telling us? Well, it's telling us we ought
to be praying that the Holy Spirit give us love for our pastor if
he's a faithful pastor. We should be praying that we
have a love for him and not a disdain for the work that he does. Or
I will say this also, not a jealousy for what he does. You know, there
are some men who are not qualified to be pastors, who have not been
called of God to be pastors, and they get jealous at the fact
of the pastor being the pastor. I mean, we know that to be true,
don't we? We've seen that. Men who want
to assert that authority because they want that authority. They
feel that that's what they ought to be. But yet they don't have that
qualifications. And so usually what happens in that instance
is they either cause a ruckus within a congregation and have
to be disciplined, or they leave on their own and they go form
their own little church or something, where they can be their own pastor. It says, we beseech you, brethren,
to know them which labor among you and are over in the Lord,
and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love. Now,
it doesn't say very highly in money. It doesn't say very highly
in pageantry or anything like that. In love. You gotta love
your pastor. For their work's sake. Why? Well,
what's their work? What is their work? Their whole
work is to spiritually look out after you. to be a help to you,
to counsel and to guide and direct and to give you God's Word. That
is their work. You ought to love them for that,
not despise them or disdain or anything like that. You ought
to love them for that work and be at peace among yourselves,
not arguing and fighting back and forth with each other. But
look at verse 14, it says, Now we exhort you, brethren, warn
them that are Unruly. Or disorderly, that word means
disorderly. We exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort
the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. Okay, so exhort and warn them
that are unruly. Well, that's what the pastor's
supposed to do, right? The pastor's supposed to exhort the brethren,
and to warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support
the weak, be patient towards all men, see that none render
evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good,
both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice forevermore,
pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the
will of God and Christ concerning you. Okay, and then it goes down,
for several more things, but here, what is the work that,
the work sake that they are to do? Well, that's one of the things,
is to exhort, to warn, to keep the rule, to comfort the feeble-minded,
support the weak, be patient, okay? So we are to esteem the
pastor because that's something he has to do. And have you ever
thought about this, brethren? That's not an easy thing to do,
is it? Your whole entire ministry is
to oversee the spiritual welfare of everybody else, and then to
take the hard place of exhorting and rebuking and reproving. Now,
the pastor is to do that. Now, you as individuals also
have that mandate as well. to reprove and to rebuke as well. But the pastor has that over
the congregation to see that. And that can be a tiresome, it
can be a struggle, it can be a very hard thing to do. And so let's
not make the pastor's already hard job even harder by giving
him grief for doing the job that God has called him to do. So we should give that respect
and esteem to the pastor. So in doing that, we should pray,
right? We should pray for the pastor. Pray without ceasing.
Pray for your pastor. I need prayer. I need you to
lift me up before the Lord in prayer. Lastly, before we close today,
I want to look at this issue of taking care of the pastor
materially or financially, and what's the biblical way that
we should look at this. Now, a lot of people believe
that a pastor should be given a salary, given a house, you know, and he should work
for that. And what happens in the minds of a lot of people
is The church feels that they're the one that hired the pastor,
so he needs to be following whatever they tell him to do. The pastor
feels that, well, I'm hired by the church, so I better watch
my P's and Q's, otherwise I'm out of a job, okay? And so now we have a pastor who
doesn't have the freedom in his mind and heart to fully pursue
the work that God has given him to do for fear that he might
lose his job. In that case, he's working for
filthy lucre, which is one of the qualifications to be a pastor
is to not work for filthy lucre, okay? So he's disqualified himself
if that's what he's putting himself into. But the church also should
be understanding that they are not there to hire a preacher. And so that's why a lot of the
Baptists of old have preached against hirelings or salaried
pastors, okay? This isn't a business where we
hire and fire. It isn't a salary operation,
okay? I'm not preaching the gospel
for money. From day one, the very first day I stepped foot
into this church as just a pulpit filler, when you had no pastor,
I made it very clear that my intent is not to preach for money.
I don't preach for money. I've not, and to this very day,
I've never asked for one red cent from you. I don't believe
that I am to be paid for my services, okay? That's not how that works. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians chapter nine. This is how the, I'm gonna give
you the two sides of the coin here, brother. I'm going to give
you the, I want to give you the one side, which should be this
is the pastor's, how the pastor's attitude should be. And then I'm going to give you
what the admonition of scripture is. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Again,
this is Paul writing to the Corinthian church. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, look at
verse 1 with me. The Holy Spirit by Paul writes
this. He says, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others,
yet doubtless I am to you. For the seal of mine apostleship
are ye in the Lord. My answer to them that do examine
me is this. Have we not power to eat and
drink? Have we not power to lead about
a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles? And as the brethren
of the Lord in Cephas? Or I only in Barnabas have not
we power to forbear working? Who goeth a warfare any time
at his own charges? Who planted the vineyard and
eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock and
eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as
a man, or sayeth not the law the same also? For it is written
in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox
that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? or saith he altogether for our
sakes. For our sakes, no doubt this
is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and that
he that thresheth in hope should be partakers of this hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual
things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? So what's Paul saying here? Well,
he's giving an illustration. Does any man go out plant a garden
and not have the right to be able to eat out of that garden
that he planted? He said, does any man feed a
flock and not have the right to go out and milk that animal
and drink of its milk? Should he not be sustained by
those that he takes care of? That's what he's talking about. Don't muzzle the mouth of the
ox. What is he talking about? Well, remember as the ox would,
they would tie that ox to the threshing mill, and that thing
would come and it would, or that grinding mill, it would have
corn all over the place. And they'd put that corn under
this big old giant millstone, and this ox would walk around
in a circle, and that millstone would spin on top of the other
one, and that corn that they put down inside there, it would
grind that corn into meal, dust, but a lot of times corn would
fall out and that ox that's doing all that work was eating that
corn. And that's the illustration is
the one who is doing the work among the brethren of pastor,
should he not be able to eat of the things of the work that
he's doing? Okay. He says, if we have sown unto
you spiritual things, Is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal
things? So what he's saying is, as we
have labored in the Lord spiritually for you, should it not be that
you help in carnal things? The pastor, to help support and
to be a ministry to the pastor in things to help unburden his
load. Look at verse 12, if others be
partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless, here it is, we
have not used this power, but suffer all things lest we should
hinder the gospel of Christ. Now here's what I'm saying, is
there is an admonition to the church to be mindful, to help
support their pastor in the work that he does. That doesn't mean
a set salary, That doesn't mean, it's as the Lord gives them the
ability to do, they should relieve as much of the burden as they
can so that he might be able to look out after the things
that he's been called to do for the church. So that may be little,
it may be a lot. Sometimes it may be able to be
a little and it may be able to be a lot. It don't, you know,
but it all should be from a cheerful heart. It all should be from
a, One who desires to give, a cheerful giver, not from one who is doing
it out of derision. I mean, you guys can bear witness. How many times have I preached
on giving here at this church? This would be the third time,
I think, that I can recall ever bringing up giving in this church. And all three times that I've
brought it up has been to this end. That is, God leads you to
do. So the admonition there for the
church, and we'll see some more here in just a few minutes, but
what I'm wanting to mainly focus on is for the pastors. You pastors,
your mindset should be this. Are you deserving to be able
to partake of the carnal things if they are there to be given?
Yes, you have that right. Don't feel bad if somebody wants
to help support you with monetary means, or material things, or
physical help, or whatever that you need, don't be so prideful
and say, no, I'm not gonna take that, or think that you will
be a hireling if you receive that, okay? You are able to do
that. The ox has the right to eat of
the corn as he treads out the corn. But here's the thing that you
need to keep in your mind. you don't have any right to demand
that. And you don't have any right to withhold the gospel
if it's not given to you. Now understand me in that. The
pastor has no right to withhold the gospel unless a set money
or a fee or amount is given. And I know a lot of preachers
I've seen, I've talked to, I've been around, I've been in, the
pastoral things of old, where men, well, I can't go to that
church because, you know, they don't pay enough. Well, if I
go to that church, you know, that's a lot smaller church,
and I've got four kids, so I can't, I can't go there, otherwise I'll
have to go get a job. Well, yeah. Guess what? There's a lot of faithful pastors
out there that work 40, 50 hour jobs. for nothing, you know? See, your
mindset, pastor, should not be on filthy Luther, material gain. What did Paul say here? He said,
nevertheless, even though it's right that we should have and
be given respect and given support, we have not used this power but
suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.
That means we'll do anything to preach the gospel of Christ,
that the gospel of Christ will not be hindered in being preached.
I'm not gonna let money get in my way. I'm not gonna let distance
get in my way. Again, I'm not doing this to
pat on my back, I'm using it as examples. We lived two and
a half hours away. I didn't let distance get in
the way. We drove two and a half hours one way for two years to
preach the gospel. Money isn't a thing. I've gone
and preached to churches hundreds and hundreds of miles away and
sometimes walked away with nothing, sometimes walked away with a
little. Guess what? Sometimes I've walked away where
they, the church has been very gracious to provide an abundance. that has really helped our family
out. But it never was a deterrent. I have never, and preachers should
never put a price on the gospel. He says, do ye not know that
they which minister about holy things live of the things of
the temple? And they which wait at the altar
are partakers of the altar, So Paul's going back here and saying
again, hey, the one who is working in the Lord's work here should
be provided for and helped and be able to partake of the things
in doing the work of the Lord. He says, even so hath the Lord
ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the
gospel. Now, I didn't say that. The Baptist
didn't say that. The Word of God says that. They
which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But here
again, we're seeing the two-sided coins being flipped back and
forth here. That's the admonition to you as the congregation, to
know these things, to pray about these things, to keep those things
in mind. But here's the admonition to
the preacher, to the pastor, but I have used none of these
things, neither have I written these things that it should be
done unto me." Just like how I prefaced this sermon this morning. I'm not preaching this, by the
way, I'm not preaching this to fill my pocket, to pat myself
on the back, to rally the cause to me, okay? This is not a self-serving
sermon. This is preaching the word of
God, explaining the things of God, admonishing you in the Word
of God, expositing the scriptures as we go through them. And here
Paul is saying the same thing. He says, I have not, I've used
none of these things, neither have I written these things that
it should be done unto me. So he's saying, listen, I haven't
used any of these things. And by the way, I'm not writing
this to get you to start doing it for me. Okay. He's saying,
I'm telling you how it is. and what it should be for the
pastors. Pastors, preach on whether you get that work or get that
help or not. Preach on and do whatever it
takes to continue to preach. The people, be mindful of those
things that these men are preaching and watching out after your soul
and that you should watch after them and support and help them
as you can. He says, but I've used none of
these things, neither have I written these things, that it should
be done unto me, for it were better for me to die than that
any man should make my glory void. See, Paul's saying it's better that
I die of malnutrition, not having any sustenance, no food, nobody
taking care of me. If I'm completely without, it's
better for me to go and preach the gospel freely and die, then
put a requirement upon the gospel and have somebody that is taking
care of me and paying me to preach and then for them to be able
to glory in the work of the gospel over me. That's what he's saying
here. He says, I don't have any place
to glory in the work of the Lord because I'm doing it at a price.
And so if you are working or serving Christ for a price, if
you're preaching for a price, if you're preaching for something
in return, then there is no glory in that. You're only doing that for pay,
not for the glory of Christ. The pastor ought to be preaching
and pastoring and doing his work for the glory of Christ and not
for money. Look at verse 16, he says, for
though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity
is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. See, Paul is saying, listen,
whether I have money or not, that isn't the motivator. The
motivator is the fact that God has called me to preach, and
of necessity, I gotta preach. And I can tell you, anybody that's
truly called to God has that. Now, I've been honest with you
guys here in the past. I've told you that there's been
days like today, for instance, that whenever I woke up and I
don't feel good, I don't feel like coming to church. I didn't
feel like coming to church this morning. And I surely didn't
feel, because my mind is tired, my body hurts, and I'm sick,
I didn't feel like getting up to preach. And there are a lot
of times that it's like that. Okay? And this is what Paul's
saying. He's saying, but listen, there's
something that drives the preacher. Brother Howard, listen, whenever
that man was sick and was having issues with his health and everything,
you know, he still felt like, I need to preach. I need to preach. I'll never forget Brother Howard
coming that one day, and here he was, Had a stroke, or another stroke,
or three strokes, I can't remember which one it was. Couldn't walk very well, had
had surgery, but he said, hey, listen, if you hear of any churches
needing a pastor, let me know. And I seem to look on Sister
Loretta's face behind him, saying, I don't know. Why was it like
that? Well, because when a man's called
to preach, he preaches out of necessity, not necessity to stay
alive monetarily. He preaches out of necessity
because God has called him for that labor. And we desire that. And so pastors, if they're preaching
for money or preaching for vainglory, not from the call of God on their
life for the glory of Christ. So that's why I brought that
up because anybody who is truly called We'll know that a preacher
wants to preach. Preacher feels led to preach. It's hard for him not, it's hard.
When we go to Bible conferences and I'm not one of the ones that
had to preach, that's been asked to preach and everything, boy,
I get antsy, man. I get to hearing some of the
good exposition of the scriptures and boy, I want to get up and
preach too. Not for show, not for glory, not to be patted on
the back. Why? Because I have things that God's
given me that I'd like to share too. Understanding of God's word
that I'd like to share with the people for their benefit. Not
to be patted on the back. There's a lot of people that
think we like to do that. We like to pat each other on
the back and you know all this kind of stuff. Listen, it isn't
like that. And shame on people that make
pastors feel bad by claiming that their popes are being put
on pedestals and like that when they're trying to do their faithful
work in the ministry. Not that there's not men like
that. There are men like that. But there are truly men who truly
desire to be good pastors and do what God has called them and
to be diligent in that. And when they are, people think
that they're dictators or popes and things like that. But that's
not the case. If they would ever take some
time to pray for and visit with and get to know these pastors,
they'd probably realize that, but they don't. They go to judgment
right away and begin to make stories up. Paul says here, woe
is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing
willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation
of the gospel is committed unto me, what is my reward then? Verily that when I preach the
gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that
I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from all
men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the
more." Now, what's he talking about here? He says, what's my
reward then? Pastor, what's the reward for
faithfully preaching? Because there's going to be some
that may listen to this and say, well, that's crazy. You mean
to tell me that if I'm called to preach that I'm just to give
over totally to that and just go wherever the Lord calls me
to preach? Even if it means I've got to find another job and lose
my high-paying job? Or does it mean that I got to
pull up stakes and go find another house? And does it mean that,
you know, I'm not going to be paid for being a preacher and,
you know, I'm going to have to take on a job or maybe even two
jobs to support my family? What does Paul say here? What
is my reward? That when I preach the gospel,
I make the gospel of Christ without charge. I do whatever I can to make it
where I don't have to live off of you paying me, where I have to put a price on
the gospel. So if it means going to get a
job, guess what? Go get a job. If it means having two jobs,
guess what? Go get two jobs. You say, well, how in the world
am I ever going to have time to study and to prepare? If God
has called you for the ministry, he's going to enable you for
the ministry. And know what you'll have to do? You'll just have
to get your priorities straight and put study time in perspective
when you need to do that, how often you need to do that. Would it be nice to not have to work, spend my
days to be able to study, come up here and study all day? Yeah, it'd be nice. It'd be nice
to do that. but it's not a necessity. And that's the mindset of the
pastor who's called of God. The pastor who is hired or the
pastor who is, what's the word I want to use
here? The pastor who's been educated and appointed, he's going to say, well, man,
I've got to do it for money or I can't live. That's the goal. You know, at one time I thought
that was the goal was to have, you know, is to be able to live,
even whenever we were traveling in, whenever I was traveling
in that Southern Gospel group, you know, our goal was to finally
get to be where we were full-time, where our whole lives we lived
off of just going and singing. We didn't have to have a job
to go back to and have to work and then go out on the weekends
and come back to work early on. You know? See, that's the mentality
of a lot of young men today that think that they are to be preachers,
is they think that, well, the goal is to be taken care of 100%
where I don't have to work, and can give 100% to studying of
God's Word. Now, yes, that's nice if a church
can do it. And listen, I'm not putting down
any church that wants to take care of its pastor so that he
doesn't have to go out and work in car things, where he can devote
his time to study. And I'll say this, to those pastors
who have churches that are gracious enough to supply your needs so
that you don't have to work a secular job, you better take advantage
of that time of studying. And don't blow it off. He says, what is my reward? That
I might make the gospel of Christ without charge. That I abuse
not my power in the gospel. So what this is telling me, that
if you preach for a price, you're abusing the gospel. You're abusing
the gospel. He says, for though I be free
from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that
I might gain the more." Let's talk about that for a minute,
about the pastors. He says, though I be free from
all men, what does that mean? He says he's not indebted to
any man, he's free of all men, okay? He's not obligated by any
stretch of the means to any man in servitude. But willingly he has made himself
by the call of God upon him and his being obedient to that call
has made himself the servant of that church. And so he labors
for those people. Why? So that he can gain more
money? No, so he can gain the more. What is more? What is he
talking about that so I can gain the more? What's he gaining more? by being a servant to the people
and not putting any restrictions on it, doing it freely. What's
he gaining? Well, I'll tell you one thing
he's gaining. He's gaining an opportunity to
preach the gospel at any cost. He's gaining an opportunity to
preach to people without any indebtment. He is gaining the ability to preach
God's Word and not be accused of filthy lucre. But what is
he gaining the more? Well, he's gaining the spiritual
maturity and growth of the people of God. That's far more important
to the pastor, or should I say to the true godly pastor, God-called
pastor. It's more important to him the
spiritual welfare and nourishment and maturity of the people of
God than his own necessities. Why do preachers drive thousands
of miles to preach? Because he's concerned for people's
maturity in the spirit and their welfare. and the honoring of
Christ in preaching. You know, why do pastors have
jobs and work countless hours and come and try to spend what
time they can studying God's word? Why do they give up their
weekends to do the work of the church and not be able to always
just go out and do whatever they want to do? Why do they have
to meet sometimes in the hospitals and they've come home from a
hard day's work but yet one of their loved ones is in the hospital
and they go up and sit with them through the evening, through
the night. See, these are things that congregations
sometimes don't think about. We ought to be mindful of that
to our pastors, that our pastors are doing a good work, that they're
doing a wonderful work, a work called by God and it's not an
easy work and they should be prayed for. And whenever ability
is given to administer to them, things and help for their material
needs and things that they have. But pastor, don't expect those
things. Don't think that you're owed
those things. You're not owed those things. By God's grace,
if they give it, that's wonderful. But that is not your motivation.
Our motivation is not for gain and carnal things. but gaining
spiritual things. Look with me, if you would, a
couple more verses before we end this morning. Look at 1 Timothy
chapter five. 1 Timothy chapter five. Kind of on a side note, what
I was just saying there, and I've been, like I said, we've
been to churches where we've gone And we drove hundreds of
miles and come away with barely enough money to get gas back
home. And that's happened to us several times. If it wouldn't have been for
the church putting us in a hotel, we wouldn't have been able to
go because we couldn't stay in a hotel and pay for a hotel for
me to preach at. It's another reason why pastors
ought to have hospitality. A preacher that's like that will
come into your house and say, That used to be a thing, you
know? I don't know how it was with Brother Howard, but I remember
my grandpa, whenever I was a little kid, church would invite them
to come preach a revival somewhere. Someone in that congregation
would put that preacher up in their house, let them stay there.
They'd feed them and let them sleep there and take care of
whatever they needed while they was there. Now, nowadays, it's
gotten to be where a lot of people like to do that, put a hospitality
in. There's not a lot of people that
extend hospitality, but there's a lot of preachers that, you
know, some of them just don't want to go and be, you know,
be in someone else's house out of their own deals. Or some may
like my grandpa eventually got to the place because he had to
take medicines and his insulin shots and all the different stuff.
He had to keep his certain medicines in a cold cooler and all that.
He ended up going to hotels so it wouldn't be a burden on the
people that he was going to. You know, and some men may be
like that, or they wanna go and they wanna spend time where they
have an opportunity to continue to study and pray over the services
and stuff. So there's a lot of things. But
the thing is, is a lot of men, you know, they expect that they
ought to get that, but you know, the congregations don't know.
There's a lot of times men has come not expecting anything,
but needing a lot. But on the other hand, listen,
You can ask my wife. There's been times we've been
asked to come and preach and we've gone to places and we didn't
have hardly any money. And the Lord knew that we went
without any cost. And I tell you what, when we
drove away, it was like, that was amazing. I cannot even believe
that they even give us that much money. Provided that for us,
didn't even see that coming. little old tiny church that don't
have much of anything, but they give as much as they could, you
know, and everything. And that's a blessing to the
pastor. And it's a blessing to that church
too, for them to do that. 1 Timothy chapter five, look at verse 17. It says, let
the elders that rule well, Again, there's that word rule. Again,
we've already looked at that. The elders that rule well. Again,
let the elders that rule well. Do you have a faithful pastor?
If you have a faithful pastor, this is what it's talking about.
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor,
especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the
scriptures say, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out
the corn and the laborer is worthy of his reward. So here it says,
let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor. Now I've struggled with this
verse for quite a while. At one time, you know, I said,
let's talk about money. And then I got to thinking, you
know, especially whenever I got around a lot of preachers and
churches that was in that one extreme that says, you know,
if you take any kind of money for preaching, then you're a
hireling. And, you know, they just ridiculed anybody that even
talked about finances or brought up money at all about anything
that you're hiring. Okay. I kind of got into that
and began to see that. But, you know, if you let the
scripture say what they say, they say what they say. The word
honor here does have a reference to money. It is an honor as far
as I honor you. I give you respect. God forbid
we use the word reverence, okay? The word honor here is talking
about the administration of need, okay? Administration to need
help in material things. Now you say, well, Pastor Preacher,
where do you get that? Well, number one, the word itself means
that. It can mean that. There's two or three ways that
that's translated in Scripture, but it can mean that. But I'll
tell you why I say that. Look up in verse one of chapter
five. Rebuke not an elder, but entreat
him as a father, and the younger men as brethren. The elder women
as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity. Now look here
in verse three. Honor widows that are widows
indeed. But if any widow have children
or nephews, let them first to show piety at home and to requite
their parents. That word requite means to pay
back. They are to show piety We all
know what the word piety means. It means, well, in this case,
the word piety means kindness. So the nephews, the children
or nephews, there's a widow who is a widow indeed, meaning a
true godly widow, a woman who is a believer, is a member of
the Lord's church, is a widow indeed. But if any widow have
children or nephews, let them learn first to show kindness
or piety at home, and to requite their parents, or to repay their
parents, for that is good and acceptable for, repay them what? Well, repay them for all the
years that they took care of you, that they nourished you,
nurtured you, cared for you, provided you, all your needs
for you. So in the context, the word honor
there is speaking of a material ministration, taking care of
somebody materially. Verse five, now she that is a
widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in God and continueth in supplications
and prayer not in vain. So what's that saying? That's
the same flip side just like the pastor has. The widow is
owed that, or deserves to be taken care of by her children,
but she's not to demand that. What does it say here? She that
is a widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in God to take care
of her. Continueth in supplications and prayers night and day, but
she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. And these
things give in charge that they may be blameless. But if any
provider, here again, that's why I say those word honor is
talking about material, ministration or giving material help. The context here drops
in verse 8, but if any provide not for his own and specially
for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is
worse than an infidel. See, this is saying that if there
is a, go back up to the context, children or nephews who are not
taking care of the widow materially, physically. It says that he hath denied the
faith. That's pretty strong language. My grandma is a widow. As her grandson, I have an obligation
by the Lord apart from the fact that I love my grandma, I have
an obligation by the Lord to make sure that I take care of
her if she has need. Now she has children, she has
nephews, she has grandchildren, great-grandchildren, plenty enough people that should
be able to supply her needs so that she should not have to take
care of herself. or that the church should have
to take care of her. But the Bible says that if we
do not do that, if we do not provide, then we have denied
the faith and is worse than an infidel. Let not a widow be taken
into the number under three, four years old, having been the
wife of one man. Here's some qualifications for
what a widow indeed is, okay? well-reported of for good works,
if she had brought up children, if she has lodged strangers,
if she has washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the
afflicted, if she had diligently followed every good work. But
the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton
against Christ, they will marry, having damnation because they
have cast off their first faith. And with all, they learn to be
idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle,
but tattlers also, and busybodies speaking things which they ought
not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children,
guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully,
for some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman
that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not
the church be charged, that it may relieve them that are widows
indeed." we see that the whole context that we're talking about
here of this honoring the widow is speaking of taking care of
her material needs. Physically, monetarily, whatever
the case might be, that's the obligation of the family. However,
the Bible does say right there that it says, let not the church
be charged that may relieve them that are widows in need. If the
widows don't have children that do that, then the churches are
to step in and take care of that. So what's it talking about? It's
talking about taking care materially, monetarily. And it goes right
into saying, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honor. Especially they who labor in
the word and doctrine. Okay? Now what else should we
learn about how the church should think or be towards their pastor?
We'll look at verse 19. Against an elder receive not
an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that
sin rebuke before all that others may also fear. Okay, so we're
not to receive an accusation about an elder except there be
two or three witnesses. Well, I tell you what, that does
not happen. today. Well, I tell you what,
there are people running around gossiping about a preacher, gossiping
about this, and there's not two or three witnesses. If there's been two or three
witnesses, that is a report thing, then you can take that, that's
possibly the truth, then. You know? So be careful about saying things
about the elder, unless there are two or three witnesses on
that. While we're there, look at 2
Timothy chapter two. 2 Timothy chapter two, in verse
four. No man that warth entangled himself
with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath
chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for
masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strives lawfully. The
husband that laboreth must be first partakers of the fruits.
Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding
in all things." So here again, the pastor, if he is as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ, he shouldn't entangle himself with the affairs
of this life. So here again, the other side
of the coin for the pastor, here's the admonition to the pastors,
is that if you're in a situation where you are having to take
care of yourself, do not entangle yourself with the cares of this
life and let those take priority over what you're called to do.
Okay, don't let the affairs of this life hinder you from doing
the things that God, continue to be a good soldier for Jesus
Christ. He said, well, what do you mean
be a good soldier? He said, look up there, verse one. Thou therefore,
my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the
things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the
same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. We're to endure hardness. If
we're a pastor preaching and teaching And especially as we
equip other faithful men to do the same, we are to not get entangled
in the affairs of this life, but to press on and do what God
has called us to do. So you guys who are out there
having to work and pastor, hey, don't let that work overtake
the work that you're doing in the church. Don't let the church
go by the wayside. So that's how church should look
towards their pastor. They should honor him. They should
pray for him. They should give respect to him. Again, this is for faithful pastors,
for those who preach the word of God and that look after your
soul, that you ought to do those things, that you ought to watch
out and take care of his material needs as you can, as you're enabled,
as God leads you and directs you, okay? But pastor, you also,
should be faithful to your flock, doing these things, not for gain,
okay, not for hire, not for monetary means, but do them because of
the glory of the Lord, not for anything in return. And so that's
how the church ought to look at their pastors and how pastors
should look at their churches. All right, we'll stop there this
morning, brethren. We'll look at the office of deacon
Lord willing next, not next week, next week will be our Thanksgiving
dinner here together. We'll be having Thanksgiving
dinner and together as a church. And we'll spend some time, everybody
that wants to give a testimony of how the Lord has blessed them
and touched them throughout the years and everything. We're not preaching, okay? This
isn't gonna be a preaching time. This is just everybody sharing
the faithfulness of the Lord throughout the years and giving
thanks to Him for what He has given and done for us. And this will be a time where
the ladies will have an opportunity to share the things that they're
thankful for. Again, we're not preaching, we're
not preaching. But the ladies also have an opportunity
to tell how thankful they are to the Lord, and to share the
things of their life that the Lord has done, but not in an
instructing, teaching, and doctrine type of way, which we know, and
of course, we believe that here, right? We believe that the ladies
have a role here, but not to be preaching. And so anyway,
these are one of those times where the ladies are able to
share from their heart the things that the Lord has been given
to them. And we'll do that next week and
we'll eat some turkey and whatever y'all want to fix. We don't have
to have turkey, you know, even though it's Thanksgiving, that's
kind of traditional, but we can have whatever you want. But anyway,
we're going to do that. And then we're also going to
have the Lord's Supper together. So the members of Salt and Grace Baptist Church
will observe the Lord's Supper next week. And so we will not
have a live stream next week. uh we will just have our fellowship
together here together uh with our thanksgiving and lord's supper
right does anybody have any things you'd like to speak of comments all right let's go to the lord
heavenly father we thank you today again for your son