The subject this morning is what
a bishop must be, what he must be. Now you might not think it very
interesting or profitable to hear the qualifications or characteristics
of an elder or bishop or pastor since you're not one if you're
not. But let me assure you right at the outset that you don't
have to be called of God to preach his gospel or lead in the ministry
in any way in order to learn and profit from this study as
we see what God does and why in his church. We'll rejoice
together in his grace, in his providence, in the salvation
that he works by these means. This is what God does. This is
what this is. The very fact that there are
elders, bishops, pastors, all names for God's preachers, you'll
see these used interchangeably, And people talk about the differences.
I'm not sure that anyone knows of any difference. Here's what
it is. It's someone who speaks for God. Or leads in God's church in some
capacity. And the very fact that there
are any of those is a great gift from God. Let me remind you of
that from Jeremiah 3.14. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord, for I am married unto you. I am married unto you. And I will take you one of a
city and two of a family, and I'll bring you to Zion. He may
save one out of a whole city. Out of a family, he may save
one or two or the whole family. But everybody's going to end
up in the same place, the city of God. And when you get there, I got
something for you, he said. I will give you pastors according
to my heart. You think about that. What better
thing could he say? What better thing could he give?
A pastor according to my heart, which shall feed you. with knowledge
and understanding. I will give you the gift of God. So let's look at those words
for a second. I will give. And let me make something clear
right at the outset again. This is as much a gift to the
pastor as it is to the people that he pastors. This is the
gift. First Peter 4 10 the Apostle
Peter said as every man hath received the gift even so minister
So this is as much a gift to the man As it is to those he
ministers to And then he says I will give
you God doesn't give this to everybody God doesn't give everybody a
pastor You know who he gives them to?
Those who he's married to. Those who he loves, those who
are one with him by holy matrimony. I will give, I will give you. I will give you pastors. Not just men, though they are
men, but a pastor. A shepherd. with the emphasis on one that
feeds because the word pasture is closely related to pasture. It's a form of the word pasture.
And pasture is a verb as well as a noun. We're all familiar with the noun
of pasture, an open field. But it's also a noun. When you
pasture some sheep, you take them out into that field and
make sure they get something to eat. That's what a pastor is. So to pasture some sheep is to
make sure they have something to eat. Didn't he say they'll
feed you? That's what they'll do. And of course a shepherd
leads and he administers first aid and care and nurtures and
he gathers sheep and sometimes he brings lost ones back and
He protects them from predators, but mostly he feeds. And that's
why this word, pastor. Our Lord asked the apostle Peter,
do you love me? And again, when I say this, I
say, he didn't say, do you love my sheep? Although obviously
that's part of it, but there's something being taught here by
him saying, do you love me? Then feed my sheep. All right, I will give you, it's
God's gift. I'll give it to you. Those who
I'm married to, those who I love, those who I care for. I'll give you pastors. Just somebody
to feed you. Not princes, not kings, not rulers,
pastors. And they're gonna be according
to my heart. He gives his pastors a heart
according to his heart. The heart of the great shepherd
of the sheep. And this is a great gift to anybody
that's included here. He's going to give you a heart
like his heart. The great shepherd loves every one of his sheep.
enough to drop everything, to leave everything, and go and
find that single sheep. And we know what that involved
in spiritual terms now. For the Lord to find you, in
order for the Lord to go where you were and bring you home,
he had to come where you are, from the very throne of glory.
And he humbled himself and being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself further and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. That's what it took for him to
find you. He had to come where you were in your sin. And it took nothing short of
his precious blood to bring you home. The great shepherd is not a hireling.
He doesn't forsake the sheep in adversity or danger, and his
shepherds have that heart. He defends them and protects
them and comforts them in a hostile world, and it is, isn't it? Sheep
live in a hostile world. There's nothing, if you're a
sheep, you're vulnerable and defenseless. That's the very definition, a
sheep is, Vulnerable to every predator And this one here with this heart
he's their bishop The shepherd and bishop the pastor
and bishop 1st Peter 2 25 for you were as sheep going astray,
but now are returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls
Now that's the Lord Jesus Christ. But he said, I'm going to give
you under shepherds with a heart like my heart. And these sent
in these ways, love, concern, care. Now a bishop, this is an important
word because this is what we're talking about right now, the
defense of the sheep and the care of the sheep, the concern
over them, the him watching over and making sure of some things.
Bishop is an overseer a guardian a Superintendent and here's an
interesting you look this up in Strong's and here's what it
says a man charged with the duty of seeing To it that things to
be done by others are done rightly Can you think about that for
a second? that's kind of a long let me
say it again a Bishop is charged with the duty of seeing to it
that That things to be done by others are done right. That's interesting, isn't it? Responsible for you. God said you warn them or I'll
hold you responsible. You teach them or I'll hold you
responsible. Alright, so I will give you Pastors
after my own heart Which shall feed you they're
not gonna fail they're not gonna try because I sent them If God sends you They'll feed you that's that's
the primary thing in it feed my sheep With knowledge and understanding Not the same thing, knowledge
and understanding. Not two words for the same thing. You're not
only going to know some things, but you're going to understand.
There's a lot of people that know something. Knowledge puffs
up. Unless there's understanding and love. Feed. They're going to feed you. They're going to give you something
that's absolutely necessary. This is important that they're
going to feed you. You know, you can live a long
and prosperous life without ever being entertained one time in
your whole life. But you can't live without eating. You're not going to send them
to entertain you. A man shall not live by bread
alone. but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God. If you do not have a knowledge
and understanding of every word that proceedeth from the mouth
of God, then you will die. You don't feed sheep, what's
going to happen to them? They're going to die. And you will die in the truest
and most terrible sense of that word without being fed. It's a necessity. It must happen.
If you love me, do it, he said. And this is not so much, now
when we think of every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God, this is not so much a study of every single word in the Bible.
Though if we live long enough, maybe we'll get to do that. But
it is a knowledge of what God is saying with every word in
this book. You see the difference? With
every single word in this Bible, it's telling forth one message. One message. And it's a knowledge
of that. an understanding of that, the
truth of God, the doctrine of God, our Savior. And in every
word in the Bible, God is revealing his son, Jesus Christ. He's revealing
a person, his character, his attributes, what he's like, who
he is, what he does, what he has done, what he's going to
do, everything about him, everything about him. It's about him. That's
what this book is about. It is Christ that you must know. He will feed you with knowledge,
but not just knowledge just for the sake of knowing things. It's
the knowledge of somebody. This is life eternal that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. And he must understand. He must
be given understanding Then opened he their understanding that they
might understand the scriptures. A lot of people know a lot about
Christ, but do you understand the scriptures concern him from
start to finish? And he gives you that understanding,
but how does he do it? I'll give you pastors who will
feed you with that knowledge and understanding. Christ was
acting as the pastor to them in that passage. He fed them
with the knowledge of himself, but not just knowledge. They
had a lot of nothing. But now they understand. Because
he opened their understanding. And he does that through the
preaching of the gospel yet. Today. So it is him that you
must know and the pastor after God's heart understands this.
He knows what sheep eat. And by God's grace he gives it
to them. Christ is our true shepherd. He is the shepherd and bishop
of our soul, and he is the green pasture which nourishes our soul,
and he is the still waters, the river of water of life that flows
from the very throne of God, clear as crystal, that refreshes
our soul and gives us vitality. He is all. And that is what a
pastor, an elder, a bishop does. It's pictured beautifully when
our Lord broke that loaf of bread and those little fish. He didn't
go give them to the people he gave them to his preachers That's how he does it He receives that the elder the
pastor he receives the bread from the very hand of Christ
He's the miracle and he's the bread He's the satisfaction for
the soul He's the life But he hands the bread to his servant
that is broken by him and he distributes it to them and they
distribute it to everybody that's sitting at the table. Are you
sitting at the table? Paul it says opening and alleging
that Christ must needs have suffered. You look up those words opening
and alleging sometimes. One of them I forget which now
means to set the table. You look it up. That's what his
pastors do. They feed. They set the table. Didn't provide the food. I didn't
make it. I didn't fix it. I don't add
anything to it or take anything away from it He just gives it
to me and I give it to you by his grace Set the table and I'll tell you
this, you know what I found Everybody that's hungry Will have plenty
to eat plenty to eat Plenty to eat And we do this at the observance
of the Lord's table, the ordinance. Bread is broken and distributed.
But also every time the pastor brings a message from the word
of God, from the heart of God, the bread is being administered.
And what is that bread? Just like at the table. This
is my body, which is broken for you, the person of Christ. And
this is this cup is the new covenant in my blood, his work. His sin
atoning, effectual, successful, finished, saving work. That's what sheep eat. That's all sheep eat. The food distributed, the table
set every time is the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every time. You must know who He is. This is something we're going
to be learning until the day we die, and we're still not going
to know who he is. One day we will know him even
as we are known. That's what I mean. We're not
going to know him like that until we're like him. When we're like him, we'll see
him as he is, but not until then. But we know him. We know him,
and we still want to know him. And we'll die wanting to know
him. You must know who he is, God in human flesh. He's God
now. And you know, you could study
books and books, stacks of books of doctrines about the person
of Christ. But when God reveals to you that his son, the God
man, the son of God is God. You'll quit saying things like
he's trying to do things. Or he wants to, or he did all
he can do. You'll just quit because you'll
see that he's God. You don't have to read big old thick books
to learn that. You have to have a revelation from God though.
God's got to reveal his son in you. That he's God in human flesh. He does as he pleases. Don't
we see that in everything that he did? Won't thou be made whole? Zacchaeus, you come down. What
about everybody else? You come down. I'm going to live
at your house today. Paul, his worst enemy on this
earth at the time. Would anybody argue with that?
Well, please God, he revealed his son in me. Just whenever
he wanted to. He didn't have to try. He just
did it. God in human flesh, the mighty
God on whose shoulders the very government of God's kingdom rests.
He's that nail in a sure place where it says there in Isaiah,
the whole glory of God's house hangs on his son. Everything. It all depends on him. That's
why only he can open the book. You know what's in that book?
Every purpose of God in the saving of his people. All of his decrees
and purposes. And the opening of that book
is the fulfillment of them. Only Christ can do it. Everything
hangs upon Him. If He fails, the whole thing
fails. But if He's victorious, then the victory is ours. He's God's Lamb that takes away
sin. You got to know who he is, the
one and only propitiation, the sin offering that God will accept,
the sin offering that God will accept for the salvation of the
sinner. That's why that publican, he said, God be propitious to
me, the sinner. Where's that going to happen?
Right where he was at the mercy seat, where the blood of the
lamb is spilled. You must know what he did. He's
going to reveal something to you about what he did. And this
is a reflection of who he is, you see. If he is God's lamb
that takes away sin, then what did he do? He took away sin.
He took somebody's sins away. John said, unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his blood. Now you think about
that. The truth is not complicated.
When Christ died on Calvary, he washed somebody's sins away,
John said. He didn't make anything available.
or potentially do anything. He washed somebody's
sins away. And John said, I'm one of them.
What about you? If you believe on that lamb,
then your sins are gone. He took away sin. He washed away
the sins of everyone that he died for. That's what the high
priest did. He made atonement for who? Everybody
he represented as high priest. Atonement was made by him. If he is the mighty God, then
what did he do? Whatever he wanted to. You see
what I'm saying? What he did can't be separated
from who he is. What did David say? My God's
in the heavens. He does what he pleases. That's what he did.
What did it please God to do? This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all that he's given me, I should lose nothing
but raise it up again at the last day. And this is his will.
All who come to me will have life. I will in no wise cast
them out. So as God, what did he do? Exactly what he pleased. He came
to redeem His people. What did He do? He redeemed His
people. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. What
did He do then? Well, if He's God, He sought them and saved
them. He is victorious. None could
stay in the hand of God or question Him. He cannot fail. As the invincible
Son of God, He gives life to whom He will. He raises the dead
as it pleases him. He has mercy. He said, I'll have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And if Christ has redeemed you
with his precious blood, he'll come and tell you about it. That's
why he sends a pastor to tell you about it, because that's
your food. He'll come and tell you about
it. He will send a pastor who will tell you about it. And as
he does, God will reveal Christ in you and all that he did and
all that he is to you. And you will be satisfied with
him just like God is. Many today say that pastors are
obsolete. I've heard this quite a bit and
unnecessary now. We can just meet in our home.
We'll just study on our own. You know, I don't find that in
the word of God. I don't find that. And these are usually people
who are so smart that they can't agree with anybody anyway or
rejoice with anybody anyway. And so they isolate themselves
and say they don't need a pastor. Let me challenge you to do something.
You look again at Ephesians chapter four at the reasons why God gave
pastors. And if you don't need any of
that, then maybe you're fine. Maybe you're okay. Or then again,
if you don't need to be equipped and complete in the things of
God, if you don't need to be built up as the body of Christ,
if you don't need the unity of the faith, if you don't need
a knowledge of the Son of God, if you don't need to be an integral
part of the body of Christ or to grow up into Christ or to
be established in the faith so that you're not tossed about
with every wind of doctrine, Then you're either perfectly
fine or you're a reprobate, one of the two. And you know what else God gives
pastors for? And again, this is a gift to me as much or more
than it is to you. This is not me saying I'm God's
gift to you. It's not that attitude. This is God's gift to us. It doesn't matter who it is.
It's just some man. Just a voice. You know what else
God gives us? Listen to this. Psalm 68. You're
going to have to turn there because you need to look at it. Psalm
68, 18. In Ephesians chapter 4, let me
be real clear about this. In Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle
Paul is quoting Psalm 68, 18. Where we're turning right now. He says there, when the Lord
Jesus Christ ascended on high and led captivity captive, in
other words, he led everything that I was captured to, is now
captive to him. Sin, death, the devil, everything. All my enemies are now his captives. And he received gifts from men.
He received blessing and power and authority from his father
for his people. And the way Paul preaches that
in Ephesians 4, you know what those gifts were? Pastors, elders,
teachers. And he gives all those reasons
there why he gave them that we just talked about. And listen
to what he said in Psalm 68, 18, right back to the source
of the scripture that Paul quoted in Ephesians chapter 4, talking
about God's gift of pastors and teachers and elders. He said,
thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for the rebellious also. Anybody like that here? He didn't do this for good people.
That the Lord God might dwell among them. Why has God done
things the way he's done them? I kind of like his way of things,
don't you? I don't think it's obsolete or unnecessary. I want
God to dwell with us. Where two or three are gathered
in my name, we gather the way that he has taught us, the way
that he has privileged us to do so, under the gospel teaching,
under the leadership of a pastor, we gather and we worship and
he said, I'll be right there with you. that the Lord God might dwell
among them. God gives pastors for so
many reasons and does so much for his people by this means. And let me just emphasize once
again, it's not about the person. It doesn't matter who it is. It's what God has done that we
rejoice in. And so Paul says to Titus, you
go and establish elders, pastors, bishops in every city. What's he mean by that? Every
city in the world? Everywhere there's somebody that'll listen
to him. Because our Lord said, if they won't listen to you,
then you go somewhere else. When he sent out his preachers. Every
city where there's a church, every city where there's some
of God's sheep, every city where there's a commitment to the Word,
You ordain elders, pastors, in every one of them, every one
of them. There must be an under shepherd. If not, something is wanting,
verse five of our text. It's wanting, there's something
lacking. You know what that word means? The word wanting there
means to fail or be destitute. If there's not pastors set up,
if there's not pastors ordained and established in that place,
it's destitute. There's not a church, I'm telling
you now. And he must be blameless. Boy, Chris, what are you going
to do with that? Well, I'll tell you this right up front. It doesn't
say he must be sinless. He must be blameless. There's
a difference. Although, of course, if he be
a believer, if he be God's preacher, if he be God's child at all,
if he knows the Lord Jesus Christ, he is sinless in the sight of
God, and therefore blameless. But
this is talking about also being unreprovable in the sight of
men. And this is important, I believe.
No man is sinless, but you can, by God's grace, not be guilty
of open rebellion against God while you are professing to be
the servant of God. And look, this ain't dependent
on you or me. This is the way God does things.
Is that clear? This is the way God does things.
He's not going to raise up a man who professes to be the servant
of God and speak for God while he's in open rebellion against
God. God's not the author of confusion. There's gonna be a
clear sound in voice and in life. And let me say this too, don't
look too close. Don't look too close. If you
are, let me say this very clearly now. If you are thanking God
for a pastor, as I have for the one that he gave me. I am grateful for the ministry
of the word and if you are rejoicing together as his church in Christ
and in his truth and the fellowship of his saints then you won't
find any reason to blame the pastor for anything unless of
course the Lord takes his hand off of the man and then he'll
go down in an instant If the Lord ever takes his hand
of grace off of any man at any time, he's a goner. But even if the Lord is with
a pastor and is using him, if he's God's man and God sent him
and God is using him, if you're looking for a reason to discredit
him, you'll find it. You'll find it. I've seen it
too many times. I've done it too many times. You'll find reason enough for
yourself anyway to discredit him. And normally, usually, it's
because you hate the Christ that he preaches. Though you won't
likely admit that. But sometimes it's just a flare-up
of the flesh, and you know, we get mad at somebody, we look
for an excuse, and you're going to find it. I pray God you'll
be able to lose it, too. Because it's there. Don't look
too close. Is that alright? I had somebody
tell me one time that another person had stopped coming to
hear me preach because I wasn't personable enough. I confess,
I want to be personable. But again, if you're looking
for a reason, that's one of many. But Paul gives specific examples
of what he's talking about here when he says he must be blameless. He must be blameless in the sense
of open rebellion. Not he must be sinless, but he
can't be in open rebellion against the Lord that he claims to serve.
It just can't be. For example, he said, he must
be the husband of one wife. Why is that important? Polygamy
was very common in those days. To just be married and have,
you know, more than just marry whoever and just be like an animal.
No commitment, no marriage in the sense that God ordained it.
Very common. And remember what marriage is.
Again, Paul in the book of Ephesians makes this pretty clear, doesn't
he? Marriage is a love that only God can bless two people with. Marriage is submission and love
and commitment. Marriage, most of all, is a picture. And understand the ultimate purpose
of marriage, the divine and highest glory of what marriage is, is
that it pictures the love of Christ for his bride and his
utter commitment to her by giving himself unto her, in choosing
her, and committing himself to her. So if your very life is
a constant repudiation of that, and continually and manifestly
undermines that, then everything you say from the pulpit is hypocrisy. You're finished as a preacher.
It's over. It's just that simple. And understand this, this would
be true in all cases if not for God's grace. We would bring shame
on His name in an instant. But this is, everybody would
be disqualified in every way, in all of these ways that He
lives here and many more. Paul is not saying here, Paul
is not saying here that this whole matter of finding or being
or having a good pastor hinges upon the behavior of that man.
He is not saying that. He is simply saying that if God
has provided, if he's given a pastor to his people, this is what he'll
look like. This is who you're looking for. A pastor after God's heart is
not going to be utterly unconcerned about how he represents Christ
in his own life. It's just not going to be that
way by God's grace. And he must have faithful children.
And there's a very simple reason for this, and I'll read it to
you, or you can turn there, 1 Timothy 3. It'd be good to look at it,
I think. And I'm not going to go much longer. We won't go through
all of these because of time, but just one or two more. But
you'll see why he gives these examples. And as I said, I want
us to rejoice in what God has done. And why? Because he loves, he flat loves
his church. And anybody that loves him is
going to love his church. He's going to see to it. Having
faithful children. 1 Timothy 3, 2. A bishop then
must be blameless. the husband of one wife, vigilant,
sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach,
and we may look at all of these for a little bit during this
study, because all of these are part of the same thing, not given
to whine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient,
not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own
house, Having his children in subjection with all gravity. With all gravity, with all seriousness. You know, people laugh it off.
Well, they're just a strong-willed child. No, you're a weak parent.
That's what it is. All children are strong-willed.
Don't you get that? We're all wild asses coats by
nature. With all gravity now. For if a man know not how to
rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of
God? That's a pretty good question, isn't it? So God just gives you
that. He just gives you that. Got to,
or you're not going to have it. I'll just read the rest
of this, and as I said, we may look into this later, but not
a novice. You know, I'm learning as much or more than you as we
study the scripture, but God's got to teach you some things
before you can teach. You know what I mean? You can't
teach something you don't know. God's got to reveal. He's got
to. Not a novice, less being lifted up with pride. And it's
not just a novice in knowledge, but a novice as a believer, because
being lifted up with pride, he may fall into the condemnation
of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which
are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the
devil." That's that part about being blameless, not reproachable,
and in these specific things especially that he's talking
about. But since we're out of time,
I want to look down to the last one in our text, because I don't
want this message this morning to lack this one thing. I want
to see what we're heading toward in all of this. We've already
talked about how that a pastor feeds and what he feeds the sheep
with, but remember where all of this is going in verse nine,
holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught. Why can't
he just marry who he wants to? Because of the word, because
it confuses the message. It contradicts the message. You
can't hold fast the faithful word and be that person. That's
why you see that it all has to do with the message. That's what
we feed. He must be blameless above all in this blameless in
holding fast. The faithful word. To the law and to the testimony.
If he speaks not according to this word. God didn't send him. Doesn't matter what he says about
it. Doesn't matter what you think.
How much you admire him. How personable he might be. God didn't send him. And all
of these other things now. It's about that isn't it? You
can't preach the word with any credibility. and openly defy the one who wrote
it. It's because there's no light in them. So just remember as
we see these other things, these very practical and simple, this
is simple isn't it? You can't be married to more
than one wife. That's contrary to the message. You can't be incapable of leading. in your household because then
God's house is a lot more important than yours. These very simple
detailed things. It's all because of the word
now. It's because of the gospel of Christ. It's because of Him.
How it reflects upon Him. It's contrary to the gospel.
Not just because it's contrary to the law. It is contrary to
the law. But because it's contrary to
the gospel. Why can't he be proud? You know,
we saw that in the other verse there. Why can't he be self-willed? Why can't he be a brawler? Because
it doesn't sit well with the gospel. You can't hold fast the
faithful word and be like that. It's a contradiction to the faithful
truth of God. Is he an ambassador sent from
the king? And that's it, you know. Did
God send him with a message? A message for his people. Has
God sent somebody with a declaration from the very throne? You think
about that. None of this is by accident.
Have you seen through the years as I've preached through the
scripture, verse by verse, and I don't know five days from now,
What I'll exactly be looking at, but you know this, I know
this, it'll be exactly what you need to hear. Haven't you found
that to be so? It'll correspond with things
in your life that you need right now. You know why? Because that's
a message from God, not me. I didn't plan it, but he did.
That's exactly what I needed to hear. You know, we were just
talking about that, just yesterday. You know how many times I've
heard that? That's because God from his very
throne has sent a message this morning to you. And if that's true, then I sure do
want to hear that message. Don't you? Don't let anything
stand in the way of that. The package may be ugly. It may
be hard to open. But the gift is precious. And what a gift for God to send a message for
us to hear from God this morning. What a blessing. What a privilege. May we receive the word from
him as the great and precious gift that it is and rejoice in
his son who is the very gospel that we hold dear. Let's pray.