1 Timothy chapter 3. Now, in
our study through the different books of the Bible, we've gone
through each of the epistles so far, and each of them that
we've looked at have been written to specific churches. They are
written for the instruction of all believers, but they are written
to specific churches. The next three epistles that
we'll look at, beginning with the one we look at this morning,
are called pastoral epistles because they're written to pastors,
to Timothy and to Titus. And in these letters, Paul tells
us some things about God's pastors. He gives us the qualifications
of pastors. He tells us how pastors are to
conduct themselves as they lead. That's the job of a pastor is
to lead God's sheep, to feed them, to lead them, to lead them
to Christ. and these epistles give us the
doctrine that all of God's preachers are to preach. I feel like this
morning would be a good time for us to look at the qualifications
of God's pastors. If God calls a man to the ministry,
he's going to equip him for the work, he's going to give him
the qualifications, the necessary skills for the work, and God's
blessings to that man, God's gifts to that man, probably a
better way to put it, will be obvious to God's church. So here's
the first qualification of God's pastors. God's pastors all have
a strong desire to preach Christ. Look at verse one of 1 Timothy
3. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of
a bishop, a pastor, he desireth a good work. Now there's no such
thing as an unwilling servant of God. There's no such thing
as a man who's one of God's servants where God is constantly forcing
him to serve as a pastor. There's no such thing. They're
all willing. And I think this is true for
most men. Most men, when God saves them,
they have some interest in preaching. They have some interest in telling
people about the Savior. But this desire that Paul is
talking about here is the desire that God puts in the heart. It's
a desire that's so strong, a man cannot be happy doing anything
else. If a man can be happy working
some other job, doing something else other than being a pastor,
that's exactly what he ought to do. This desire that God gives
his pastors is so strong that they really cannot be happy doing
anything else. Now, we have a desire to preach.
God's pastors do, but now no man who has any concept at all
of the eternal weight of the matters in which we deal when
we deal with God's word, when we preach the gospel, no man
who has any concept of the eternal weight of your soul would ever
put himself in the ministry. God puts a man in the ministry,
but yet he also gives us the desire, the willingness to do
it. And when Paul talks about God's pastors desiring to be
in the ministry, they don't desire to be in the ministry because
they desire an easy life. He says God's preachers desire
a good work, and it's a work. David Pledger's young grandson
told him one time, he said, Pat, when I grow up, I want to be
a preacher. And David said, well, why is that? He said, because
preachers only have to work two days a week. Well, what that
boy didn't see is the hours his grandfather spent in the study
the other five days of the week too. A call to the pastor is
a call to work. In 1 Corinthians 3 verse 9, Paul
calls God's pastors, preachers, laborers together with God. He calls us laborers because
the ministry is hard work. It's hard, it's to work in prayer,
to work beseeching God, to bless you, to give you wisdom, to give
you understanding, to show you the message, to give you the
message for the hour. It's to work in the study. It's
to work going through God's word, mining out in God's word to find
Christ and then asking the spirit to give you the words so that
you could present Christ clearly to the congregation. I got to
spend some time with Brother Tom Harding on Thursday. We went
down there and I preached. He was talking about, he said,
just get in the study and then come out to the pulpit and tell
me what God showed you. That's what preaching is. God's got to give you the words
to be able to tell people plainly what God showed you from His
Word. And I'll tell you, I enjoy that work. I enjoy the work and
the study. You know, you all, you've got
to go out to a plant or to an office and you've got to go out
somewhere in the world and you work and you work hard and you
work in difficult situations, conditions. I get up in the morning
and I go into my study and I get to read the Word of God. I open
up commentaries by these, you know, men who had such wisdom
and understanding and read about Christ, about mercy and grace
and peace and forgiveness. I spend time just thinking about
the Lord, thinking about this, how this scripture applies to
us today. I get to and I enjoy that work.
I enjoy going into study and I enjoy working with people.
You know, I enjoy seeing God bless you. I enjoy seeing you
grow in grace. I enjoy laughing with you and
celebrating the positive things that happen in your life. I enjoy
that. And believe it or not, I enjoy to carry your burdens. When something's going on with
you and it's difficult, don't you ever hesitate to call me
and tell me. I want to know. I enjoy carrying
your burdens. I want to be there to cry with
you and be with you. I enjoy that. The ministry is
hard work. Like Brother Scott Richardson,
he told a group of pastors one day, he said, don't you ever
forget it's a joy, too. Paul said, this is not just a
work, it's a good work. It's a good work to tell sinners
about the Savior. That's a good work. It's a good
work to feed God's sheep. And the ministry, it's a good
work, but it's labor that requires our complete dedication. Look
over a couple pages of 2 Timothy, chapter 2. To do this right,
it requires complete dedication to the work. 2 Timothy 2 verse
15. Paul says, Timothy, you study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So that's
the first qualification. If a man's going to be a pastor,
he's got to desire the work. Work harder, you have a good
work ethic and things that you desire to do. Man's gonna preach,
he's got a desire to work. Next in verse two, Paul says,
a bishop must then be blameless. Now he doesn't mean free from
sin, because no man's free from sin. I promise you, I'm just
as much of a sinner as you are. The pastor's not on some higher
spiritual plane than everybody else. What Paul means here is
a pastor should have a good reputation among men. He's a man of honesty
and integrity. The word actually means free
from scandal. God's pastor should be a man
that people can respect. You know, you're not going to
listen to somebody you don't respect. He should be a man people respect.
So they'll listen to him preach. Then he says a bishop, a pastor
must be the husband of one wife. Now a pastor does not have to
be married. The apostle Paul was not married. But it probably
is a good idea. I know men that say a pastor
ought to be married. It probably is a good idea that
he be married. And I'll show you why a little
more clearly about that when we get down to how man's father
rules his own home. It's probably a good idea that
a pastor be married. Now, this doesn't mean that a
pastor is the husband of one wife. It doesn't mean he can't
remarry if his first wife dies. It doesn't even mean that he
can't be divorced. If a man was divorced before
the Lord saved him or something, that in no way disqualifies him
for the ministry. But what it does mean is this.
A pastor can only have one wife at a time. Polygamy was very
prevalent in the world at this time, and that's forbidden in
God's pastors. He must be the husband of one
wife at a time. And I tell you this, you ought
to be a good husband. He really ought to be a good husband. If
a man is going to minister to and care for the bride of Christ,
he first got to know how to care for and love his own wife first,
doesn't he? He's got to be the husband of one wife. Next, Paul
says, God's pastors must be vigilant. The pastor's got to be watchful.
He'll be watchful for the leadership of the Holy Spirit. You got to
be watchful for the subtlety of Satan, how easily the subtlety
of Satan could destroy this ministry. He's got to be watchful over
himself, over his own conduct, over his doctrine, constantly
looking into the scripture. If our doctrine, our ideas that
we preach come from anywhere other than the word of God, our
doctrine is wrong. He's got to be watchful over
his doctrine. He's got to be watchful over the souls to whom
he preaches. I watch for you now. I can't
save you. I really can't. You know, I can't
stop you from. I see people making mistakes.
There's really nothing I can do to stop that. But tell you
what I can be sure of. I can be watchful, vigilant to
make sure that when you come here, you hear sound doctrine,
that you hear the word of God preached. I can guard this pulpit
against false doctrine so you don't hear error. I can be vigilant
over that. Next, Paul says a pastor must
be sober. The word there means self-control,
is able to curb your desires. And a better word for this would
be temperate. Just temperate in everything
pertaining to the flesh. Temperate in eating and drinking.
And temperate in hobbies, interests, you know, we got to have hobbies
and interests and those kinds of things. But temperate, moderate
in those things so that you don't get carried away with them so
that they interfere with what you're supposed to be doing with
the work of the minister. He says of good behavior. And
really that it means a modesty. Pastors got to be a modest, modest
man, humble. He's got to be considerate of
other people, what they're going through, what they feel, because
he knows he's just like them. Pastors got to be of good behavior,
kind to other people. If God's been kind to us, we
ought to be kind to other people, don't you reckon? And this is
the kind of man a sinner needs to hear the gospel from. A sinner
needs to hear the gospel preached in kindness and humility. Another
meaning of this word is not self-promoting. God's pastors promote Christ.
They'll promote others that certainly promote Christ, but never himself,
not self-promoting. The end Paul says God's pastors
must be given to hospitality. Now, God's preachers handle the
word of God. We teach the word this this bro.
Henry, this is my tool. You all have you craftsmen. You
have tools. You this. This is my tool right
here. We preach the word. We teach the word. We preach
the gospel. But don't be mistaken. God's
pastors are not in the doctrine business. We're in the people
business. We preach to people. We're ministering
to people. Brother Henry told me one time,
he told me this, when Tom Harding first went to Pikeville, and
I was excited, I was excited for the people there, I knew
Tom would be such a good pastor, and I told Henry, Tom studies
in the Word, just he can teach the Word, I enjoy hearing him
preach, and Henry said, that's true, but I think Tom's gonna
be successful because he loves people. Henry said, a man cannot
be a good pastor who does not love people. And he's right. People will listen to a man that
they know loves them. If you know somebody truly loves
you and truly cares for your best interest, you'll listen
to them. You'll listen. It's given to hospitality. And
if you love people, your home's open to them, your table's open
to them, because your heart's open to them. You know, you all
can come over to our home and be in our home at any time you
want. because our heart's open. My
heart's open to you, Janice, is to get into hospitality. Then Paul says a pastor must
be apt to teach. Now pastors are pastor teachers. Not only does a pastor have to
have some knowledge of the scriptures, but he's got to have some ability
to teach that truth to other people. And he doesn't have to
be an eloquent speaker. I know of pastors and preachers
who are outstanding, and they're not really all that eloquent,
But there's gotta be some ability to communicate so people can
understand what God showed you. They gotta be able to understand
what you're saying before they can learn from it. In verse three,
Paul says, God's pastors must not be given to wine. Now you
know this, there's nothing wrong with drinking some alcohol. But
this goes back to being sober, being temperate. Use all things
in moderation. especially something that's addictive,
especially something if you have too much of it, alter your behavior.
Just be temperate with it. Paul said, let your moderation
be known unto all men. God's pastors, I read this, this
is not me, I read this somewhere. God's pastors are given to hospitality. They're not given over to wine
and these other things, but they're given to hospitality. In verse
three, Paul says, God's pastors must be no striker. He can't
be a striker with his hands or his tongue. God's pastors, they've
got the pulpit. They've got the time where they
talk and everybody listens. Everybody's quiet and listens.
But now we don't use that to be bullies, to beat up on people.
God's pastors are not harsh men, but they're gentle. They're considerate. They're not looking for a fight
all the time. I just don't like to be around
preachers that are always looking for a fight. Now, God's pastors must be willing
and able to contend for the truth. You know, Paul told Timothy another
time, you're going to warfare now, you be a good soldier. We've
got to be willing to fight, to contend for the truth. But I
tell you, I enjoy peace and harmony a whole lot more than I do a
fierce battle. That's why we seek peace. But
I'll never shy away from a battle for the truth. Never shy away
from a battle to protect you from error. The end Paul says,
God's pastors must not be greedy of filthy lucre. A covetousness
and greed, that's contrary to grace. Every believer ought to
fight against this being greedy of filthy lucre. But to a pastor,
there is nothing worse than a greedy pastor, a covetous pastor. because it's deadly to the gospel.
I tell you what a greedy man will do. A greedy man will change
his message to fit somebody who's got a big wallet. He will. He'll
change his message in order to get more money. God's pastors
cannot be greedy, a filthy lucre. We preach the truth. No matter
the audience, no matter the circumstance, we preach the truth. God will
provide. The end Paul says God's pastors
must be patient. That's a virtue we all need,
to bear trials patiently, to patiently wait on the Lord. And
that's certainly true of a pastor, to bear trials patiently, to
patiently wait on the Lord to lead us and to guide us. We need
patience to bear with unbelievers. You know, people come and hear
the gospel and they hate it. Normally, when they first hear
it, they hate the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. We
need to be patient with people. Well, I understand that. I was
born that way, too. We ought to be patient with people.
Keep preaching to them. We've got to be patient with
people who have error of doctrine, error in behavior. Now, we're
not to tolerate certain things, certain errors of doctrine and
certain behavior that's spelled out in Scripture. We're never
to tolerate that. But we are to be patient with
people. And I'll tell you what helps us to be patient with people.
Just remember we're dust. You just can't expect too much
from a pile of dust, can you? Just be patient with people. I think back over my childhood
and time growing up. I'm awful glad Henry's patient
with me. Just be patient with people.
Then he says, not a brawler. Now this ties in with not being
a striker. Don't be a brawler. Now, certainly
there are times there's a need for a rebuke, but shouldn't a
pastor do that gently? You're the purpose of a rebuke,
a reprove, a correction. It's not to take out our frustrations
on somebody else, to just strike them to make us feel better.
You know, it's just like spanking your children. You've got to
spank them. You don't ever do that to make
yourself feel better. You do that to teach them, to
teach them what they need to know. The purpose of correction
is not to take out our frustrations, is it? It's to build a brother
up and to restore him, not a brawler. And Paul says God's pastors cannot
be covetous. Now, this is not just like being
greedy of filthy lucre, covetous of money. But I'll tell you what's
very dangerous. It's being covetous of the praise
of men. If you covet the praise of men,
you're going to depart from the truth. God's pastors desire the
praise of God. And we can't be covetous of the
success of somebody else's ministry someplace else. You know, wherever
God blesses and calls out his people and saves them. If we're
truly a servant of Christ, oh, we rejoice in that. But never
covetous. But God give us though, why isn't
he blessing me like that? That's not to be our attitude. And certainly about material
things, we can't be covetous. A pastor needs things to live
in this world just like you do. But how can we be covetous? When
is a person covetous? When you don't have something
that you need or you don't have something that you want. Normally
it's not need, it's want. We're covetous when, boy, we
see somebody off something that we want. Well, how can a believer
be covetous? God's already given us everything.
He's given us everything that we need. He's given us, God has
given his people our heart's desire. How could we be covetous? Then fourthly, or in verse four,
the pastor must rule his own home well, verse four. One that
ruleth well his own home. having his children in subjection
with all gravity? For if a man know not how to
rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of
God? Now, before a man can take this awesome responsibility of
leading God's church, he's got to first prove that he can handle
the smaller task of leading his own home. If a man doesn't have
the courage, if he doesn't have the will to lead his own home,
If he doesn't have the courage to make sure in his home the
Lord's worship, he's not going to have the courage. He's not
going to have the will, the steel will in his spine to be sure
that the Lord's worshiped in the church. And being a good
husband, being a good father is good training ground for being
a good pastor. Henry said in his commentary,
and I like this, he said, no man can be what the term pastor
involves. If he's not in his own home first,
what the term father involves, pretty good training ground leading
your own home. In six, Paul says a pastor can't
be a novice, not a novice, less being lifted up with pride. He
fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now, a pastor cannot
be a babe in Christ because it just takes time to grow in grace. It takes time to gain some knowledge.
It takes time to gain wisdom and understanding. That's why
the best place for a pastor to sit is under the ministry of
another faithful pastor, because it takes time to be taught, to
gain wisdom and understanding of the scriptures. And before
you call a man as a pastor, now just let him be around long enough
so that he's proven he can be relied upon, that he's proven
faithful. It just takes time. And if not,
if you try to lift up a novice too quickly, I'll tell you what,
he'll fall into the temptation of the devil. Because it also,
not only does it take time to gain understanding and knowledge,
it takes time to gain a little bit of humility. That was Satan's
problem. Humility. He wanted what didn't
belong to him. He lifted up with pride. And
that's exactly the tool he uses to try to destroy the Church
of God. have somebody lifted up with pride, now he's got a
foothold in the church. And God's servants can't be novices. It just takes time for God to
take the starch out of a man. You've got to have the starch
taken out of you before you're of any use to anybody. People
need a humble man to preach the gospel to. In verse 7, God's pastors, Paul
said, must have a good reputation in the world. Moreover, he must
have a good report of them which are without. lest he fall into
reproach and the snare of the devil. Now, a pastor's got to
have a good reputation with people, not just you, but people outside
the church. Now, they may hate what he preaches,
but they should have to admit that, yes, he's an honest man,
he's a kind man, he's a good man, he's a hardworking man.
They just should have to admit that. We should have that reputation
with people. You know, pay your bills, be
a good neighbor, do all those things. And these characteristics,
now they're not just important for pastors or elders. They should
be characteristics of every child of God. Because if a believer
is following Christ, then he ought to be Christ-like. And
every believer is in the ministry. Now, we don't all preach, but
we all have our place, our place of service, our place of importance.
in this ministry. This is not my ministry. This
is our ministry. Every believer ought to be this
way, but you know, whether you like it or not, this is just
the fact of the matter of pastors held to a higher standard. So
you can see what a difficult, it's not a job, but, but calling
that I have is very difficult and certainly No man is sufficient
to the task. I just wouldn't want to be examined
under a microscope on all these things. No man is sufficient
for this, which is why I so often ask you to pray for me, how I
covet your prayers, because no man is sufficient for these things.
Now, you may think that these characteristics, these qualifications
of a pastor that we've gone over don't directly apply to But they
do. They apply to you. You probably
never be a pastor, but they apply to you so that you can recognize
God's pastors when you see him and when you hear him. But I
want to show you something here that will be a blessing to you
that applies to every believer. The qualifications of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the bishop of our souls. Now, I'm the under shepherd
here, but Christ is the shepherd and bishop of your souls. and
he's well qualified for the job. Let's go back and look at some
of these qualifications again. Christ our Savior was given a
work to do, wasn't he? I want to tell you he did it.
He desired to do it and he did that work perfectly. He came
to this earth as a man and worked out a perfect righteousness.
He worked to fulfill his father's will. Don't you know I must be
about my father's business? And I'm so glad he did that work
perfectly because his work is our work. His obedience is our
obedience. And he's blameless. The Lord
Jesus is the only perfect, sinless man who ever lived. Now, that's
not just doctrine. That's our salvation. I tell
you this often. Righteousness is not a thing.
Righteousness is a person. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our standing before God. Aren't you glad He's blameless?
Because He is our righteousness. Then He must be the husband of
one wife. How our Savior is a faithful husband to His bride. He's not
here offering Himself to many women. No. He came to reveal
Himself to one. He came to redeem one. Just like
Boaz, He came to redeem Ruth. She was the only one He cared
about. The bribe that the father gave to the son is all he cared
about. He loves her. He came to save
her. And his love for her is always
perfect. A guy might know women like that. Dan Morgan would say, chicks
dig that. Just that show of love and affection. From Christ our husband, it's
always perfect. confident in his love for his
bride. He'll always provide for her
in perfection. He will never cast her out. He'll never give her a bill of
divorce and say, get out, you've displeased me. Never. And he'll
never die and leave her a widow, and she'll never die and leave
him a faithful husband. Be vigilant. Our Savior is vigilant
to watch over the souls of His people. David said he never slumbers
in their sleep. His eyes always upon them. Now
I might be watching and see something, but can't do anything about it.
He watches and he's got the power to keep our souls safe, to protect
his people. Then Sober. Certainly our Lord
Jesus was temperate in all things. He was not given to wine, even
though he's accused of being a winebaber, he was always in
control. given to hospitality. Well, if
you want to see someone who's truly hospitable, you look to
our Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you all, you are welcome
in my home anytime you want. There's certain people I wouldn't
open the door for. This man receiveth sinners and
eats with them. Oh, he's hospitable. He loves
his people. He loves to be with his people.
He said just two or three of them are gathered together in
my name. I'm right there in the midst of him because he loves
his people. He's given to hospitality. And
he's apt to teach. Now, Christ is our teacher. If
we're ever going to learn anything, it's Christ who taught us. Put
it in our heart. I like what brother John Chapman
said one time, Christ is the lesson and he's the teacher.
He's the one that applies these things He'll teach His people
everything they need to know. You can just bank on it. He's
no striker, no brawler. Our Savior was so meek and mild,
wasn't He? He never looked for a fight. Yet, who did the Pharisees meet? They met a strong defender of
the truth in His Father's house. Remember when they were making
merchandise, selling the animals and making a profit, you know,
in the temple? And they had sheep, you know,
tied up, and then they'd sell one. They'd cut the cord or whatever,
and the person would go off. He just picked up some of those
cords, wound them together into a whip, and one man drove them
out. They met a man who was a serious
defender of the truth. That his father's house be a
house of worship. But when it came time to rebuke
his people, how did he do it? He said, gently, mildly, Peter,
do you love me? Oh, ye of little faith, wherefore
did you doubt? See, that's all the rebuke a
sheep needs. Wherefore did you doubt? He wasn't
greedy of filthy lucre. He wasn't covetous. He wasn't
covetous of the praise of man. All he cared about was doing
his father's business, pleasing his father. And he was not greedy
of filthy lucre. He had no place to lay his head.
The Lord Jesus was a poor, homeless man. Yet when Satan tempted him
with all the riches of the earth, he couldn't be swayed, could
he? Our Lord even paid his taxes to a wicked government and taught
us to do the same. You render unto Caesar the things
that belong to Caesar. Don't worry. You just pay your
taxes. God will take care of you. And
then patient. I tell you, nobody is so patient
with sinners as our Savior is. Nobody is so patient to faltering
saints. as the Savior. He's patient,
kind, tender, forgiving. He's so patient a sinner can
come to him at any time with any problem of our heart. He
rules his own home well. He's faithful in all of his house. He built his house and he orders
it well. He rules it in wisdom and love.
And he's certainly not a novice. He's the eternal Savior. The
Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. If Christ is your
Savior now, He's always been your Savior. And He always will
be. He's eternal. And He has a good reputation
in the world. The Lord Jesus had a good report
of them that were without. Now they still hated him. They
hated his doctrine. They wanted to get rid of him.
They wished he'd go away. They wanted to kill him. They wanted him to suffer pain
and torture before he died. But in all honesty, they never
could say anything bad about him. They came back and said,
no man I respect like this man. Surely this man must be the son
of God. And when they did condemn him,
they had to find witnesses who were willing to lie about him,
didn't they? He had a good report of them all without. Now that's
the Savior we preach. That's the Savior we believe.
That's the Savior we rely upon. This is the bishop of your souls. And you find comfort in that?
The perfect bishop of your souls. I hope you, I know you are. I
know everyone who believes is thankful for him. And I'll go
back to where we started. I covet your prayers and being
the underseparate who preaches them. All right. Lord bless you.