Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] What is it like to be a pastor?
[00:00:08] One pastor in South Carolina writes, quote, being a pastor is hard to explain unless you stood in the pulpit yourself.
[00:00:17] One week you're walking with a family through their darkest valley.
[00:00:21] The next week they're gone without a word.
[00:00:25] You'll be praised and misunderstood, often by the same people in the same month.
[00:00:34] Some days you see God move and you go home full.
[00:00:38] Other days you lie awake rehearsing every word, wondering what you missed.
[00:00:44] Everyone has an opinion of how you should pastor.
[00:00:48] You quickly learn you cannot preach with even one eye on the crowd.
[00:00:53] But then a soul saved, a marriage mended, a grieving heart given comfort, and suddenly you remember why you answered the call.
[00:01:07] Ministry is heavy, but it's a high calling and it's worth it all.
[00:01:16] I can personally sympathize with that pastor, and I'm sure many other pastors would sympathize with him too.
[00:01:25] Now, if that's the personal testimony of many pastors I know, and most likely the testimony of what many pastors you know would say too, why would anyone want to be a pastor?
[00:01:38] That was our devotional question for our family worship this week. Why would anyone want to be a pastor?
[00:01:46] Again, one seasoned pastor said this quote at times the work seems to be nothing but stress, frustration and sadness.
[00:01:54] You don't know what message to bring in this visit. The next step isn't at all clear, and you feel utterly inadequate for the task that God has placed on you.
[00:02:04] Just last night, a pastor in Maryland texted me the following Blake Feeling weary, discouraged, and even a bit disillusioned, I'm tempted to be discouraged, like the needs of this church really do outweigh my capacities.
[00:02:23] I often feel spent in a week, and it just feels like it is so much left undone that I'm not able to get to.
[00:02:34] So if ministry has many ups, many downs, with its great joys and intense sorrows that come from sinners and sufferers like himself, it is safe to say that ministry is not for the faint of heart.
[00:02:51] And when you combine a pastor's own sinful, fallen and finite abilities in nature while ministering in a fallen world with fallen people, with a whole range of unpredictable difficulties and even unseen fruit from your teaching, moral failures in your people's lives, heated disagreements with people you thought you were unified with, much counsel given but not listened to by the congregants and problems that come to your desk that don't always have clear answers, why would anyone want to do this?
[00:03:25] And truth in advertising? This is exactly why many leave the ministry, within about five years, they're gone.
[00:03:33] And it's also why many men have pumped the brakes and reconsidered whether or not they should be pursuing this in their life.
[00:03:42] But it's not just the motives for ministry that's important to ask.
[00:03:47] We should also consider the process.
[00:03:50] In other words, how does one actually become a pastor?
[00:03:54] Is it something you go to school for? Is it an app you download, or do you take some tests to be certified to become a pastor?
[00:04:02] Is pursuing the pastorate something anyone can do as long as they love Jesus and they're sincere and they want to serve the church?
[00:04:10] If a local church were looking to nominate and install new pastors, does God's Word offer us any guidance of what we should be looking for in future church leaders?
[00:04:21] Well, questions like these are relevant to churches like ours, and they were relevant to churches in the first century, as we've been studying about in First Timothy, and we'll continue doing that this morning. So if you have a copy of God's Word, please open your Bibles to the New Testament Letter of First Timothy, First Timothy Chapter 3 for using one of the Pew Bibles or Cheruback Bibles, provided you can find that on page 1178.
[00:04:48] Now, if you haven't been with us, let me give you a recap of where we've been up to this point.
[00:04:52] In chapter one, Paul's opening words set the stage for the urgency of this letter to a younger man named Timothy. Timothy was a young man the Apostle Paul had known since his teenage years, one he had discipled, and then in time had set apart as an apostolic delegate, someone to represent Paul's authority in teaching to a church. And then Timothy was given special spiritual leadership over a particular congregation in Ephesus. In the opening of this letter, Paul made it clear to Timothy that rather than Timothy leave his post, get online and look for ministry jobs elsewhere, or simply take a long vacation to get away from all the stress at work, Paul gave very different counsel.
[00:05:33] He said, timothy, the ministry is tough and the ministry is fierce, and the answers aren't always going to be clear. But. But he says in the opening of this letter, Timothy, you must remain, you must abide, you must stay put and persevere there in Ephesus 1 Timothy 1, verse 3.
[00:05:51] And 1 central reason for that is because there were the wrong kinds of people entering into leadership in the church, and those wrong leaders were spreading the wrong kind of theology and teaching.
[00:06:03] In other words, the wrong kind of men were influencing men and women in the church in the wrong kind of ways.
[00:06:11] And the only way the ship could be steered back in the right direction is that Timothy had to be at the helm of the ship, heeding Paul's counsel in order to fulfill his ministry.
[00:06:21] And whether Timothy was feeling brave or not, or how he felt in the moment was of no real concern for Paul in this sense.
[00:06:30] He looked at Timothy and said, timothy, you must listen to what I say, because if you don't, the church will either implode or explode with demonic activity.
[00:06:39] And Timothy had to understand he was to be the pilot in the plane and the quarterback in the huddle, and he had to give strong and steady leadership for the church, otherwise the church as a whole could be in danger. What had happened to two men in the church, Hymenaeus and Alexander, If Timothy did not wage the good warfare, teaching sound doctrine, living a model godly life for the congregation, the church would be another statistic on Satan's shelf work. They would have shipwrecked their faith.
[00:07:10] Then in chapter two, verses one to seven, Paul then basically laid forth the groundwork for the importance of the ministry of prayer and the ministry of the word in the life of the church, with Christ Jesus the God man, as the only mediator between sinners and our holy God. First Timothy 2, 5, our witness. As Christians and as local churches, we should see ourselves as ambassadors for King Jesus, representing the will and the word of King Jesus, imploring people to be reconciled to God, to be one with God through faith in Jesus Christ. That this reconciliation, this ministry of calling people to know their God through Jesus, was to show up in their public prayers, in their private prayers, and how they lived in the community.
[00:07:53] Paul says our lives as Christians should be marked by living peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way.
[00:08:02] Well, two weeks ago we then left off in first Timothy 2, 8, 15 with the Bible's clear and unashamed teaching on the importance of order in the home and in the church, as well as unity and equality amidst the differences that God has made on purpose between men and women. And we look specifically at how Christian men should embody this biblical masculinity, exercising spiritual leadership with strength, but also humility, and being typified not by our anger or pride, but by men of prayer, men filled with the Spirit.
[00:08:36] Likewise, we also look at the high calling of Christian women to embody this biblical femininity, showing off a worshiping heart by dressing modestly, particularly in the public assembly. They were to live mod, humble and submissive lives to those in specific spheres of authority God places over their life. And while women are not to teach or exercise authority over a man, which would forbid a woman for being a pastor in the local church, First Timothy 2:12. And that's not because of incompetency or inferiority, but rather order and design, women who embody this femininity are model disciples for all of us, those who are discerning by what they listen to. They are active readers of God's Word, and they seek to obey the Savior with a glad and joyful heart, embracing their femininity as wives and mothers, daughters and sisters.
[00:09:30] Which now brings us to chapter three.
[00:09:33] Chapter three, then, is the climax. It's the culmination of what Paul's been doing all the way from the very first chapter and especially there in chapter two. And if you look back in page two in your worship guide, if you just want to look really quickly, we've added this new little section to our worship guide. So you know the sermons that are coming ahead of time, you'll notice that we're going to spend today, in the next three weeks looking at just this chapter alone.
[00:10:01] Chapter three is a significant chapter.
[00:10:04] Now, why are we going to spend that much time on this chapter?
[00:10:07] Well, friends, it's about church leadership and thus church organization.
[00:10:13] And as we'll discover through these verses and others related to them, this is what we like to talk about often here at ccbc. We like to talk about Jesus, the Gospel, and church polity. Church polity. What is church polity? It's how a church governs itself, its officers, how they make decisions, who's allowed to be a member, and how all these things come together as one unified body.
[00:10:37] Now, I am not naive to this. Many Christians don't know very much about church polity because they likely went to churches that didn't teach it. Pastors should be teaching the church about the church, and if they don't, they are failing on their job.
[00:10:51] The Bible says a lot about the church, and there's a lot of Christians who've been taught some things about the church, but maybe they never look close enough and clearly enough to look at it for themselves with fresh eyes.
[00:11:04] And some of you might be here this morning and going, I don't care about church polity at all. You're the professional. You're the paid pastor. That's for you. I'm checking out.
[00:11:15] Well, be warned, as one pastor said, thinking about church polity is like stretching, seemingly unimportant, until something tears.
[00:11:27] So to push us to think positively proactively and not reactively in times of stress and crisis.
[00:11:35] Listen to what one American Baptist pastor and theologian of the 19th century, J.L. dagg, once said.
[00:11:41] Church order and the ceremonial of religion are less important than a new heart.
[00:11:47] And in view of some, any laborious investigation of questions, respecting them may appear to be needless and unprofitable. But. But we know from the Holy Scriptures that Christ gave commands on these subjects, and we cannot refuse to obey.
[00:12:01] Love prompts our obedience, and love prompts also the search which may be necessary to ascertain his will.
[00:12:10] And that's what we're going to be doing over the next several weeks.
[00:12:13] We are going to, because love prompts us to search out the Scriptures to see what God's word says about these important matters.
[00:12:23] Warren Wiersbe said this Even though the church is an organism, it must be organized or it will die.
[00:12:31] Leadership is a part of spiritual organization.
[00:12:35] Therefore, a biblical model of church leadership is a display of the glory of Christ and its worship and its witness.
[00:12:43] Because when we study biblical church polity, it cannot be disconnected from godly Christian conduct.
[00:12:51] We are to be a holy and continuously sanctified people.
[00:12:58] Now, to help you see where we're going in the next several weeks, starting today, this week and next week, we're looking at the qualifications of a church overseer. That's verses one to seven. What is an overseer? Well, it's the same word that's used interchangeably in the New Testament to refer to the same church leadership office, overseer, elder, and pastor. Overseer refers to the function of the oversight to the church. Elder refers to the spiritual maturity and respectability of the man. And shepherd or pastor is a metaphor for the personal care of the members of the church. Shepherds are called to, and local church pastors are called to feed the flock, that is leading them, protecting them, and teaching them God's Word, which is nourishment for their souls. Throughout the New Testament, the biblical pattern is a group of elders, a plurality of pastors, giving joint oversight to the congregation, with one or perhaps several of them primarily devoted to preaching and teaching and for the pastoral care.
[00:14:00] Then in two weeks we look at, in verses 8 to 13, at the qualifications of a church deacon. One thing that we'll look at and we'll spend adequate time in is showing the similarities, but, but the differences between an elder and a deacon. Elders serve the church by leading the church. Deacons lead the church by serving the church. We'll think more about that and then in three weeks, Lord willing, We'll look at the concluding words of verses 14 and 16. Of all the reasons why we should love the local church.
[00:14:31] Look with me now at First Timothy, chapter three. And guess what? We're going to be looking primarily at one verse.
[00:14:38] Yes, that's what we're going to do.
[00:14:41] First Timothy 3. 1.
[00:14:47] The saying is trustworthy.
[00:14:50] If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
[00:14:58] This is God's word.
[00:15:00] If you're taking notes, here's the main idea of the sermon.
[00:15:06] Pastoring is a desirable work.
[00:15:13] Because pastoring is dear to the heart of Jesus work.
[00:15:20] Pastoring is a desirable work because pastoring is dear to the heart of Jesus work.
[00:15:30] Now, because I'm preaching primarily on one verse, this sermon in any ways will feel more topical in nature. Instead of doing what we normally do, looking at a set of verses or a paragraph, or sometimes multiple chapters in one sermon, we'll spend the bulk of our time looking at words and phrases from this one verse.
[00:15:49] But I hope the deep meditation on this one verse will only heighten my appreciation and your appreciation of the wisdom of God on how he has prescribed in His Word to care for us, to love us, and especially how he gifts and sets apart certain servants of his church to this high and lofty calling of pastoring, we're shepherding the flock of God for whom Jesus died.
[00:16:15] Now, I'm preaching from the ESV translation.
[00:16:19] That's the English standard version or the extra spiritual version.
[00:16:25] Totally a joke.
[00:16:27] You might have a different reliable translation.
[00:16:30] I normally don't do this in a sermon, but I've only got one verse. I need to fill the time with edifying things, and it's helpful to see.
[00:16:38] Other English translations pretty much say the same thing with some slight different emphases, but they're all very good.
[00:16:46] One translation says this. This is a trustworthy saying. If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.
[00:16:54] Another translation says, this is a faithful and trustworthy saying. If any man eagerly seeks the office of overseer, bishop, superintendent, he desires an excellent task.
[00:17:05] Another translation says, this is a faithful saying. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.
[00:17:14] And another one says it is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
[00:17:23] Now, all of these are basically saying the same thing. They're good, they're synonyms. None of them have any drastically different translation to them.
[00:17:31] Now, how are we going to focus on this one Verse. I think in this one verse, Paul stresses or he gives three emphases to this one text. One on the front end, one in the juicy middle and, and then one on the back end. So if you're taking notes, you can put three emphases or label it. Emphasis one, emphasis two, emphasis three. That's what we're going to do. We're going to look at this intently, at the text, and then pull out of it what God would have for us. Emphasis number one on the office of the pastor.
[00:18:02] Emphasis one. A faithful saying to keep repeating in the church.
[00:18:07] A faithful saying to keep repeating in the church.
[00:18:14] Emphasis number two.
[00:18:16] An aspiration that some should keep pursuing in the church.
[00:18:23] An aspiration that some should keep pursuing in the church.
[00:18:30] Emphasis number three. A glorious way to spend your time.
[00:18:35] A glorious way to spend your time. Let's look at that first emphasis together. A faithful saying to keep repeating in the church.
[00:18:44] Paul says in the following verses that the office of an overseer, pastor, elder. I'm going to use them interchangeably today. And the aspiration to do that work. Did you notice what he says is a faithful or trustworthy statement?
[00:18:59] What does that mean?
[00:19:01] Well, think about it. What it might look like if you went to a school this week and you saw on a billboard or a picture in the front office that said something like this education is the foundation of success or empowering minds, enriching futures.
[00:19:20] These slogans, these catchphrases are highlighting the values or the mission of the school. And it's designed, at least in hopes to inspire teachers, inspire students, and then pass on this sentiment to the next slew of students and the next set of teachers.
[00:19:38] Well, in a similar but eternally way, more significant way, Paul uses this phraseology to double click on something to highlight, to echo an important truth that is to be believed by Christians, taught by Christians, and then passed on to Christians to the next generation. And he uses the same phraseology five other times in the New Testament, first and second Timothy and in Titus. If you want to jot these down and look them up later, you can 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, 1st Timothy 4, verse 9, 2nd Timothy 2, 11 Titus 3, verse 8.
[00:20:20] But most notably, he already said this earlier in the letter, in First Timothy 1, verse 15. Look back with me at First Timothy 1, verse 15.
[00:20:29] He already used this slogan, this catchphrase, this Christian word of wisdom, 1st Timothy 1:15. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, whom I am the foremost. You can Turn back now to chapter three.
[00:20:50] Friends, this is a bold declaration of what we as a church say every single Lord's day. Christ Jesus came into the world. The Apostles Creed this morning. To do what? To save sinners. To save sinners like us.
[00:21:02] Now Paul takes the same emphases. This is a trustworthy statement. And he ties it to the very mission of Christ in chapter one. But then he picks it back up again and says an emphasis on. On this idea of the work of the overseer.
[00:21:16] And likewise he says this. Those who aspire to this noble work, this trustworthy saying, this faithful saying is something Christians should all believe, Christians should teach and Christians should be passing on to others.
[00:21:32] It's apparent by Paul's first emphasis, the words out the gate.
[00:21:36] By the time Paul wrote 1 Timothy, which was likely around early AD 60s, this saying had really been circulating for a number of years. It had been at least 30 years since Jesus got up from the dead, so three decades. You could even argue to some degree that the apostles were teaching what Jesus taught them. And then Paul was doing so in his own ministry.
[00:21:59] To put it plainly, this is the way Paul starts the verse off. Listen up, Timothy, and listen well, Timothy. What I'm about to say, you and the congregation can hang your hat on, you can hang your faith on from this day forward.
[00:22:12] Paul would tell Timothy, and thus the church in Ephesus. And what I'm about to say is coming from the very mouth of our Lord. This is a trustworthy truth. And he says church, just like you would to ccbc, what we're about to talk about this morning. Keep saying it, keep saying it, keep saying it, keep believing it, keep believing it, keep believing it and be unashamed about whatever God says next because God's word says so.
[00:22:38] Emphasis number one. This was a faithful saying to keep repeating in the church.
[00:22:43] Then we have the second emphasis in the middle, which is really the thrust of the sermon, an aspiration that some should continue pursuing or keep pursuing in the church. Notice again what Paul says. The saying is trustworthy. What is the trustworthy saying, Paul?
[00:23:02] If anyone, the word is whoever aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Now, if you're taking notes, the two words that are pregnant with meaning, we're going to drop down. They're like cousins. They're very similar, but they are two distinct Greek words. The first one is aspire. The second one is desire.
[00:23:25] Let's give the first one aspire. The. The word in the original language means to strive for it, literally means to stretch out one's grasp for something that can be visibly and outwardly noticed by others. That person is looking to do, seeking after, trying to do that thing they're trying to reach after or attain something that's in front of them.
[00:23:49] It's used in a few other places in the New Testament. First, in the negative, Paul gives us in chapter six of first Timothy in the negative, about people who long for stretch after, crave and chase after the almighty dollar, money and wealth.
[00:24:07] In the negative, he puts it this way. First Timothy 6, verse 10. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving, this aspiration, this life pursuit, that some have wandered away from the faith in and pierced themselves with many pangs.
[00:24:23] But then in a positive sense, the writer of Hebrews uses Abraham and Sarah, who left their physical homeland to pursue God's plan for them in obedience to God they wanted to pursue, to be in a place where the presence of God was forever. Hebrews 11:16. But as it is, they desire, they strive for, they aspire to a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
[00:24:59] So what's going on here?
[00:25:01] Paul is basically saying this. In order for a man, at the very base minimum, to become a pastor, elder, overseer, he has to take initiative.
[00:25:14] He has to take initiative.
[00:25:16] He has to take steps towards accomplishing or exploring that goal.
[00:25:23] If you were looking for a job.
[00:25:25] Sometimes we have a hyper spiritualized, an imbalanced understanding of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
[00:25:34] And if we get like too happy with God's sovereignty, we kind of forget man's responsibility.
[00:25:40] And we've got people in their mother's basement eating ramen noodles and playing games in their mid-30s, thinking that God's just going to drop a job in their lap. No, it takes initiative. There's got to be a pursuit.
[00:25:54] So what does that look like for a man to become an elder or pastor? How does he take initiative?
[00:25:59] Well, it could be first if he's married. Talking to your wife about it. I remember my pastor sat down with Julie, who he had never met, and he's like, I'm really interested in your son.
[00:26:10] I really think he would be a great pastor at our church. But I gotta ask two questions. Do you like us preaching or not?
[00:26:18] Well, if I'm not ready to hear the truth, then I'm not ready to hear it from anyone else. So what does your wife think about it? Maybe Talk to a friend you're in a discipling relationship with who already knows something about you. It could be talking with an elder here at ccbc.
[00:26:34] It could be reading books on pastoring or listening to solid podcasts or sermons on it, talking about what others learn about pastoring. It could be doing a pastoral internship or an apprenticeship. It could go so far as going to your elders and availing yourself to say, hey, listen, what are the needs of the church? I'm not asking for the pulpit. I'm not asking to teach. I just want to be available to see. That's a great test of a man's aspirations and ambition. If they're really pure, am I really wanting to do good work in the life of the church, or am I just wanting a spotlight ministry?
[00:27:06] Those are practical ways.
[00:27:09] A man must take proactive steps to explore this desire and to see that desire tested, to see if that's what the Lord wants him to do any further.
[00:27:19] As a man in my first church told me, blake, you can't lead a horse that's laying down.
[00:27:24] Well, that is true.
[00:27:26] You got to get up, get moving.
[00:27:29] It's not just going to fall in your lap. There is some effort required.
[00:27:34] Now, Paul uses this second word. The first one is aspire to stretch out, to take steps towards a goal.
[00:27:41] But the second one of desire, is an internal desire. They're very much related. You're going to outwardly do what you immaly want. But the second one is talking about what's going on in the man's heart.
[00:27:57] Now it's used. This may surprise some of you.
[00:28:00] This word epithelmeo is used more times in the negative in the New Testament than it does in the positive.
[00:28:07] For instance, Matthew 5:28, When Jesus speaks about lusting after a woman, that's not your spouse, it's adultery in your heart. That lust, that craving, is the Greek word epithemeo.
[00:28:21] In Romans 7, 6 and 7, Paul talks about the desire to covet, to be jealous, to be envious, to window shop other people's lives and be bitter towards God because you didn't get that and they did. That Greek word is epithemao. It's this craving. It's this intense desire. I want that, but it's a forbidden one.
[00:28:42] And here Paul uses it in the context of a man desiring the office of overseer to provoke his hearers, that there must be an intense desire in the man's heart for this work.
[00:29:01] But Paul doesn't say it's a sinful desire he doesn't say it's a lustful desire or an idolatrous desire, but it is a real passionate desire.
[00:29:13] It's an intense desire in some, a deep longing of a desire in others, a burning desire that doesn't get snuffed out.
[00:29:21] Some would even argue that it has a tinge of Jeremiah's language in Jeremiah 20, verse 9. If I say I will not mention him or speak any more in his name. There is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
[00:29:39] And most powerfully, we see it used of our Lord's burning desire when he would spend his last night with his own disciples to partake of the Passover, which he would transform into the institution of the Lord's Supper. Luke 22:15. Jesus says, I have earnestly epithemao desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
[00:30:02] So, friends, when we put these images together, someone who's ambitiously aspiring to something, the office of overseer, taking steps towards it, and internally passionate, with an intense eagerness for the work, and you combine these together, what is the image that we see?
[00:30:23] Oh, just some sanctified imagination, I think. In one sense, it gives off a visual of the earnestness that shoppers will have at stores on Black Friday.
[00:30:36] It gives off the determination a student would have for studying for an exam that will affect what college they go to.
[00:30:44] It gives off the passion that you see in a young man's eyes when he sees the woman he really wants to marry.
[00:30:52] It gives off the inward resolve and the outward chase.
[00:30:57] Someone sitting in a deer stand for hours on end looking for that prized buck you've been honing in on for a long time.
[00:31:05] I am in Arkansas. That's for you.
[00:31:09] Paul says the first qualification out the gate that is necessary for this task is that he must be a man who is converted by the power of the Holy Spirit and made a new creature. He trusts and loved Jesus from his heart, and his love for Jesus spills over. To care for, to pastor, to love his people. That's the kind of desire you must pray for in your pastors. And that's the kind of desire men. If you desire to do this work, it cannot be a fleeting whim of a desire after a conference. It must be something that. That you cannot get out of you. It's irresistible because Jesus is so good, and pastoring his people is a great way to spend your life.
[00:31:59] So what is the right motive?
[00:32:02] Because there are many men that Enter the ministry for the wrong reason. Lay elders and paid pastors alike, what must you be desirous for?
[00:32:15] It's an earnest desire to preach and teach his word, to counsel the weak and aimless, to encourage the faint hearted and depressed to correct error, to confront the wolf, to reprove the wayward, to evangelize the lost.
[00:32:33] And all that within discipling sheep who want to be pastored and then going after disobedient and stubborn sheep who continue to resist your love.
[00:32:45] And then you combine that with very ordinary, repetitive, mundane task, just like you experience in your work and you want to pluck your eyes out and never do it again.
[00:33:01] Yes, even in the midst of intense desire there can be moments of boredom.
[00:33:10] That's realistic.
[00:33:12] Welcome to a real fallen world with real people.
[00:33:17] But if a man understands this role, he will understand that Jesus eyes are on him.
[00:33:29] His eyes of fire. Look at those under shepherds, because one day those under shepherds will give an account for how they shepherded Christ's sheep.
[00:33:41] This desire, friends, is not simply a desire to preach, but it's a desire to love the people you preach to.
[00:33:51] Did you hear that?
[00:33:54] I remember as a younger man, 5, 6 years of an insatiable desire that will not go away. To teach, to preach, to study and all those things.
[00:34:07] And then the Lord gave me my first pastorate. 20 people in a no name part of town, in an abandoned building.
[00:34:16] And a quarter of them, I don't think could hear me because of their hearing aid wasn't turned up.
[00:34:21] And I remember after six months of preaching I was really tired.
[00:34:26] And then I recognized a pattern. Almost every Sunday people would come up to me to talk and it would have nothing to do with my sermon.
[00:34:35] It would be about their problems or their grandchildren or their economic status or some had nothing to what was the Lord teaching me early on? If you're going to do this, it better not be to be on a platform or behind a pulpit. It better be loving the people that are in front of you.
[00:34:54] John Kitchen said this present tense verb here views that this is more than a passing entrance but a continuing desire.
[00:35:03] Now this is not going to look the same in every man.
[00:35:07] We have different temperaments, different ages, different experiences, different providential callings. Not every man is going to have the same expression of, of that internal desire. And for example, listen to old Charles Spurgeon.
[00:35:20] The first sign of the heavenly calling is an intense, all absorbing desire for the work. In order to a true call to the ministry, there must be an irresistible overwhelming craving and raging Thirst for telling others what God has done for our souls. Do not enter the ministry if you can help. It was the deeply sage advice of a divine to one who sought his judgment. If any student in this room could be content to be a newspaper editor or a grocer or a farmer, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a senator, or a king, in the name of heaven and earth, let him go his way. He is not the man in whom the spirit of God in its fullness. For a man so filled with God would utterly be weary of any pursuit but that which, for his inmost soul, pants now. I really like Spurgeon and I love that intensity.
[00:36:06] I think he's a little over the top.
[00:36:09] He went probably a little hyperbolic there, but the sentiment is true.
[00:36:16] He's got to want this and he needs to know if his heart's really geared on this kind of work.
[00:36:24] Brian Croft says, why is it an unquenchable longing for this work?
[00:36:28] Because the work of ministry is not for the faint of heart.
[00:36:32] It is a work fraught with struggles, challenges, discouragements, pressures and spiritual battles that can cripple the strongest of men who, who have an ordinary desire for the work, it should be instead a desire that cannot be stolen when your brother betrays you. A desire that cannot be weakened when your job is threatened. A desire that cannot be quenched when physical, mental and emotional fatigue firmly take root. And it is a desire that should increase over time.
[00:36:57] In his well known work, the Christian ministry, the 19th century British minister Charles Bridges once said, the apostle Paul strongly marks a constraining desire as a primary ministerial qualification, something far beyond the general Christian desire to promote the glory of God. A special kindling within in character, if not in intensity, like the burning fire shut up in the prophet's bosom and overcoming his determination to go back from the service of his God.
[00:37:24] Al Mohler says those called by God sense a growing compulsion a I must do this, preach and teach God's word, and minister to the people of God and friends. That's what really Paul starts out with in the call to worship, as we read in 1st Corinthians 9. What did he say about his calling and ministry from God? 1st Corinthians 9:16. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting, for necessity has been laid upon me.
[00:37:51] Woe to me. May judgment come upon me if I do not preach the gospel.
[00:37:58] Now we're speaking a lot about desire because Paul does.
[00:38:04] It's an important qualification for a man to have if he's going to do the work, but his desire alone, Heaven's stamp of approval that he really is and should be an under shepherd.
[00:38:23] Well, here's the short answer.
[00:38:26] Desire for the work is necessary, but it is not sufficient.
[00:38:32] It is necessary, but it is not sufficient by itself.
[00:38:37] That's why we're breaking up this series into two sermons. We're doing verses two to seven next week on the character qualifications, the leadership qualifications, the reputation and the heart and character of the man. There's more to it than just desire as well as his teaching ability.
[00:38:54] So how can a man know whether he is called to this noble task?
[00:38:58] Historically, Christians have categorized this as the internal call and the external call. If you want to write these down, they're helpful to remember for the future. An internal call and an external call.
[00:39:11] What is the internal call? The internal call is where God begins the process in a man's heart by the power of the Holy Spirit and sufficiently matures him and equips him for the task. For instance, one of my favorite texts to show this is Acts 20, verse 28. Paul said to the Ephesian elders, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood.
[00:39:41] So in the purest sense, only God can make a man a pastor.
[00:39:46] Not a mom, not a dad, not by some bishop, some outside ecclesiastical authority, not even a group of elders, not even a seminary. All can make someone an elder, make someone a pastor.
[00:40:04] This is God, the Holy Spirit's work.
[00:40:06] And because we know the body of Christ has many gifts and not every Christian will be a pastor, then that obviously means that the Holy Spirit Spirit will make some men elders and pastors, and many other men. He won't. And that's okay. There's no stage of hierarchy and sense of worth. It's not a first and second place Christianity we're talking about here.
[00:40:29] However, for those of us who express an internal desire, an internal call of God on their life that doesn't license them to be a pastor. They must receive an external call, an external affirmation. What is the external call? It's through the church, the regular and outward appointment of the church.
[00:40:52] Historically, some church traditions have used the word ordination. I think it carries too much baggage from the Roman Catholic Church. I prefer not to use that word. The Bible uses the word appointment, or you could even say by implication affirmation, which is ordinarily done through the laying on of hands. David Haig says the internal call. God acts to place a righteous desire for ministry upon the man's heart. As God calls a man, he begins molding his character, creating a proper desire for ministry. And that desire for ministry will be the right kind of desire. That is, it will mirror the attitudes and motives of the great Shepherd's heart for his sheep, Jesus himself.
[00:41:31] This will demonstrate itself in the proper ministerial attitude, an attitude that prefers the way of the cross to the applause of the crowd, that defines success as faithfulness, that finds joy in suffering, that protects and proclaims the truth despite cultural pressures, and that refuses to do God's work. Man's way regardless of how the world around him may clamor for the glamorous.
[00:41:53] As I've already stated, men can pursue the ministry with impure motives in their heart.
[00:42:03] Do you remember chapter one in first Timothy? There were men in leadership in Ephesus that had selfish ambition ruling their heart. They were wanting a platform. They wanted spotlight ministry. They wanted a voice at the table. They wanted power and control. And they were the wrong kind of men.
[00:42:20] These men desired leadership, but they lacked the character quality behind it.
[00:42:26] How? Manaeus and Alexander had proven themselves disqualified. They were even excommunicated from the church.
[00:42:35] Friends, why is it that desire alone is not sufficient?
[00:42:40] For that very reason there can be immature, zealous, but immature men pursue something they're not ready for yet.
[00:42:51] There can be wolves in sheep's clothing that know how to pull the fleece over the sheep's eyes to get behind leadership positions in churches. And there are churches filled with them. You know what Paul says in chapter five of First Timothy?
[00:43:05] He says chapter five, verse 22 tells Timothy, do not be hasty in the laying on of hands. In other words, slow down the process.
[00:43:14] Just because someone's passionate, someone's zealous, they say ism and ologies in Bible verses does not automatically mean they should pursue it. They need to slow down.
[00:43:24] Friends, that's the second emphasis.
[00:43:26] The second emphasis is an aspiration that some should keep pursuing in the church. And friends, you should pray for me and your elders. Pray for future that our hearts would be aligned with Jesus heart, that our hearts would be pure, our faith would be sincere, our consciences would be clear as we seek to shepherd the church God's entrusted to us.
[00:43:46] Now Paul concludes this verse with a third emphasis that really highlights a motivation for the work.
[00:43:57] Look at emphasis number three, a glorious way to spend your time.
[00:44:04] Look at verse one again, this saying is trustworthy.
[00:44:09] If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
[00:44:16] Paul is basically saying, this church, being an overseer, one who watches over the flock, one who's checking in with the members of the congregation, the one called to set the believers an example, to imitate in conduct, speech, faith, love and purity, the one who gives countless hours in studying the scriptures, teaching the scriptures, counseling for the flock, praying for the flock. Friends, this is not a waste of time.
[00:44:45] If God the Holy Spirit inspired this for Christians to repeat and teach and believe, this is really, really significant work.
[00:44:55] This is not trite.
[00:44:57] This is not frivolous.
[00:44:59] This is no small thing.
[00:45:02] It's a good work. It's a fine work.
[00:45:05] It's an excellent work.
[00:45:09] Friends, one of the best ways that you can encourage your pastors or pastors of other churches is send them a little message saying, your labors are not in vain, you are doing a good work.
[00:45:19] And if God's not showing you the fruit of it, it's probably to keep you humble. But I want to tell you, God's using you in my life. Keep pressing on. That right there will send the pastor with wind in his sails for at least the next six months until he needs it again.
[00:45:36] Now, I just want to acknowledge something.
[00:45:40] There is one text in Scripture that makes me at times go, lord, I think I'm done.
[00:45:47] I'm not saying that for dramatic sermon illustration.
[00:45:51] I'm quite serious.
[00:45:54] James 3, verse 1. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
[00:46:09] There's coming a day that I will stand before Jesus and give an account for every Bible study, every sermon, every council, and every pastor that ever has.
[00:46:28] And James says, it'll be a stricter judgment than the rest of the Christians who never did.
[00:46:35] That is a good text to meditate on that we who teach would understand. This is a work not to be trifled with.
[00:46:43] It's sacred. It's holy.
[00:46:46] The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 says the work of pastors is to give constant attention to the service of Christ and his churches in the ministry of the Word in prayer. They are to watch over souls of church members as those who will have to give an account to Christ.
[00:47:03] The Charleston Baptist association of 1774 says ministers of the gospel who are frequently called elders, bishops, pastors and teachers, are appointed by cross to the highest office in the church as they have charge of souls and are leaders in the house of God. Churches cannot be too careful in choosing men to the ministerial function. They Ought to be men who have fervent desires, listen to glorify God and see souls saved.
[00:47:31] One Presbyterian minister of the 19th century said, this is undoubtedly the most important and glorious work about which the minds of men can be occupied.
[00:47:40] John Stott said, it is laudable to desire this privilege. Brian Chappell said, such aspiration in a man is a lovely thing.
[00:47:50] Friends, why is it a lovely thing, a noble thing, an excellent thing to do this kind of work?
[00:47:57] Because the church is God's house, it's God's family, it's God's kids, and it's the one thing guaranteed that Jesus says he is building. And not even demons and Satan and death itself can stop what Jesus is doing to build his church.
[00:48:19] Friends, Paul had to say this to Timothy because the church in Ephesus was in trouble.
[00:48:27] The wrong leaders with the wrong motives with wrong teaching can make the church prostituted to look more like the world than her savior. This is serious stuff.
[00:48:41] Now many of you are thinking.
[00:48:44] Pastor Blake, appreciate it. Thank you.
[00:48:46] I even took notes, only fell asleep once.
[00:48:51] How does this apply to me?
[00:48:54] What if I'm not going to ever be a pastor, nor do I want to be one?
[00:48:58] How should I respond to the first qualification of a man aspiring and desiring this noble and excellent work of a pastor? How does the many who will never be pastors respond to this?
[00:49:11] If you're taking notes, I've got a few thoughts.
[00:49:14] Number one, pray for more men in the church to humbly aspire to the eldership.
[00:49:25] Pray for more men in our church to humbly aspire to the eldership.
[00:49:34] Listen, not every man will become an elder, but some should.
[00:49:40] While not every disciple of Jesus will be a pastoral leader, it would serve the church well for all of us to be looking out, to be like binoculars for Jesus.
[00:49:53] What is God doing in the hearts and character and home life and teaching of the men at ccbc?
[00:50:00] Join the elders. Because we do this all the time, just not literally. So you wouldn't figure out that we're looking at you, but we're constantly watching you, constantly looking. We don't have cameras, sorry, no barcodes. But we pay attention. We listen to you teach. We hear where the fruit's coming, the counsel that's given the. The books you recommend, your theology, what you're doing with your home life. We pay attention to these things because we want to see whom has the Lord raised up among us to shepherd this. Dear flock, one pastor in Atlanta said this. We need men of God to lead our churches.
[00:50:34] It has Always been God's way to use men. As A.W. tozer pointedly said, God the Holy Spirit does not fill rapids.
[00:50:42] I know, it's so random, but it is funny.
[00:50:44] The cry around the world and the churches is for men. The godly men. Men who will lead at home and then in the church. Too many churches are functionally led by women. If pastors themselves are not truly biblical men, men of God, they will not attract men.
[00:50:59] Pray for more men in our church to humbly aspire to the eldership. Number two, I know this will sound self serving, but I'm trying to keep in line with scripture so you can understand the flow of where he's going.
[00:51:15] Number two, keep showing appreciation for the work of your elders as you are already doing.
[00:51:21] Keep showing appreciation for the work of your elders as you are already doing in our church. Covenant. We say this every time we partake of the Lord's Supper, every members meeting. We will highly esteem and love those who labor among us as elders because. Because of what? Because of their noble work by supporting them and praying for them while also welcoming and testing their instruction by the authority of the Scriptures.
[00:51:46] Chaffee Crossing Baptist Church.
[00:51:49] The greatest privilege of my life is to be married to Julie.
[00:51:53] The second greatest privilege of my life is to raise my three children, Noah, Avery and Titus.
[00:51:58] The third greatest privilege of my life is to pastor Chaffee Crossing Baptist Church.
[00:52:05] We've been through a lot here.
[00:52:09] There was an internal desire to move to this town.
[00:52:12] There was an external affirmation to come to this town.
[00:52:16] And then the Lord took our script, threw it in the trash.
[00:52:19] So I got a better plan.
[00:52:24] I know me.
[00:52:26] If you look at Blake Boylson's life for probably majority of its Christian life, I would have got out of Dodge. I would have said no way, no how, too hard, too stressful, too much mama dramas. I'm out of here.
[00:52:39] The only reason we've stayed truly is not because Fort Smith is on the top 25 places to visit in the world's wonders of tourism.
[00:52:50] It is for the people, it's for the work.
[00:52:55] And it's worth it.
[00:52:58] If Satan can't get me out of this town by this point, he ain't getting me out now.
[00:53:03] I love you.
[00:53:06] You're worth it.
[00:53:08] You're worth it.
[00:53:12] I'm so thankful to be a pastor here.
[00:53:16] What a privilege. I get to be one small part of that. On the day that you see your master, I got to be a part of seeing you made into the image of Christ.
[00:53:32] What a privilege that I can be One instrument in the Redeemer's hands to help you finish your race. What a privilege.
[00:53:41] What a privilege it will be for me to be likely some of yalls last pastor.
[00:53:47] What a privilege.
[00:53:49] I love you and you need to hear that.
[00:53:54] Church leadership affects every Christian whether they like it or not, for good or for bad.
[00:54:02] Friends, having no spiritual leaders watch over your life is spiritually dangerous.
[00:54:09] Churchless Christianity, church hopping Christianity.
[00:54:15] Never formally submitting under an established group of elders is spiritually dangerous for your soul if you're a Christian.
[00:54:24] What did Jesus say in Mark 6 when he went ashore and he saw the crowd? He had compassion on them. Why? Because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
[00:54:33] Listen, if you're a professing Christian here and you intend to follow Jesus and you're not a member of a local church, that you have formally made a commitment to them and they to you, I want to encourage you to do that, to come under the pastoral oversight and care of others watching out for your spiritual good.
[00:54:52] It's only for your good. It's only for our good together.
[00:54:57] Now friends, let me also say this number three.
[00:55:00] This will probably be the most relatively bottom shelf right out the gate. Application 3rd response out of love for Jesus, join the elders in loving the church out of love for Jesus, join the elders in loving the church.
[00:55:20] Friends, you don't need titles.
[00:55:23] You don't need an office.
[00:55:26] You don't need degree, initials next to your name. You don't need to go to seminary in order to be used of the Lord.
[00:55:36] You don't need to be an elder, a deacon, someone widely known. You can serve quietly behind the scenes. You can use your gifts in so many ways to be greatly used of God. And whatever that work is, if it's done unto the Lord, it is a noble task.
[00:55:56] It's not the size of someone's ministry that matters most.
[00:56:00] It's the faithfulness to do what Jesus gave you as your ministry that matters the most.
[00:56:07] Friends, it begins with the same love that should be true of the elders. An intense, as Spurgeon said, all absorbing desire to love the Savior and to serve his people. This is the great privilege of our life with our various vocations and our various family situations and our various ages and strengths and weaknesses. If we are all coming together with the same heart and the same mind, it is a force to be reckoned with.
[00:56:36] Our lives, friends, are to be marked by good works that make Jesus look good.
[00:56:44] Because that's the purpose of our life.
[00:56:47] Not to make us famous, but King Jesus famous.
[00:56:52] Friends, a good question that I have to ask myself in light of verse one that you should ask yourself. Am I and yourselves ambitious for a life of ease and self serving convenience?
[00:57:06] Are you and I ambitious to decrease, to die, to self because of the self loving Jesus who has given it all up for us?
[00:57:18] Lets conclude, why would anyone want to be a pastor?
[00:57:24] How does one become a pastor?
[00:57:28] Earlier in the service Jason read John 21, which was that unforgettable story of both failure and restoration for one of Jesus closest disciples, Peter.
[00:57:41] Jesus had told Peter on the night of his betrayal that he would deny him three times. And then Peter denies even that happening. Peter in his self confidence and his presumptuous pride and hasty zeal had to learn the hard way.
[00:57:56] Satan desired to sift Peter like wheat and boy he did, but he did not sift him completely. Peter would be just as capable of egregious sins as Judas were it not for Jesus sustaining his faith from doing so.
[00:58:10] And In John chapter 21 we see a picture of how Peter, like many of us when he failed, reverted back to his old life.
[00:58:23] He went back fishing.
[00:58:25] He went back to what was comfortable, what was familiar, where he was somebody.
[00:58:35] But even in the midst of shame, failure and fear, Jesus wasn't done with Peter.
[00:58:43] Jesus resurrected from the dead, manifested himself to his disciples alive and well, and then pursued them even when they did not pursue him.
[00:58:53] There, by the Sea of Tiberius, Jesus makes breakfast for the boys.
[00:58:57] And in the midst of seeing, nets full of fish, because Jesus made it happen for them to catch all those fish.
[00:59:04] And in the midst of seeing a meal before them as a gift from Jesus would have brought back memories of the meal of the Lord's Supper they had just experienced days before.
[00:59:14] Jesus looked into the eyes of Peter, those weary and worn out eyes of failure, failure and failure. And he said these words, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
[00:59:32] He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you.
[00:59:36] He said to him, feed my lambs.
[00:59:39] He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
[00:59:44] He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you.
[00:59:47] He said to him, tend my sheep.
[00:59:50] He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
[00:59:55] Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, lord, you know everything.
[01:00:02] You know that I love you.
[01:00:05] Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
[01:00:10] What was Jesus doing here with Peter?
[01:00:15] He was doing what he does to all his people when they Fail because of sin.
[01:00:23] Jesus walks towards them to restore them.
[01:00:30] See, Peter didn't keep his eyes on Christ. He put his eyes on himself, and that's why he fell.
[01:00:37] Friends, I don't know what the Lord Jesus might be teaching you right now with your life, your ministry to others, your stewardships, but I think it's safe to say that Jesus has every right to ask that question to you and to me.
[01:00:57] Do you love me?
[01:01:01] Do you love me?
[01:01:04] Do you love me?
[01:01:06] And if we say yes, then Jesus says, then love my sheep, tend my lambs, feed them.
[01:01:18] Love them, because I died for them.
[01:01:23] Friends, there are three places that you'll find sheep.
[01:01:27] The elect of God, you might say, where. Pastor Blake.
[01:01:32] Many of them are visibly gathering with local churches.
[01:01:36] They are following the good shepherd by obeying the good Shepherd's word, and they are assembled in churches like here. There are sheep in this congregation, true Christians following Jesus.
[01:01:48] Secondly, there are sheep who have yet to hear the shepherd's voice.
[01:01:53] They're lost. They're in the dark and they're wandered off. And Christ has bidded us to go find them through preaching and teaching, evangelizing, church planting and church strengthening and missions, and on and on we go to go find the lost sheep that belong to the Savior. And. And there's a third place where the sheep are right now. They're not here on earth and they're not wandering. They're already in heaven.
[01:02:20] It's the church at rest that we sang about earlier.
[01:02:24] It's the church we're going to sing about as we close this gathering, the church who has crossed before us safely to that land of perfect rest.
[01:02:37] In my office, I have a picture of a little lamb all by himself in the woods with a faded picture of a shepherd running after the sheep in the background.
[01:02:51] And it says in big, bold white letters, he left the 99 to rescue me.
[01:03:01] Brothers and sisters, if you know the Lord Jesus, today you know the shepherd. He's the overseer of your souls. You have made it into the flock. You have made it into the fold.
[01:03:11] He left the 99 to rescue you.
[01:03:16] What more motivation do we need, we who are united to the Savior, to love the flock he died for.
[01:03:27] Pastoring is a desirable work because pastoring is dear to the heart of Jesus work.
[01:03:37] Friends, this is a faithful saying to keep repeating in the church.
[01:03:42] This is an aspiration that some should keep pursuing in the church.
[01:03:47] And this is a glorious way to spend your time.
[01:03:52] Ministry is heavy and it is a high calling, and it's worth it. All, let's pray.
