What is a Pastor?

What is a Pastor

Acts 8:26-40; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9

By Pastor Jordan Hines

That those who are without any help right now, God help the Christians, the people, a lot of damage, those churches, even that have lost a lot of value in their church. Help them to be able to meet, help them to be able to come together, help them be able to support each other in this time. God, we pray for those who are not here today due to sickness and to other conditions in their life.

God help them to be encouraged. Help them to find some kind of connection, whether that's through the live-stream, whether that's through a video or a friend coming to meet them or see them. God help us to be an encouragement to those around us.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving slanderers without self control, brutal despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away for of his sort all those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for your word. And thank you especially for Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead, paying for our sins that we don't have to pay it for ourselves. Lord, I do pray that you would help us each in our individual lives to be walking with you, to be fleeing from sin.

And when we do sin, just confess our sins and live right. Lord, I thankful for the time that you've given us even yesterday to reach out to our community here. I pray that you'd help us each to reach out to the lost in our lives at work and wherever we go.

I just pray that you'd be with Pastor Jordan as he presents your word today. I thank you for the time that you've given him to study and work through it. And I just pray that you help him to clearly give the message to us today and that we would listen closely and apply these things in our lives.

I pray this in Jesus holy name. Amen. A good singing this morning.

One more note before we get into the sermon today. Ed Lincoln's birthday is the 28th and we don't get to see him a lot because he is not able to come to church here in this building, but we want to surprise him with a card shower for his birthday. So in the bulletin there is his address, so please look that up if you'd like to send him a card.

We'd love to be a blessing to him and go visit him if you have time. That would be an encouragement to him as well. As we continue, let's just think through kind of where we have been.

We're kind of at a crossroads in our series, so we have gone through what the church is, and I just want to lay out for you before we get into the sermon, what my plan is for preaching, just so you guys are under standing sort of the direction that we're going for the next few months. So if you could progress to the next slide there we can see sort of the plan for 2024. We talked about what the church is, and then there it is right there.

I want us to lay out sort of the responsibilities of the people in the church, and I want to do this for a couple reasons. Number one, I am a new pastor. This church has not had a pastor for a few years.

And I just want to restart in our minds, if you will, reengage mentally what we are supposed to be doing as a partnership, as a new entity together. Because you guys have been serving the Lord well without me. So don't take this the wrong way.

I am trying to learn how to be a better pastor every single day as your pastor. As I grow and I study in the office, I think it's important that we study these concepts of what the church is, what a pastor is, what a deacon is, what a church member is, for my benefit and for your benefit. So we know how to relate to each other, how to love each other, how to be in relationship with each other.

So this will be over the next several months. But the idea is that at the end of these four series, we just finished, the first one of those on that list is that we have a better understanding of how to relate to one another and how to serve together. So we have unity, so we have purpose together in this cause.

And we find ourselves today starting a new series on what is a pastor. Now, this, I'll admit, is kind of an awkward sermon to preach because I feel like I'm preaching to myself. But really, the commands that we find in scripture about being a pastor, most of them are repeated as just being a faithful church member, as being a godly man, a godly woman, outside of being able to teach in the leadership and oversight that comes with the office and the responsibilities of that being a good godly christian and being qualified to be in ministry is something also to look forward to, to try to emulate, to try to be.

And I'm not coming from an authority as saying that I have mastered these things. I'm coming to you as a servant of God, saying, this is what God has called me to be. And by his grace, I grow into this every single day.

And just by God's grace, you grow into the man or woman in Christ that he has called you to be. As we look at first Timothy, chapter three, verses one through seven, and Titus one, we're not just looking at those passages. We're looking at really all of the pastoral epistles.

So what I've done this week is I've scoured first Timothy two, Timothy and Titus, and I've looked for any commands given to pastors, any descriptions of who they are and what they're supposed to do. And it's going to take a few weeks for us to go through that. Quite simply, we are just going to see the responsibility of being a steward of God given relationships.

And that also I am to exercise godly character. The big idea today is a pastor is responsible to steward his God given relationships and exercise godly character. And we will go further into what he next week, into what he does not do, what he avoids, and then also what he does, what he abounds, and what he joys in.

But first, I think it's important for us to see who the man of God is who is a pastor in his character, in his relationships. And it feels a bit like if you've been to college or any kind of school syllabus day, where you look at all of the assignments that you have to accomplish and everything you have to read and everything you have to understand and maybe even think bigger picture of the first day of college. You have the whole plan for your program for a pastoral training at faith.

It's 135 credits. And as a freshman, you get all this whole list of all the classes you take, and it's daunting. And you realize that you're not in this alone, that as you look at that list, you're not qualified to be called a graduate at that point.

But you look forward, and after you graduate, you look back and you say, by God's grace, God worked in my life to bring me to the place where I became a graduate. And that's sort of on a larger scale, much larger scale. God looks at us as incomplete projects, and he's working on us.

And my prayer is that as we look at the scriptures today, that we would see ourselves as God's projects, as God working on us and completing us until the day of Christ. And God has a unique position called pastor, and God has uniquely called people to this office, and it's not something people should do lightly. Just like this church has called a pastor, God has called me to this church, and it is a humbling experience.

So today we're going to look at a couple key passages, but mainly we're going to see a pastor's relationships and a pastor's character. So to begin, I want to just read a couple passages. Let's start in one Timothy, chapter three, and then we're going to go to Titus, chapter one.

This is a faithful saying. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then, must be blameless.

The husband of one wife, temperate, sober, minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, nor greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. One who rules his own household, his own house, well, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will.

Will he take care of the church of God, not a novice. Lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil.

Turn to Titus, chapter one. Especially verses five through nine is what we're going to read. Titus, one, two chapters later.

One Timothy, two Timothy. Titus, verses five through nine. For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set things in order that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.

If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination. For a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God. Not self willed, not quick tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober minded, just, holy, self controlled, holding fast the faithful word, as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

Let's ask the Lord for help this morning. Let's pray. God, thank you for the difficult truths of your word.

Thank you for the holy standard that you have for us. Thank you for calling me to be a pastor here at this church. And thank you for calling these people to serve here.

God, you've been gracious, you've blessed us, and now you demand that we serve you demand that we love and honor you. And I think that, I believe that that happens here in our character. I believe that you want us to walk with you in our character and also in our relationships.

Help us to see that from scripture. Help us to grow and change as a result of what we see from God's word. Today, in your son's name, we pray this.

Amen. People's relationships are a big part of who they are. So if we come to any random person and say, name your top five friends.

If I look at those top five friends, you can tell a lot about that person. Who your friends are shapes you. It brings you to a certain place spiritually.

If someone, if one of your friends meditates only on a certain hobby or topic, you end up sort of gravitating toward that hobby or topic. If one of your friends sort of drags you away from what's really important in your life, that may be a friend that you need to distance yourself from or have a difficult conversation with. The relationships that a man of God, a pastor, has is crucial, and I want to start here with a very crucial relationship, that is, his relationship to God.

And we're going to jump around a little bit, and you're going to hear a lot of personal language in this sermon, but understand that this is something you ought to be asking yourself as well. The first point here under relationship to God is you ought to be a vessel made to honor God. This is in two Timothy.

There's going to be a lot of flipping between one Timothy, two Timothy and Titus. Second Timothy, chapter two, verses 20 and 21. So I encourage you to flip as much as you can through the text and find it as well so you can read it.

But it says in two Timothy, 220 and 21. But in the great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the ladder, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work.

So Paul here, he has a picture, a comparison between vessels that are used for honor and for dishonor. And at the end of the text, he really brings out what my desire is as well, is that I might be sanctified and that you might be sanctified. This is not the idea that we are presently perfect, but we are positionally perfect, and we are daily being sanctified or set apart, purified by the work of God in our life.

And through this process, we become useful for the master. A tool is only useful if you are able to actually use it. Right? It's in the word.

It's something that if the tool isn't available, if the tool isn't sharp, if the tool isn't cleaned, it's not prepared for use. The tools that we have, that we are, are used for good works in God, and God would like to use us. We are to be prepared for every good work.

I am to be prepared for every good work as a pastor. And this does not say anything about me getting this in and of myself or you being prepared for every good work in and of yourselves. It is because of what God is doing in you.

We are a vessel made to honor God. We are also stewards of God, especially as a pastor. God puts people in.

It's a supervisor role. But think of it more of, like, middle management, someone who is designed for service, designed not as the one who is served or worshiped or the head of, because our great shepherd is Jesus Christ. And my job, ultimately, as your pastor, is to serve you by protecting the word of God, by leading you, and by being a man of God.

The stewardship here of this relationship is important because there's a lot to balance. We ought to be, and I ought to be a man of God, a husband of God, and then a pastor of God. And those things ought to be in balance.

A husband, a man of God makes a good husband of God. And you have to be a good husband in order to be a good pastor, which is why all of these things have to start from the source that is God to my family. A faithful husband that's in one Timothy three two and Titus one six.

We are to be. I am to be a faithful husband, a faithful man in my own household, to properly prioritize my own home so that I can be a man of God, but also so I can fulfill the qualifications of a pastor. I'm to be, Lord willing, a father of faithful children, if the Lord blesses us with children.

You see, the idea here is that you don't have to have children, you don't have to be married, but you need to be faithful in your family relationships. It's. Fidelity is the older word for it.

Obedient. Your children to be obedient, well behaved, the household must run properly. Must run well.

It's a sign of discipline. It's a sign of the word being taught and modeled. If you look at someone's children, you look at someone's grandchildren, you see sort of how their household affects the next generation.

I'm also to be in relationship from God to my family, but also to the church. You see that as a pastor, I have a very specific relationship with this body, and the church has a relationship with me as a leader. One of the requirements of being a pastor is not a novice, lest he become conceited or puffed up with pride, Donald Guthrie wrote in his commentary on this passage, the Greek word translated to become conceited means literally to wrap in smoke and suggest that the new convert would find himself be clouded or surrounded.

And pride gives a false sense of altitude, making the subsequent fall all the greater. It's a beautiful picture. Well, it's not a beautiful picture.

It's a harsh picture of pride wrapping around the man and lifting him so that when he falls, he falls mightily. And we see that in the culture we have seen, there are pastors who have fallen, and they fall in a mighty way because of the pride that they get in themselves. And that pride happens, I believe, when they take their eyes off of the word of God and realize just how unimportant they are in the situation.

You see, as a pastor, I'm to preach the word of God. I'm not to preach the word of Jordan. I'm not to preach the word of my family.

I'm to preach the word of God. And the word of God is what provides the power. And I'm to be a servant to the word and a student of the word.

And that is truly what works, truly what is impactful. My desire is to be spiritually mature, to walk continually, to daily acknowledge my need for him in ministry, allow the grace of God to flow through this ministry. He also says in two Timothy 317 that I'm to be equipped for every good work through the word of God.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for approved, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. This text speaks to you, and it speaks to me. It speaks to us as believers and us specifically in our situation.

We are to grow. We are to be people of God who rely on the word of God because the word of God is faithful. It is God breathe.

It is what God has said we ought to do, and God only says what we ought to do based on who he is, based on his character, based on everything that he is and continues to be and never will stop being. This text speaks to the fact that we are not alone. This text speaks to the fact that we need the grace of God.

We need truth. Because if it were up to us, I feel like our desires would tear us away from the truth. But the idea is that we have this foundational, never changing truth and that it never wanders because it always stays the same.

I am to be to the church a leader and also a teacher. This is the only qualification, one of the few qualifications that are exclusively to pastors. Because in one timothy there is a list of deacons and pastors.

And this idea of being able to teach is that I would be able to communicate the truth, that God would be able to work through me to communicate the truth. And it's not enough just for me to know the truth. I have to be able to communicate it in a way that the word of God can be clearly understood.

And this truth, that this command to be a teacher, I believe, is extended to those who are especially called as teachers, even to you in a smaller way, as you teach other people around you in discipleship. Now, God may not call you to be a pastor or a missionary. God may not call you to be full time vocational in ministry.

But God wants you to tell other people about the hope that lies within you. It may not be publicly, but there are places that I cannot go, that you can go where people will hear and listen to you. There are people that you talk to that I will never talk to.

Yesterday we went through at least ten to twelve blocks of this neighborhood. I wasn't able to do that by myself. There were connections made that were made because of very specific pieces of your personality.

They could connect with you individually. I believe God knows you individually and knows the people you connect with. Well, then God uses each and every one of us.

This part of the text is a challenge to me personally, as someone who is not just responsible for walking with God individually, but one who is responsible for teaching. I am also to be a minister. To be hospitable is the word used in one Timothy three, two and Titus, chapter one, verse eight.

The idea here is disposed to treat guests and strangers with a cordial and generous nature. To love on people, to invite people to your home, and to encourage them in the word. But also, I think, it speaks of your spirit.

It's not just an action. I think it comes out of a heart that wants to serve people, that wants to love people. It demands sacrifice.

It demands selflessness. It demands love for others. It's hospitality.

And it brings deeper relationships, spiritual conversation, and discipleship. It involves giving, giving of your time, giving of your energy, giving of who you are in conversation, in personal life, in your attention. And it's very rewarding.

As a minister, this is something that I am to do, but also you are to do. God calls on you to be hospitable, to love each other, to love one another, to show hospitality, also to be gentle. First Timothy three, three and two Timothy 224.

Speak of this. To be gentle is exactly what it sounds like. It's to be moderate, to be mild, to not come on too strong.

I am responsible for calmly caring for people, not in anger or haste, but in gentle care. It has to do with the way that ministry is approached. And similarly, the idea of being patient from two Timothy 224 is to be long suffering, bearing troubles and wrongs, to be patient so to patiently love the church, to know that God has been abundantly patient with me, and that helps me understand what it looks like to be patient with others.

So a pastor's relationship begins with his relationship with God, just as yours does, and then with his family, and then with the church. Next, I want to see a pastor's character. Now, this is really digging deeper into the idea of what a pastor is, not just what he does, not just the job description of a pastor, but what is a pastor like.

When you interview for that job, what are you looking for? The Bible says in one Timothy three two that you're supposed to find someone who is temperate, not given to any extreme behavior, especially when it comes to responses and life challenges. We're to be temperate, to be in control. This is an emphasis on behavior.

So to not be radical and just completely change your behavior from week to week. To be consistent, to be temperate. And then the next idea, to be sober minded.

In one Timothy three two, again, it talks about internal control. It's wisely self controlling your passions and desires. It's similar, but it is different, and it has to do with the inner mind.

Another idea we have to address here is that I need to be humble in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. This is two Timothy 225, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth. In humility.

This is an acknowledgement that I don't have all the answers, that the word of God is where the answers are, and that I'm responsible for giving those answers, not from my own understanding, but walking with God. I'm not the authority of this ministry. God is.

I'm not able to grant forgiveness. God is. I am not to convict someone of the truth.

God's word convicts people of the truth. And that is the heartbeat right there, this mindset of humility. Another idea here that we see in a pastor's character is that he has a genuine faith.

Second Timothy one five says, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, I am persuaded, is in you also, therefore reminding you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of hands. In this context, Paul is speaking to a young man named Timothy, who is leaving in Ephesus to work in the churches to appoint elders to rid out false teaching. And Paul is identifying this key trait in Timothy, saying he has a genuine faith.

Genuine faith, as we know from James, chapter two, is accompanied with works he has proven. Timothy has proven his faith. Genuine faith.

It involves trusting in something you have not seen. Hebrews eleven one three says now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so the things which were seen were not made of things which are visible. And the whole list of the people in the hall of faith are of people who didn't have all the information, yet they trusted God to give his promises. The last and one of my more, one of my favorite characteristics of a pastor here is Titus one eight.

And it says he is to be a lover of what is good, a lover of what is good. So what do I love? What do you love? What do we love? What do we care about? What do we make time for? What do we meditate on? What do we think about? What do we sacrifice in order to get? What do we argue and complain about when we don't get it? This means exactly what it sounds like. It means that our desires, that my desire, especially here in this context, is to desire the good and by the good.

I think he's talking about the good theology of who God is, the relationships that we have in Christ. He's speaking of eternal things, of eternal value. He's speaking of our walk with God as of utmost importance.

Good here is in step with and in our walk with God. It is the same as what God's character is. It's the the same as who God is.

Do I love God? And if I love God, do I love what God loves? God loves us. God loves righteousness. God loves purity.

God loves people who obey God loves a lot of things. God values us. Do we love what is good? Next, for a few moments here, I want to see not just his heart, his character here, sort of the last part here is a visible character, if you will, something that is very clearly seen before everyone.

Because what we've talked about so far in his character has been something that you could not necessarily see. It's not tangible. You can't hold it in your hands.

But the next four here are something you can really identify pretty clearly. The first of which is the pastor is just, he is righteous, characterized by what is the right moral standard of God. So are the actions of your pastor right? Is he in step with what God's word says? Secondly, is he holy? Is he being sanctified, dedicated, devout, pleasing to God? Is this a part of his life? And as I look at this mirror of God's word, there are so many things that are convicting and challenging, because I'm not a perfect person.

And yet God, by his grace, I can echo with Paul. In one Timothy 112, he says, I thank the Lord for counting me. I don't want to misquote it, so I'm just going to go to it.

And I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful. He counted me faithful. He is the one who appointed me and the one who sees me putting me into the ministry.

Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. But I obtained mercy because I did it in ignorantly and unbelief. And verse 14 is key.

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant. And he goes on and on, as Paul often does. But we see, and I see in my life that the grace of God is abundant, and the grace of God is abundant in your life too, because we all have shortcomings, especially as a pastor.

Those shortcomings become more clear because more people are watching. But my prayer every day is to walk as a person dedicated to the work of the ministry, dedicated to God, pleasing to God, also thirdly, self controlled. This is to have my thoughts and desires roped in, to be in control.

Now a key distinction here is that I cannot do this by myself. It involves me relying on the Lord. It involves allowing God to work in me.

And you can see this in your own life. You are to be just and holy and self controlled and also blameless. This is not deserving or worthy of any rebuke or criticism.

Now, obviously, as people who are sinners, this is difficult for us to understand, but the idea is that when someone throws an attack at us, it just falls off of us because we are walking with God. There's nothing that they can stick to our character and say, ah, can't trust them. A man of God, a pastor, is to have this kind of character.

And I would ask that you would hold me accountable to this, as God does. Also, as a church, I think it's important that you understand that these responsibilities don't just fall on a pastor. These responsibilities fall on you to be walking with God.

Because how can you correct your pastor? How can you disciple anyone without first walking with God? We are all to be walking with God as believers, as Christians, and also to be fulfilling the specific roles God has called us to. And by God's grace, he has allowed us to be in this kind of relationship between church and pastor. And it is my desire to be a godly pastor with godly relationships and godly character.

All these commands, most of them, are echoed elsewhere in scripture, at least in principle. But there is an aspect here where there is someone left out of this sermon, and that is the unbeliever. I've been speaking to a pastor, to myself, and to this church, but also to the unbeliever who doesn't really have a part in this.

Well, do not be confused that this call to have this kind of character is not in any way giving a christian salvation. This call to this kind of character is not in any way making someone more worthy of God's glory, worthy of God's grace. The reason these people, pastors and churches exist is to bring the gospel to other people.

The gospel is that, very simply in John 316, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. Those who are Christians, those who, if you're a Christian, or those who are a pastor, especially if you're a pastor, are called to preach and teach this word.

We'll get to this later in the series. But my calling as a pastor also includes equipping you to be able to go out and give this gospel. And if I'm not doing that, then I'm not doing my job.

It's my prayer that this church would walk with God. It's been said that a godly church will follow a godly pastor, and a godly pastor will lead a church of people who want to walk with God, who search after God and a pastor is responsible for equipping and for teaching. And it is my prayer to be that kind of pastor who can lead you by example but also in the truth.

So I trust that this series will be helpful and will be encouraging as we walk through it. Let's ask the Lord for help again. Let's pray.

God, you've been gracious to us. You have given us the gift of your word and you've given us the gift of clearly defined responsibility and roles as a pastor and as a church. And even though they are different, even though we are on different sides of this relationship, God help us to work together for the advance of the gospel.

Help us to both walk in love and care for who we are in Christ. I pray for anyone who needs this gospel that has changed us to hear it, to be impacted by our testimony and by the word. In your son's name, amen.