Sermon Tone Analysis

Titus 1:5

Pastors Come and Pastors Go…

 

/The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you/.

Pastors come and pastors go,

But the church remains.

| I |

 first heard this old saw in East Texas.

It was used as an excuse to account for the fact that many pastorates in the little country churches were of such short duration.

Upon arriving in British Columbia I was astonished to again encounter this same self-serving religious doggerel.

Whether or not the adage is known to a particular congregation, the sentiment is nevertheless expressed among far too many churches in this day.

It usually excuses the instability of the pulpit.

It somehow finds its way to the fore when the power clique of a given church decides it is time for the pastor to leave; it lends a pious veneer to their thoughtless attempt to intimidate God’s appointed shepherd.

The concept is unbiblical – an insult to the Spirit of God who dwells among the churches and who jealously watches over the Bride of Christ … the church.

To consider pastors to be flotsam and jetsam on the sea of religious life is to disdain those whom God has given as gifts to His church purchased with His own blood [cf.

*Ephesians 4:11-13*].

Pastors are shepherds appointed to guide the flock rather than simply stand idly by while a coterie of power mongers manipulate the Bride of Christ according to their whimsy.

You may be surprised to discover that this temperament which slights God’s shepherd is neither new nor novel, but it was resident among the churches even in the apostolic era.

Paul found it necessary to write Titus who was apparently discouraged at confronting such attitudes among the Cretan churches.

*Titus*, wrote the aged man of God, *let me remind you why you are in Crete*.

*I began a work there, but it was unfinished*.

*You are the one who will need to complete what was begun*.

*You will need to appoint elders in each town*.

What is unsaid is as poignant as what is stated.

*The Relationship of Pastor and People* — The prevailing attitude among religious people appears to view the pastor as a mere employee.

The sentiment of too many churches toward God’s undershepherd seems to be, “We hired you and we can fire you.”

Perhaps that feeling is fostered in part by our income tax laws, which for the purpose of national revenue treats the support given the pastor as income.

Income, in the popular mind, speaks of wages and wages are that which is due because of labour rendered.

It may prove beneficial for you to reflect on the fact that our Lord speaks of the shepherd in terms sharply contrasted to the hired hand.

In John’s Gospel is recorded a discourse the Master gave in which He spoke of Himself as the Good Shepherd even as He spoke disparagingly of the hired hand.

Though the words are clearly applied to our Lord Himself, by contrast they apply to those whom He sets as a shepherd over the flock.

/The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep.

So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.

Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep/ [*John 10:12,13*].

A shepherd is to guard the flock, even treating the flock with harshness should the occasion demand such severe response – for instance when danger is imminent and the need is for haste instead of finesse.

Does God not know the need of His sheep?

And should we not anticipate that He will set over the flock that individual necessary for their spiritual welfare?

The pastor is to be received as one whom God has set in that position of responsibility.

What else does the teaching of the Word mean, if not that?

Paul, writing in the encyclical we have received as Ephesians, states the case in this manner.

/It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ/.

/Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming/ [*Ephesians 4:11-14*].

The gifted men set within the churches are not to be seen as those who perform all the labours of the church, but they are to prepare God’s people for works of service.

Among those gifted servants are the pastors who are to prepare God’s people for ministry.

The people are to work under the tutelage of the shepherd and not /vice versa/.

Turn your thoughts to another well-known passage of Scripture which presents the relationship of shepherd and flock.

I speak of the *Twenty-third Psalm*, of course.

/The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want./

/He makes me lie down in green pastures,/

/He leads me beside quiet waters,/

/He restores my soul./

/He guides me in paths of righteousness/

/for His name’s sake./

/Even though I walk/

/through the valley of the shadow of death,/

/I will fear no evil,/

/for You are with me;/

/Your rod and Your staff,/

/they comfort me./

/You prepare a table before me/

/in the presence of my enemies./

/You anoint my head with oil;/

/my cup overflows./

/Surely goodness and love will follow me/

/all the days of my life,/

/and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever/

[*Psalm 23:1-6*].

Scope in especially on that *fourth verse* with me: /Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me/.

Perhaps you thought the shepherd carried rod and staff for his own convenience.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Rod and staff are carried for the sake of the sheep.

Throughout the Psalm is an emphasis on what the shepherd does for the sheep, so it is easy to overlook the fact that the shepherd must also be prepared to exercise discipline over the sheep … through force if necessary.

Although the rod and the staff are employed to protect the flock, they are also to correct a sheep when such is required.

Perhaps a leg needs to be broken to keep a sheep from wandering into danger and to bind it to the shepherd.

Ofttimes a sheep will need to be redirected forcefully to keep it moving along the path.

Again, it is sometimes necessary to discipline a sheep by striking it.

The result of this loving imposition of discipline is to insure that goodness and mercy follow the sheep and to insure that they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Too often the attitude of churches is that of rebellion against the divine order.

The sheep take to themselves the right to tell the shepherd how to conduct his ministry and what he should say and how he should treat them.

If he does not, they will fire him and hire one who will do as he is told.

In this is fulfilled the words of the Apostle Paul.

The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.

Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear [*2 Timothy 4:3*].

I do not mean to imply that a shepherd should be unnecessarily harsh nor that he may take advantage of the flock with impunity.

The shepherd is under divine orders.

He is to be /eager to serve/, to avoid /lording it over/ the flock, to be careful to provide /an example to the flock/.

He knows that he must /give an account/ both for his conduct and for the welfare of the flock entrusted to his care by the Chief Shepherd [cf.

*1 Peter 5:2,3* and *Hebrews 13:17*].

It is not often the shepherd who is unruly when standing firm on the Word.

Frankly, unless you have sound moral, ethical, doctrinal reasons for confronting your pastor, you are in rebellion against the Word of God and against the very presence of the Living God.

The pastor must recognise that he is placed in his position by divine appointment and avoid taking advantage of the flock.

The flock is to recognise that the pastor is set over them by the will of God and resist the impulse to dictate.

There is to be a tender, mutual concern of one for the other.

The pastor is to be seen as integral to a healthy congregation and not as a mere adjunct to be pushed or pulled at the whim of some individual or some committee within the assembly.

The pastor is to shepherd the flock demonstrating an attitude of self-sacrifice for the welfare of the congregation.

The congregation is to receive the direction of the pastor as that given by one whom God has charged with the awesome responsibility for their welfare.

Together, pastor and flock are to advance the cause of Christ through investing their mutual gifts in the body of Christ.

Titus was to appoint elders in every town.

Isn’t it interesting that there is no instruction to the churches to elect elders in every town?

Who elected the pastor of the church at Jerusalem?