Church Governance

Session Four: The Role of the Pastor

I. The Character of the Pastor/Elder

II. The qualifications of the Pastor/Elder

For the next hour or so we are going to talk about the Biblical Role of the Pastor. If we were to look around at a vast majority of pastors, we would discover that there are many misunderstandings today about what the Bible teaches concerning the role of a pastor. Some pastors seem to believe that their job is to draw in the outside world into the church; some pastors believe that their focus is to get as many people to church as possible. Some Pastors believe that their job is to make the church appear desirable for the unsaved. Some Pastors seem to think their Job is to be motivational speakers or healers, or that they should focus on casting out demons, we have all of these pastors doing different things, trying to accomplish different things, trying to reach the culture, trying to change the culture, trying to change politics, and so forth and so on. Now, we recognize that a Pastor is called by God, right? Therefore, we should be asking the question, what does God expect the Pastor to focus on, what does the Bible tell us, is the role and function of the Pastor.

III. The Self Care of the Pastor/Elder

If God calls men as Pastors, then surely, He defines what it means to be a Pastor, surely, He tells us where our focus should be, right? Surely God doesn’t make us guess as to what He wants us to do, and surely, we aren’t allowed to do whatever we want, right. So, let’s open the word of God and see what God says is our role as pastors. Turn with me to

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd (or feed) the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Character of Pastor

My assignment for this session of our conference is Church Governance. There is much that could be covered here anything from the differences and specifics of church governance and polity to those that do the governing. In reality the latter is far more important than the former. If the elders/pastors are unqualified they will certainly govern poorly no matter how much information they have concerning details of ruling well and it is for this reason that I want to focus in on Church Governance as it pertains to the Qualifications of those who govern the church.

For this session I want to cover three areas of concern in regards to the call and position of a Pastor,

1) The qualifications of the Pastor, 2) The Character of the Pastor, and 3) The self-care of the Pastor.

When it comes to qualifications of a pastor in the church today, it is something rarely mentioned, it is often overlooked, and large parts of the church consider it outdated and rather inconvenient. Many churches have substituted the biblical qualifications of an Elder for men with Charisma, for men with business acumen, for men who have enough money to fund things in the church, and for men who can entertain and draw a crowd. We have every type of man you can think of in the pulpit today, and yet the type of man you find the lest is the one that is Called by God and biblically qualified.

I would suggest to you that the reason for much of the downgrade in the church as we see it today comes because there are men in the pulpit who should not be there, men are you not qualified. There are elders in churches that can’t manage their own home much less the house of God, elders who cannot pray when asked, elders who cannot counsel members from the word of God. Simply put, Biblical Governance by biblically qualified elders are mostly absent from church today. What must happen, is a renewed reverence for God, the word of God, and the Church of God, to the extent that we wouldn’t dare defile God’s house with men unfit for the task.

The biblical qualification

For our first area of concern please turn with me in your Bibles to Titus Chapter 1 and vs. 5-9

There is an encroaching danger in the church today, particularly where it concerns the qualifications of a pastor or elder. In much of the church, both in America and here in Africa, the qualifications of an elder are often ignored, and if not ignored all together then they are applied selectively.

Turn with me to Titus Chapter 1 and vs. 5-9 and let’s read the qualifications:

It seems to me, that what I see in many church’s, does look like what I’ve just read in the Bible. I want us to look a little more closely at our verses. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, (That’s us, right, pastors.) The term elder is the same for pastor), as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, (and here it comes, these next few words are the command of scripture to every Pastor), SHEPHERD THE FLOCK OF GOD AMONG YOU!

With that let us consider our first area of concern, The qualifications of a Pastor/Elder. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Titus Chapter 1 and vs. 5-9

Titus 1:5–9 NASB95

5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, 6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

titus

That’s it, That is our sole responsibility before God. If you are a pastor or if you desire to be a pastor, then you have one job and only one Job. To Shepherd the flock of God among you.... that is your job. We are not called to be a culture changer, or to penetrate society, we are not called to be motivational speakers, or healers, or businessmen, or whatever else preachers are doing out there, we are meant to feed, to shepherd, the flock of God that is among us. A Pastor is a gift from God to the church, and we are called to the church, not the world.

“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion for the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just , devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”

The qualifications are very clear, and yet a great deal of churches neglect most if not all of these qualifications, or they pick and choose which ones they will apply while leaving others out. Now in a few minutes, we are going to exposit these verses to gain a better understanding of them so that when we have completed this session there will be no doubt as to what qualifications a Pastor/Elder must possess.

I’m sure some of you may be thinking, but I need people to feed, right? I’m not saying that we don’t evangelize, I’m simply that the primary focus of the Pastor, according to the word of God, is to Feed the flock of God before him.

In case some of you are worried about growing your church, Let me just read you a few quotes from various scriptures

It’s appalling to see what many pastors are doing in the church today. Many have fallen into sexual sin, many pastors in Africa are taking advantage of women in the church sexually, Pastors being drunk, taking bribes, divorcing their wives and marrying other women in the church, and other such things. These are things that disqualify a man from the office of pastor, and in most cases, these men continue being a pastor, and there is no one to oppose them.

In the US, we just had a Pastor recently start a new church who was engaged in sexually immorality with someone in his youth ministry and had to resign from his previous pastorate. Now he has another church. I pray to God no one shows up, that man should not be able to find a single soul willing to listen to him and yet it will likely be a large church because of his previous popularity.

It doesn’t just happen in the US, It’s here in Uganda as well, all over Africa. It’s all over the middle east, it has infected the underground church in Asia. This type of behavior should permanently disqualify that man from ever stepping in a pulpit. Now, if he is truly repentant, he may be restored into the fellowship of believers but not as a pastor because he has disqualified himself from office. He is no longer above reproach!

I don’t know if people think that way here in Uganda, but we should know that the Bible teaches exactly the opposite, the man of God must be an example for all of those who believe especially in Character and should he disqualify himself he must be removed as a pastor.

Jesus said:

I know that many times in Africa a man becomes a pastor just because he is the most educated in the village, or the most excited about his faith, or maybe he was the witch doctor and has now professed faith in Christ, or westerners come over and ordain any man that says he wants to be a pastor, and there are many men all over Uganda right now who are unqualified and yet still claiming to be pastors. Some are earnest enough and simply need training, but many aren’t even saved themselves and are wolves amongst the sheep.

Now, if he is truly repentant, he may be restored into the fellowship of believers but not as a pastor because he has disqualified himself from office. I know that many times in Africa a man becomes a pastor just because he is the most educated in the village, or the most excited about his faith, or maybe he was the witch doctor and has now professed faith in Christ, or westerners come over and ordain any man that says he wants to be a pastor, and there are many men all over Uganda right now who are unqualified and yet still claiming to be pastors.

“I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

“All whom the Father chose will be called.”

Let’s go back to our passage, “vs. 6 Namely; If any man is above reproach, This doesn’t mean that a man must be perfect but rather must have a personal life that is beyond reasonable accusation and public scandal. It means to be without accusation, without a charge, not being called to account for what you’ve done, it means to be un-chargeable, without fault, to not be called as in not being called by the court or for indictment.

I’ll give you a local example. In mbarara there is a pastor called Naboth Tumiharwe. This article is from the Uganda radio network, on 30 April 2007.

A man who kidnapped and repeatedly raped a 19-year-old Congolese woman has been apprehended by police in Mbarara. Craize Sempijja, a 30-year-old truck driver from Kabingo in Isingiro district, reportedly raped a Congolese trader on April 10th. The Mbarara District Police Commander Ivan Nkwasibwe told journalists today that on her return from a business trip in Nairobi the trader hired Sempijja to transport her goods from Nateete in Kampala to Mbarara. In a statement to the police the rape victim said that on reaching Mbarara Sempijja refused to stop the truck and sped to his home in Isingiro. The lady said she was held for three days and repeatedly raped. She said abdominal stitches she had from a cesarean section she underwent a month ago, raptured during the rape. According to Officer Nkwasibwe, in addition to rape, Sempijja disappeared with the trader's goods, her passport and 300 U.S. dollars. He said Sempijja was discovered at his hideout in Mbarara town over the weekend and will be charged with kidnap, rape and robbery. Nkwasibwe also disclosed that the police are holding a 54-year-old pastor for battering his 51-year-old wife. He said Pastor Naboth Tumuhairwe of Redeemed Church near Makenke Army Barracks severely beat up his wife during a domestic quarrel. The pastor's wife sustained abdominal injuries and was briefly admitted at Mbarara Nursing Home.

“All who are called will come.”

This man is forever disqualified from the office of overseer/Pastor/Edler. Remember what our passage says, must be above reproach, as in not being able to be charged or called to a court for indictment. No one is perfect and that is not what we are speaking about, but an elder must be above reproach, certainly not having been arrested for beating your wife. Yet this man oversee’s many, many, other pastors. Just imagine what they are being taught from a man like this.

I don’t know if it’s shocking in your culture to call out names of those who do harm to the body of Christ, it’s not very popular in the US, but I do it anyway. The Apostle Paul handed people over to satan, called out names, all to protect the body of Christ. If we don’t clean up the church dear brothers, the world will make a mockery of the church, and if they mock let it be because they hate God and not because we aren’t governing ourselves well.

Here is a headline of a magazine I found in Uganda from some time back “Ugandan Pastors and scandals go hand in hand. They make news read more interesting whenever they are a subject of talk in the media.” When I read this my heart sank, because it means that there are too many unqualified men carrying the title “Pastor”.

“All who come will be received by Christ.”

While I don’t put a lot of trust in magazines such as this, it is still the perception that your local media has of Christian Pastors, and this is largely because there are so many men preaching that do not meet the qualifications of scripture for the pastorate and should have never been allowed into a pulpit.

“All whom Christ receives; He will keep. All whom He keeps, He will raise at the last day.”

I’ll just name a few more while I’m at it, american preachers that influence Uganda. Joel Osteen, heretic/Prosperity Gospel. T.D. Jakes, heretic/denies the trinity. Benny Hinn, heretic/Prosperity Gospel, Joyce meyer, Paula white, creflo dollar, Todd White, Kenneth Copeland, all heretics that preach another Gospel. All men unqualified for the office of Pastor/Elder.

There was a man here in Uganda sometime back that had his congregation burn their bibles because the translation said Holy Ghost instead of Holy Spirit. The ignorance is shocking, Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are used interchangeably; they mean the same thing and are both acceptable translations.

Jesus builds his church, not us. Again, I’m not saying we don’t evangelize. I’m not saying that we don’t put on conferences like this. I’m not saying that out of the church we don’t start schools or have orphanages. I’m not saying we don’t do those things from the church, but the Bible clearly shows us that those things are not our primary focus as Pastors. We, Pastors, are to be equipping the saints to do those other things. As we feed the sheep and equip the sheep, they are meant to go out and evangelize and start ministries out of the church as we lead and guide them. The pastor’s job is to focus on shepherding & feeding the sheep.

This is why pastors must be tested and trained, before entering the pastorate! God has high standards for those called into the ministry, and every man must be tested and qualified according to scripture. It’s God’s church, we are just stewards and God has set the standard for what an Elder is to be and we must obey if we are to see the church and its members flourish.

Do you remember what Jesus said to the Apostle Peter in ? Jesus says to him, “Do you love me? Peter replies, “Yes Lord,” Then feed my Sheep, Jesus says, Again, Peter, do you love me, “Yes Lord, you know that I do, “ Then feed my sheep Jesus says. Again, a third Time Jesus says, Peter do you love me, Yes Lord, Peter replies, then feed my sheep.

Pastor will sometimes make the news and that is not always a bad thing, the question is why did he make the news. The news world may hate us because we are pursuing righteousness, they may hate us because we oppose their world view with scripture, they may hate us because of the Gospel message we preach, but they should never hate us because our Character is sinful and associated with scandals, this is unacceptable as a pastor. They should never desire to cover pastors in their stories because it is associated with scandal.

I don’t think we can get any clearer direction from scripture, Peter is told by Jesus, three times…Feed my sheep, Feed my Sheep, Feed my Sheep. I hope you can see that our occupation, or calling as Pastors is not defined by what the world wants us to be. It is not defined by our own personal preferences, nor defined by what believers in the church think they need, it is defined by the word of God, and the word of God says that we are to feed God’s Sheep.

Sin is so pervasive in the world around us that we, as preachers, as pastors, must be extra diligent that we do not fall into reproach. We should never find ourselves being publicly and reasonable accused of scandal of any sort. Let the world hate us because they hate Christ but not because we have dishonored Christ and become reproachable.

I think it is clear from scripture that the focus of our ministry, is not the people outside of the church, but rather, the people inside of the church. We are to feed the flock of God before us, right, or in otherwords we feed the church God has entrusted to us. So, who is the church? It’s, not the unbeliever is it? NO. It’s the believer; the Church is made up of the redeemed, the saved, those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone. This is where we are to focus our time and efforts.

Let’s continue with our verse.

Next, we see, after above reproach, husband of one wife or in other words and one woman man.” Oh, this is the one that got me kicked out of a conference before. Women cannot be pastors, there is no such thing as a female/woman pastor. If a woman is standing behind the pulpit teaching, then that place is not a church and doesn’t have a pastor. A woman cannot be a “husband of one wife,” a woman cannot be a “one woman man.” This is God’s word, it doesn’t matter if something feels like they are called, it matters that you meet the criteria the sovereign God of the universe put in place for his church.

Husband of one wife. The point here is not that the pastor must be married but if he is he must be faithful to his wife. A pastor can never have an adulterous affair and be acceptable to God for service as a pastor. A pastor cannot be a polygamist, having multiple wives.

The point here is not that the pastor must be married but if he is he must be faithful to his wife. A pastor can never have an adulterous affair and be acceptable to God for service as a pastor.

I have been reading to study the culture here and I read that in some parts of Uganda there is an acceptable practice among some, for a man to be married, and still have multiple sexual relationships outside of that marriage. I do not know if this is true or not, but if it is true, it is not acceptable for an elder.

Our passage then goes on to tells us, ” to exercise oversight voluntarily according to the will of God,” we don’t do that over the unregenerate, over the unbeliever, we oversee the church of Jesus Christ, the flock of God that He has entrusted to us. We are the guardians and protector of the elect, the converted, the justified, the redeemed, and we are called to be a sanctifier for them, through the administration and preaching of the word of God. If we, as pastors, focus our attention on the world, we will starve God’s sheep in the process.

This behavior is strictly prohibited by scripture and disqualifies a man from the pastorate. Morality and sexual purity are non-negotiable; it goes beyond what is or is not accepted in the culture, a man must be sexually pure, being faithful to his wife alone according to the word of God.

A single man is not disqualified from the pastorate by not having a wife since that is not the point of this passage, but he must be sexually pure, abstaining from any type of fornication, being celibate until marriage.

Continuing in our passage. “Above reproach, the husband of one wife or one-woman man, next we see having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.” I want to take some time to explain this part of the passage. The word in the greek for “believe” used here means faithful, so, it would be better understood if we read this way. “Having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. This is in line with what we read in . “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)

I realize that it is easy to be distracted by the world. All of us face that temptation in different ways, but we have been given a flock to care for, and we have to keep our focus on them, because one day we will give a report to the owner of that flock, and what will you say to God if you’ve starved His sheep to death? If you failed to teach them the word of God and they strayed away into error because of your faithlessness. Do you think God will reward the Pastor that failed to look after the flock? And yet many pastors will give an account on the last days, and it will not be good. They will not hear well done, good and faithful servant, but instead many will hear, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.” They were frauds, fakes. Taking advantage of God’s People, having Christ on their lips but far from Him in their deeds.

So, an elder must have children that are faithful, disciplined, and law-abiding. The principle here is that if a man cannot manage his own house, he will not be able to manage the house of God. It does not mean that your child must be a believer, if it meant that, then every time an elder had a new child he would be disqualified until that child professed Christ.

Continuing to verse 7: For the overseer must be above reproach (there’s our word reproach a second time) as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain.. most of these are obvious…not being self-willed simply means a man that is not given to the sinful lusts of the flesh, not self-pleasing….not quick-tempered, meaning that you are not prone to unrighteous anger. We are not speaking about anger directed towards sin and wickedness. But that you are, generally speaking, not an angry person, or quick to anger by trivial things.

In America and in Africa too, all you have to do is turn on the television or radio or open a computer, and you will find a multitude of so-called “ Pastors” that have no clue what a pastors duty is according to the word of God.

NOT ADDICTED TO WINE, this applies to the consumption of any alcoholic beverage, in any way, that dulls the mind or allows you to give in to inhabitations. By application, it would also exclude any other substance that would be considered mind altering, any other types of illicit drugs and of course, we are not talking about the proper use of medicine. Going on our verse says, “NOT PUGNACIOUS, that means not a striker, brawler, fighter. Next, NOT FOND OF SORDID GAIN, we find this all across Africa, America and the rest of the world, men who become pastors to gain wealth, God is opposed to this type of man. This type of preacher is nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothes, no different than the village witch doctor and without a doubt destined for hell.

Ephesians Chapter 4 tells us that He gave some as Apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service…… Now, we understand that there are no more Apostles or Prophets. They were the foundation of the church. To be an Apostle, there were certain qualifications, and one of those was that they had to be present with Jesus during His ministry on earth, which is impossible now. Paul was a little different and the only exception and still had a personal one on one encounter with Christ and it was accepted by all of the other living apostles, no one can have that today. Prophets had to be 100% accurate, and were to communicate “thus says the Lord, and always be right,” we also do not have that today. So instead of Apostles and Prophets, we now have evangelists and pastors/teachers. So you see Pastors and Evangelists are given to the church by God, that is how we know we are called to the church alone and nothing else. A pastor is different than an evangelist, a pastor may do the work of an evangelist at times, but a pastor is called to feed the flock of God. That’s his one job.

Pastors, keep yourself very far from the desire for money, the temptation to riches is dangerous, and you must guard your heart against the desire to obtain wealth. The Apostle Paul was often in chains, imprisoned, and lacking, and yet Christ was enough, and for us, Christ must be enough. These are the things we must avoid as pastors. This first section of our passage is full of those things which we must avoid.

not only tells us to whom we are given as Pastors but then it tells us to what purpose, This is our commission, we are given “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service.” It is then the saints that do the work of service so that the body of Christ can be built up. In other words, we are to feed the flock of God, and the flock of God goes out into the world and does good works. Pastors, belong to the church, God gave pastors as a gift to serve the church, His bride, we are to care for the bride of Christ and feed her. Just think about that for a minute…God has entrusted His bride to you, and you are to care for her, will you chase after other things and let God’s bride starve? This is happening all over the world, and I promise you that these men will not hear, Well done, good and faithful servant, but they will be in danger of the Hell of fire.

So, Now, Moving on from the first portion of our text which contains much of what we should avoid, I want to move forward to the portion of our passage which now illuminates what we should be.

We are called to the church and the church alone as pastors, if you feel called to something else, then get out of the pulpit and stop calling yourself a pastor, because this is the job of a pastor. Maybe you’re an evangelist, but an evangelist is not a pastor. His function is different, and his giftings are different, the calling of an evangelist is different, an evangelist should be sitting under the ministry of a pastor, or maybe you’re meant to support the body in some other way, but to be a Pastor, you must focus your entire ministry on feeding the flock of God before you.

To quote John MacArthur “The measure of any man’s ministry is not the number in his congregation, it is the Christ-likeness of his congregation.” That is our goal, to help the people of God, entrusted to us, to become more like Jesus. And if this isn’t really what you want to spend the entire rest of your life doing, then you are not called to be a Pastor. It’s more than just preaching a sermon on Sunday morning. You must understand that you have to answer to God for the care of the People He gives you and because of that you must be willing to die for His sheep; you’ll watch over their souls regardless of what it costs you, it means that you’ll give up everything for the sake of their wellbeing.

So, Let’s continue on our journey through Titus chapter 1 starting at verse 8.. But hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

By now, some of you may think that I’m trying to talk you out of becoming a pastor, well, I am! Why would I do that, you might ask? says, Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. We will be judged more severely than the average believer, and what is the severity of that judgment… turn to It would be better for him if a millstone is hung around his neck and he is thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble….I hope you get that! As pastors, we incur a harsher judgment, and for those pastors that lead people away from Christ, the Bible says it would have been better if he had drowned! So, if you are not absolutely sure God has called you as a pastor, if you have no biblical training and you know that you are not able to explain the scriptures just yet, if you aren’t sure you can accurately preach the word of God, then for your own life’s sake, don’t dare step into the pulpit. And if you are pastoring and you know that you are in it for the wrong reasons, you need to beg God for forgiveness and don’t you dare continue as a pastor. We are all called to witness and share our faith and you do not need to be a pastor for that, but remember, the moment you step into the pulpit as a pastor, God will Judge you more harshly.

Hospitable, we as pastors are meant to be hospitable, which means “a lover of strangers,” in other words, we cannot be hermits always seeking to be alone, hidden away from people. I think this is something the American church struggles with more than the African church, but it would apply across all groups, tribes, et., are you hospitable towards the stranger? Next, we seek that we are to love what is good. Well how do we know what is good, we what is good by studying the scriptures and seeing what God says is good. We are to be sensible; in other words, we are meant to have a serious demeanor with the right priorities. We are to be Just, we should love justice and hate unjustness. We are to be devout. We must have a deep commitment to the things of God.

We are to be self-controlled, holding fast to the word which is in accordance with the teaching. This is one of the most important characteristics of a pastor; we must hold onto the word of God, the written word, the truth. We must meditate on it day and night, constantly contemplating the truths of scripture, not being distracted by worldly and ungodly things but regularly devoting ourselves to the study of scripture. This is our lifeline; it is what we feed the flock of God with and we ought to strive to know it inside and out!

Now, for those of you who know that you are called by God, you must guard yourselves and your doctrine as we saw from Timothy and Titus and we must feed the flock of God. You’ve got to be in the ministry as pastors with a biblical understanding that God has expectations of you, and that you cannot ignore those expectations. We are slaves to Christ, and we do His work and His bidding and not our own because we do not belong to ourselves, we belong to Him who purchased us with His blood on the Cross.

Pastors are given as a gift to the church, to state that another way, pastors are given as servants to the church, and we do that by Feeding the flock of God. I know that I’ve made that statement several times, but it’s intentional, we really need to know that, and believe that, our job is to feed the flock of God. Pastoring is both the hardest and most rewarding Job on earth; we are entrusted with the bride of the living God.

We come to the end of our passage and we find out what all of the above is meant to accomplish, All, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Ultimately, at the very end of our scripture we see that we must be an example in character, loving what is good and hating what is evil, having integrity, living in moral excellence, devoted and regularly giving ourselves to the word of God so that we can exhort in sound doctrine and refute false doctrine.

We are called to be shepherds that preach the word of God that sanctifies the body of Christ. Therefore, we dedicate our time to the people of God and not unbelievers; we cannot sanctify unbelievers, because they hate God while they are in their sin. There will never be a biblical church that appeals to the world because the world hates God. To make the world like what you do on Sunday you would have to throw out the Bible. Obviously, real men of God would never do that. There are churches that change everything so that they may attract the lost into their church, and eventually, those “so-called” churches have to stop preaching out of the Bible and guess what; they begin to starve the flock of God. What should define our entire ministry is our commitment to the sanctification of the flock of God before us, through the preaching of word, empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit saw fit to give us a book, this bible.

Let me ask you, dear preacher, how can you teach sound doctrine if you don’t even know the word of God? Many pastors in Africa don’t even have a Bible; how can you be qualified to teach doctrine if you don’t know doctrine? Somehow there is a devilish idea out there that you can be a pastor, that you can plant a church, that you can preach without any training at all! How can you teach sound doctrine if you don’t know how to read the Bible? You Can’t. How can you refute false teachers, which is a requirement of every pastor, if you don’t know what the word of God says yourself? You can’t!

We don’t add to it,

Preachers, if you have no training, then you aren’t qualified to be an elder. Desiring to pastor is a good thing we are told in scripture, but you must be qualified. I’m not saying that you have to go to university, although that is good, but, I am saying that you need both character and Biblical training. Every single one of the Apostles, grew up learning, studying, and reading the old testament, every one of them. So that when Jesus called them, they were unlearned men only in that they didn’t have a higher education, but what they did all have was a very good education from the time they were children in the word of God, and I would say the same thing to you. You don’t have to have a higher education, but you need a very good education in the word of God. You need to know how to interpret the scriptures properly; you need to know when the Bible is speaking literally or when it’s speaking figuratively. You need to know if you are reading poetry in scripture or history in scripture. You need to know if you are reading a parable or prophetic. You need to know how to preach in proper context, you need to know how to divide the word of truth rightly, and you need training for that. Otherwise, you may find yourself being a false teacher and opposing God.

This is the highest calling on earth and it ought to be sought after with fear and trembling knowing that the living God is entrusting His bride to you, and if you harm his bride, you are in danger of hell! It is a good thing to seek the office of an elder, but make no mistake, God has given qualifications. And these qualifications are meant to be recognized by a local Biblical Church. And if you are here today and you aren’t qualified, then you better get out of the pulpit while you can, lest you incur the wrath of God on your life and if you’re here expecting to be ordained, don’t you dare accept an ordination if you know you are not qualified.

We don’t take away from it,

Don’t you dare, presume to care for the bride of Christ knowing that you are going to lead her astray, lest God removes you from the tree of life!

we preach the whole counsel of God, and that is what sanctifies the flock, the truth of God.

That being said, if you are here tonight and you are qualified, not perfect, but your life reflects these qualifications then you continue in fear and in trembling, knowing that while you serve a loving God, you also serve a Holy God and a God that is jealous for His bride. As pastors, we are but slaves of Christ, caring for His bride until He returns and we do so not as “Pope’s” and not as the high men deserving praise and adoration but as servants of men, and as slaves to Christ.

If unbelievers want to come in and be spectators, that’s fine. They can watch what it means to serve the living God, they can see how true worshippers worship God, let them see how the body of Christ loves one another, but don’t you dare change the purpose of the church so that those who hate God will be comfortable. If an unbeliever is totally comfortable in your church, then what are you preaching lacks the truth of God, because if you preach the truth, they will either hate you or be led to repentance. If an unbeliever can pat you on the back and tell you how great your sermon was and still be totally comfortable in their sin, then it is time for you to get out of the pulpit. Let them come and here truth, maybe some will be convicted, and God will save them, but one thing is for sure, if you aren’t preaching the word of God there won’t be anything to convict them if they do come. But our sermons are not for the unbeliever; they are for the sanctification of the flock of God, so don’t you dare water down your preaching, the body of Christ needs the truth just as it is written in this book.

Preacher, our character is our qualifier and training makes us fit to preach accurately. If you are qualified I want to close by encouraging you from the words of Paul to young timothy in chapter 4:12

If unbelievers come, it’s only the truth of God that can bring them repentace so don’t you dare water down your preaching. You feed the flock of God and let God deal with the unbelievers that may come into the church. If you preach the word of God, believers will be fed and some lost will be saved.

“Let no one look down on you because of your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.

We saw that Jesus told Peter to Feed His Sheep, we saw in Ephesians that pastors are a gift to the church. I want to look at one last verse that reinforces the fact that we are called to the believers of the church and not to unbelievers. Turn with me to .

Let us pray!

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

This is speaking of Pastors; we are to keep watch over the souls of the flock, ask yourself, are you keeping watch over the souls of the flock of God He has entrusted to you or have you left the sheep looking to attract the world? We feed the sheep and protect them. That’s our Job, it’s the only Job we have, and It’s hard work as a pastor. It’s tiring, it’s frustrating at times, we spend long hours in study, heart-wrenching time in prayer, we regularly counsel desperate individuals with the word of God, we weep with those who weep, and we rejoice with those who rejoice. We guard their doctrine, so they don’t stray away believing all kinds of false teachers and so-called “prophets.” We rebuke and reprove when it’s necessary; we administer church discipline for their sake; we care for God’s own! This is what we do! This is our Job, to feed the flock of God. Just to feed and protect the flock is a big enough job without adding things that God doesn’t mean for us to do as Pastors, think about it, People will struggle to believe sound doctrine; people will start listening to heretics on the radio or Facebook, if you’re pastoring now, you’ve probably experienced this already.

We have enough work just in guarding the sheep, nevermind trying to do things God hasn’t told us to do. I see people from Africa all the time quoting men like Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, and Bill Johnson. These guys are American heretics, they are Apostate, not even Christian and we have to protect God’s sheep from these types of false teachers. Many of the people will get caught up into believing the nonsense of “so-called” Preachers, and we have to guard them against that. Then you have your own local preachers teaching false doctrines, it’s all over Africa, and we must protect our people from that by making sure we are preaching accurately the word of God each week, week in and week out, training our people so that may do the works of service.

This is why we encourage expository preaching so that people are getting the very words of God, every week, without fail. Preaching the word is one of the means by which people are sanctified; and we do that by preaching the word of God as it is, as the Holy spirit meant it, in its proper context. As we do that, we feed the sheep, and we destroy the work of Satan’s lies, and we destroy the power of false doctrine through consistently teaching sound doctrine.

The Role of the Pastor

If we do that, then at the end of our life, we can say with the Apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness….”

Pray with me Please.