Title: The Pastor's Job Description
Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:11-16
Speaker: Nate Pickowicz
Well, for the last 13 years, at least once a year, I tend to reread the pastoral epistles, First and Second Timothy and Titus. I do this often to remind myself about what are my pastoral responsibilities to Christ's church. I'm always struck by what is included in these letters, as well as what is not included.
The things that are included in the pastoral epistles about the pastoral responsibilities are this, preaching, teaching, praying, studying, training, correcting, refuting, shepherding, evangelizing, and growing spiritually in sanctification and holiness. The kinds of things that are not included, answering emails, responding to church inquiries, scheduling meetings, attending meetings, launching new ministries, performing weddings, speaking at conferences, writing books, and so on. And now, it's not that these things, any of these things are bad in and of themselves.
They're not wrong, but Scripture does hold other things in a higher priority. The trouble comes when the tasks of lesser importance become to overtake the essential work that the Lord has commanded in His Word. But this is always a challenge in ministry.
According to a LifeWay research poll done in 2010, the average pastor in America works 55 hours per week, with 42 percent working 60 or more hours. Of the most taxing activities that were listed in the poll, correspondence, email, phone, text message, and meetings eat up the largest chunk of that time. However, their time in sermon preparation, which is arguably the most important task noted in the pastoral epistles, the average American pastor spends between 5 and 14 hours studying and teaching God's Word.
But when we look at the example of ministry in the Bible and church history, this lopsided phenomenon is a relatively recent trend. Why is that? Over the years, I've read many theories about why and how this has happened, but I really believe it stems from a misunderstanding of the pastoral task, both by pastors and churches. Most pastors try to do too much, and many of their churches expect too much.
I remember very specifically I had a conversation with a friend of mine in ministry who was in New Hampshire at the time, and he was pastoring a church by himself. I think maybe the church might have been 100 people or so, and he was preaching Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday night. He was running their youth group.
He was doing discipleship and shepherding all the administrative tasks in the church, and at one point, one of his members came to him and was trying to figure out why the church wasn't growing, and the pastor said, I don't have an answer. And the congregate said, well, how many hours a week are you spending out evangelizing? And he said, zero. And he says, well, that's the problem right there is that you're not evangelizing.
And the pastor says, listen, I'm to shepherd the flock to help you to do that work of ministry. That's Ephesians 4.12, and the man didn't see it that way, and within a year, that pastor was gone. Now again, that's a more extreme example, but my point is that there is oftentimes a miscalculation or a misunderstanding about what this ministry is all about, and I think because of that, in those situations, so many men burn out and eventually quit the ministry.
I hear about it all the time, all the time. But here's the thing. God is not silent about this matter.
He tells us what He desires of pastors and church leaders, elders, deacons, and church members, and as we've been seeing in our study of 1 Timothy, it is imperative that we conform our understanding of church and ministry to the standards set forth in Scripture. And I think when we do this, not only shepherds and pastors, they're able to work well, but the church itself is built up and encouraged. You all do well in that.
The kingdom expands, and God is glorified all when we follow His prescribed plan for ministry. And so this morning, I want to look at a passage here that highlights the responsibilities of a faithful minister as the Apostle Paul exhorts his young disciple Timothy in the work that he's been called to. We're going to look at 1 Timothy 4 verses 11 through 16, and I've entitled this sermon, The Pastor's Job Description, and so if you haven't already turned there, you can turn over to 1 Timothy 4. Now, after addressing matters of church order in chapter 2, along with spiritual leadership in chapter 3, the Apostle Paul, he confronts the problem of error beginning in chapter 4. If you're looking at the whole letter itself, you can see the arc of how Paul is bringing his argument here, and by the time he gets to chapter 4, dealing with gross error in the church, the ministry deceitful error that's coming in, he notes here that the antidote to deceitful and demonic doctrine is the ministry of the Word of God.
And he says this ministry is what Paul is telling Timothy, he says, if he will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, if he feeds the flock so that they are constantly nourished, he says, on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which they had been following, chapter 4 verse 6. And so then he says in verse 7 here, 1 Timothy 4 7, having nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women, on the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance, for it is for this that we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially believers. And so he's saying here that the way to avoid the poison that comes from the demonic realm is really two things here.
He says, number one, to focus on God's truth, a constantly nourished in the words of the faith that's focusing on God's truth, and then number two, to discipline yourself for godliness. Sound doctrine and sound living coming together. Again, it was for these things, verse 10, that Paul was laboring and striving, laboring and striving for, for truth and for godliness.
But then starting in verse 11, he begins this series of exhortations that are designed to remind Timothy of the things that he should be doing in ministry. And if you were just to look at these verses, six verses here together, at the first glance they almost seem like kind of random statements. Do this, and then do this, and then do this.
But when you see them as a unit, when you actually take a step back and look at what he's doing here, he's sort of in a staccato fashion punching these little comments here. He's giving him sort of some marching orders for ministry. He's been doing it all throughout the letter, and he'll do it again in 2nd Timothy.
He'll do it for Titus, but he's giving him sort of a summation of the work he's calling him to do. And so that's what I want to look at today is verses 11 through 16. And so Paul tells Timothy here at the end of this discourse about correcting false teaching and then laboring to perform the discipline of godliness.
He says in verse 11, prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Show yourself as an example of those who believe.
Until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you which was bestowed on you through the prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things.
Be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
Now, it's important to note here that Paul is giving these responsibilities, these imperatives here, not to be the only list of responsibilities. As we've been seeing all throughout 1 Timothy, there's quite a few things that are wrapped up in the ministry here. There's a lot to it, but these verses really highlight the priorities of every pastor and church leader.
New Testament scholar Denny Burke notes that in chapter 3, Paul describes the qualifications for an overseer, but here in chapter 4, he's giving, he says, the job description of an overseer as he exhorts its application in the life of Timothy. And so that's where I've derived this title from, is really from that comment that this really is somewhat of a job description for those in pastoral ministry. And so looking at verses 11 through 16, we're going to see here six core responsibilities for every pastor.
Number one, if you're taking notes, number one, to preach and teach. To preach and teach. Very simply, Paul notes in verse 11, prescribe and teach these things.
Now, it's very tempting if you're reading your Bible very quickly to have this be sort of a throwaway verse where he says, oh, just do this and then you move on. But you have to look at what Paul is saying here. He uses two key words in verse 11 here.
He uses the Greek word perengello, which is translated in the Nazby as prescribe. The word means to order or to instruct, to direct. The ESV translates this word as command.
The second word here is didasko in the Greek. It literally is to teach or to instruct. Now, at first glance, you might think, well, those are both synonymous.
Those are the same basic idea. But in actuality, they're really two parts to the pastor's core responsibility. And what is that core responsibility? Well, ultimately, according to Jesus in John 21, it's to feed the sheep.
The job of a shepherd is to tend and feed the sheep. Well, how do you do that? Of course, teaching is just that. It is the skillful act of giving biblical instruction.
So you take the Word of God and you give it forward. You teach with it. You take the truths here and you bind them into the understanding.
Teaching is exhorting in such a way. But then there's also this word prescribing or commanding or even directing. It refers to the wielding of biblical authority for the sake of calling the hearer to respond.
This is what Paul intends in Titus 2 15 when he says, these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Then he says, let no one disregard you. Of course, this is not any kind of inherent authority in the actual man and the pastor.
I've said this many times. I have and the elders have no inherent authority in and of themselves. You don't listen to me because I'm neat.
I have nothing to do with it. I'm simply a voice. The elders are simply voices, shepherds pointing to someone greater.
Rather, it is the commanding that is based on the Lord's authority laid out in Scripture. The only authority that is binding to you is God's authority through his word communicated to you. The inherent authority is in God and in his word.
But what is the primary means through which this is done? The primary means is through the proclamation of God's word through preaching. That's why preaching is so important. In fact, these two disciplines are often paired together, preaching and teaching.
For example, 1 Timothy 5 17, which we'll get to shortly, elders who rule well are worthy of double honor, he says, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. The word here for preaching in that verse is very similar to the word that's used for prescribed here when Paul's talking about it in verse 11. But preaching in the Greek is parakaleo, which means to call forward or to beseech.
In some uses it means to admonish or to exhort. But we see a connection here in all these Greek words. We're talking about wielding the authority of God to exhort the hearer and have them respond to the teaching.
It's all wrapped up into one big motion. Even 1 Timothy 6 2, he's expounding on the idea of submission to authority, and Paul tells Timothy, teach and preach these principles. If you had to boil down pastoral ministry to its essential function, it would be that, preaching and teaching.
Even Acts chapter 6 verse 4, where all these other things begin to take over. They're caring for the widows, and they're worried about the distribution of food, and there's all these administrative things. They bring all the deacons forward, and they assign them the task of caring for the church, and they say they want to devote themselves, the apostles, to the ministry of the word and to prayer.
And we haven't talked about prayer yet, even though that's part of this process as well. But the emphasis here, what is being given forth here, is the ministry of the word of God. And I would argue that everything else is subservient to this.
Everything else. Now, in the verse here, when he says prescribe and teach these things, some have questioned what these things are referring to, the words here. But I think it's clear from the context that Paul is talking about, verses 6 through 10, what he's just talked about a few minutes ago, the mandate for growing in the discipline of godliness.
And there's a connection here, because how does this even occur? How are you able to be conformed into godliness? How are you able to be disciplined? How are you able to be nourished? Well, very simply, your life is transformed by what you believe. And what you believe is informed by what is taught. And so there's a connection.
What you're taught and come to believe is what you then live. And we're going to talk about that a little more when we get to verse 13. But for now, I want to just say the first priority of the pastor and the teacher is just that, preaching and teaching the word of God.
Number two, he's also to be an example to the flock. Number two, responsibility, be an example to the flock. Look at verse 12.
Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Now, we looked at this verse last week in a greater detail, but we looked at it when we were applying it for the purpose of all younger believers. And I heard a lot of response from younger believers who listened to that last week.
And I pray that you are challenged in a good way to consider your own life as a young believer. But here in the original context here, this is pertaining to Timothy, who was a young pastor of maybe 30 to 35 years old. Despite being a young Christian man, Paul is exhorting him not to allow other people in the congregation to look down on him because of his youthfulness.
Don't let anyone despise you or disregard you. And the question is, well, how do I do that? How do I get other people to not look down on me or despise me because of my youthfulness? Well, he gives the answer. The answer is to show yourself to be an example of those who believe.
And we know that even the apostle Peter exhorts in a similar way in 1 Peter 5. Let me just read these verses to you. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed. He's talking to shepherds and pastors here.
He says, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge. But then he says this, but proving to be examples to the flock. The importance of modeling and being an example to those who are in your charge.
Church leaders, regardless of the age, regardless of how old you are, should be able to model basic godliness for God's people. This should be a representative picture of Christ's likeness, even though imperfectly. And I've often exhorted too that when we talk about being an example, it's not just in all the positive, happy things, even in how we deal with sin and repentance and restoration and things like that.
We should also be examples of what it means to humble yourself when you sin or make a mistake and seek forgiveness, repent, be restored. I mean, all the things of the Christian life, we ought to be examples in such a way. Well, what are the areas that Paul talks about here that we are to be an example even beyond that? Well, Paul gives five.
I'm going to move very quickly here, but he says first is in speech. That is, in personal conversation. They ought not to be crass, uncouth, rude, or harsh, but rather we ought to be speaking graciously with kindness, truthfulness, and genuineness.
He says also be an example in conduct. That's how we live. How we live.
This includes personal behavior as well as how we conduct ourselves in the home and in our private life. That's why there's requirements for elders and church leaders about their home life, about their marriage and their children. That has to do with their conduct.
Third, he says, show yourself as an example in love. They ought to be ones who love God and love others. And we looked at Matthew 22, verses 37 to 40 last time when Jesus talks about the greatest commandment of loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then loving your neighbor as yourself.
We ought to be models and examples of that. A loveless pastor is a contradiction in terms, but they must also be examples in faith. Do they exercise devotion to the Christian faith? Their personal disciplines, their Bible study, their prayer life, their serving, their giving, their theology, etc.
Are they truly an example? If someone were to look at your life as a Christian, would they be able to pattern their life after yours and end up as faithful, or would they be unfaithful in their pursuits? And then lastly, to be an example in purity. This one point has become all the more relevant of late as so many pastors have sadly fallen into sexual immorality. Believe it or not, I keep a list of all the pastors that I know, at least on a public level, who have fallen over the years.
I don't do this to glory in their shame. I do this as a stark warning to myself. Every time someone falls, I note it, and I usually am moved to tears, and I pray and examine my own life.
Even just this past week, the vice president of Acts 29 fell into sexual immorality and was found out. We seem to be averaging one a month right now of global and nationally recognized pastors who've fallen into sexual immorality, but the mandate here, 1 Timothy 3, 2, demands that elders are to be devoted to their wives, literally a one-woman man. They must be pure.
We must be upright in terms of our personal purity, and so in these five ways and more, elders, pastors, leaders can be examples to the flock, and so that is another responsibility. And then in verse 13, Paul returns back to the task at hand, which leads to the third responsibility, number three. He exhorts Timothy to focus on Scripture.
Focus on Scripture. Look at verse 13. He says, until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.
See, even though Paul had left Ephesus several years earlier, it had always been his intention to come back at some point. He wanted to come back to Ephesus. He had been there for three years, teaching every single day, every single week.
He had a school there. I mean, he was heavily invested in the work in Ephesus. However, we know he never got the chance to go back, but he did give instructions for Timothy regarding public worship.
He encouraged him to give attention to. Prosecco in the Greek is to turn your mind toward, to be devoted to. And he says, what are we devoting ourselves to? He gives three things here, to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.
This first word here, anagnosis in the Greek, it's one word, and it literally is translated, or could be translated, give attention to the reading. It's just that, to the reading. But it's understood that he's referring to the public reading of the Word of God, the Scripture.
In fact, the reading of Scripture aloud has always been part of worship. Even the Jews in Old Testament times did that in their worship services. For example, we read about the Israelites, when they returned from the Babylonian captivity, they gave priority to the hearing of the Word of God.
If you were to read Nehemiah chapter 8, it records how the people gathered together as one assembly, and Ezra stood up, and it says he stood up at a wooden pulpit. So this is not a new thing. This is not a New Testament invention.
This is actually as far back as the Old Testament, of getting up at a wooden pulpit, or a platform, or a, what do you call these things? Podium? Sacred desk, as I like to call it, right? But he stands up at this wooden platform, and he begins to read God's Word to God's people. I mean, this is a very old practice here. And then, after he reads, the priests and the teachers begin to give instruction to the people of Israel.
We see this carried forward even into Jesus's day. Luke chapter 4, Jesus is in the synagogue in Galilee, and he gets up to read a passage of Scripture, and then he offers a teaching. That was a common practice, even by the book of Acts.
We see the early church gathering together. The early church embraced this practice of reading the Scriptures publicly before the congregation, and so that's why we have that as part of our worship service even today. We have the reading of the Word of God.
Now, we have this in many different ways. The Word of God is woven into our music. That's why we insist that our musical worship, the songs that we sing, first and foremost, have to be theologically and biblically accurate.
The style is less important than the words and the theology, and so we insist on sound doctrine in what we sing. Our prayer, when we actually have the time of reading of Scripture, we read a passage up front. Matt did that this morning.
And then we also instruct those who are reading the Scriptures to construct a prayer that goes along with that passage of Scripture. We're not just thinking up the top of our head, there's something else over here. We're conforming our prayers to the Word of God.
And then I get up and I read a text of Scripture and I expound it. So, the whole worship service is wrapped around and built around the reading and the teaching of the Word of God. Because in and of itself, there is a transformative power that comes from God's Word.
As Romans 10, 17 declares that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. I think so oftentimes it's easy for us to misunderstand and sort of lower our view of the power of the Scriptures. We all revere the Word of God as Christians, but I think sometimes we doubt how powerful it can truly be.
It's as though the pastor's advice is somehow going to be the thing that helps us, or maybe some kind of a psychological self-help nugget that I get is going to be more helpful to me. But in the end, honestly, believers, because of the Spirit of God working in your heart, the most helpful, powerful, dynamic thing that can transform you from the heart level is the Word of God itself. That's why sermons are not just sanctified TED Talks.
That's why I don't just tell stories the whole time. Some of you came from churches where all the pastor did was just tell stories and weave in a lesson at the end. That's not preaching.
That's platforming a personality for the sake of God's people. True biblical ministry is rooted and grounded in the Word of God. The only power, strength, authority, clarity that I have is from God's Word.
I am nothing. It's only and ever the Word of God. The Word of God has the power to transform you.
It can change you. It changes your mind. It changes your heart.
It can transform your life, your belief, your faith, everything. And so there is a priority here for churches to focus on the reading of Scripture. And then Paul adds to that, he tells Timothy to focus on exhortation, periklesis, literally preaching, preaching, focus on preaching.
This is the art of expounding and explaining and exhorting God's people in the Word of God. And then he adds to that, to the teaching. This is the same word from verse 11, didaskalia, to teaching.
This is the task of instructing the church of the full meaning of the biblical text. This isn't just a matter of conjugating verbs and giving a Greek words and stuff like that. I mean, I do give you some of that, but only to try to help you understand what is written underneath here.
If I'm just sitting up here giving you Greek vocab, which I'm not very good at, by the way, if that's all I'm doing, I'm not teaching you, I'm not preaching the Word of God. There has to be more. There is exhortation that's wrapped up in this as well.
What's interesting here, I've read this from New Testament scholar Robert Yarbrough, he says that in the grammar of the original sentence, it does not include a sequence of events or a progression. It's not read, then exhort, then teach. It's not a plan like that.
He says, rather, it is three inseparable, intertwined activities that are meant to function together. In fact, this verse is a rough outline for an expository sermon. Did you know that? Step one, read the text.
Step two, teach the text. Step three, exhort with the text. If I go read the text, teach the text, that's teaching, and that's good.
We need that. But when you go that other step to the exhortation, to the proclamation, to the preaching of the Word of God, there's something else that happens. You know the difference between preaching and teaching.
Now, I could give you definitions, but you know the difference. Because in preaching, the voice that is preaching at you or to you is calling you to respond. There is entreaty.
There is a wrestling. There is a beseeching that is inherent there. It is as though God is standing here, speaking through the Word of God and calling you to himself.
I'm just the voice in the wilderness saying, prepare your heart for the Lord. But that's what that is. That's an exhortation.
That's a calling you to respond to God. That's the essence of preaching. But the one overarching principle from this verse is very clear, that the work of the pastor, the shepherd, the teacher, is wrapped up in the proclamation of the Word of God.
This is ever to be the focus is on God's revelation to the church, to focus on Scripture. Number four, responsibilities of the pastoral task. Number four, to use your spiritual gifts.
Look at verse 14. He tells Timothy, do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through the prophetic utterance with the laying on of the hands by the presbytery. Now, we know from places like 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that the Spirit gives gifts to believers once they're regenerated.
So once you're born again, the Spirit comes and he takes up residence within you as a Christian and he gives you gifts. He helps you along and you're able to use those gifts to serve one another. All of us have spiritual gifts that are given to us for the purpose of benefiting other believers and benefiting the body of Christ.
Now, we know that there's a variety of gifts, but all of them are meant to be used for building up of the body of Christ, and pastors and church leaders are no exception. Here, Paul is making mention of Timothy's spiritual gift. He says he's noting that it was bestowed on him when he was apparently ordained to the ministry.
Now, scholars have scratched their heads. We don't actually know what gift Paul is specifically talking about. Several times we hear this reference to the gift, but we don't know exactly what it is.
But some believe that he's talking about his teaching ability. That's very possible. However, in several places, Paul notes that it came through the laying on of hands, which is normally understood to be a confirming act that's done when a new pastor or minister is affirmed and appointed.
Later on in 2 Timothy 1-6, Paul reminds Timothy to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Here in verse 14, Paul notes that this happens when the presbytery, that's the word that's translated here, which is literally a council of elders. That's what that is.
It's a group of elders when they ordained him into the ministry. Incidentally, it is highly likely that Paul was part of that council of elders that therefore ordained him. And so Paul also mentions this bestowing of a spiritual gift taking place in conjunction now with this prophetic utterance given at the ordination.
Now, when we talk about prophecy, that word is battered around today and misunderstood quite a bit. But really, when we talk about prophecy, there's really two kinds or two definitions of prophecy. Just generally speaking, there is foretelling and forth telling.
Foretelling, which is normally what people think about when they think about prophecy, is when a word is given from the Lord that is preceding revelation. The word itself is revelation from God, and it's talking about something that God intends to take place or that will take place in the future. So all the Old Testament prophets were giving forward new revelation from God.
But then there's also the act of prophesying, which is giving forth what God has already revealed. And so in a very real way, preaching is a kind of prophesying, even though I wouldn't call it that, because of the misunderstanding of the word. Preaching is just preaching here.
But at this time, Paul is talking about an actual prophetic occurrence that took place with Timothy specifically. If you were to think back in your mind to 1 Timothy 1.18, Paul mentions prophecies spoken over Timothy which encouraged him to fight the good fight. And so what is all of this? What is all this referring to? Well, it seems as though once examined by Paul and by the elders, there was a council that laid hands on him and spoke some kind of a word of prophecy.
Now that could have very simply been the ordination sermon. We do those frequently at ordinations. But at that point, a spiritual gift, maybe perhaps it was teaching or the boldness to teach, was supernaturally given.
And yet Paul reminds him not to neglect the use of that gift. Why does he do that? Why does he say, don't neglect the use of your gift here? Well, we understand from 2 Timothy that Timothy himself struggled with timidity and fear. He was most likely an anxious young man.
I can sympathize. He struggled with boldness. He struggled with timidity and being afraid.
But there's a lesson to be learned here. What's the lesson? If God gives you a gift, don't waste it. Don't sit on your hands.
If God's gifted you for ministry, to serve one another, to use your gifts that he's given to you, don't stuff them. Don't waste your gifts. A lot of you have spiritual gifts that you use abundantly and they're wonderful.
This church, people ask me all the time, what's so special about this church? I think there's really two things. I think that number one, we focus on the word of God. I think that's number one.
The focus is on scripture. But number two, I think it is the love and giftedness of our members. I think all of you, this is an opportunity for you to use your gifts and your talents and your love and your fellowship.
I think we have love at this church. I think we have truth and love. That's why this church is doing well.
That's my opinion. That's what I see. But I think there are some cases where maybe there are some of you who have spiritual gifts and you're not using them.
Maybe you're trying to figure out where to use those gifts. Or maybe you're just too afraid or you feel like you're too busy to use your gifts. But I want to encourage you, don't do that.
Don't sideline yourself from doing any kind of ministry because you just don't have it in you to do it. If God is challenging you, if he's giving you a gift, don't neglect it. And I think that goes along here even with his exhortation to this young pastor.
Don't neglect using your spiritual gift even as a special point of exhortation to potential pastors and elders. If God has given you potentially the gift of teaching or leading or shepherding, some of you are very good teachers. Now we have to deal with the issues of qualification.
I don't think everyone who is able to teach is qualified to teach. But I think there are situations where there are those who are qualified spiritually in terms of character and able to teach. And I would exhort you, don't stifle that gift.
Don't sit on your hands and not use it. If God has gifted you, use your gift. As 1 Peter 4.10 says, employ that special gift in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Use your gift for the benefit of other people. Our gifts aren't given for our purposes. They're not for us.
Our gifts are used for other people. And so don't sit on your hands and neglect using your spiritual gifts, which leads then to number five here in our pastoral job description. Number five, be diligent in the work.
Look at verse 15. He says, take pains with these things, be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Textual scholars have actually noted that there is some wordplay going on between verse 14 and 15.
We don't see it in the English, but when you look at some of the Greek words here, we see the wordplay. In verse 14, Paul says, do not neglect your gift. The Greek here is me ameleo.
Then he says in verse 15, he's encouraging him to use the gift, but be diligent. So they're very similar in the terms of how you read them in the Greek here. But some scholars or one scholar specifically renders it this way.
Don't be careless about your spiritual gift, but instead be careful about your pastoral duties. So there's meant to be a juxtaposition between verse 14 and verse 15. But what's the idea here? The big idea is that there is supposed to be a level of care, a devoted diligence to the work of the ministry.
That's what he says in second Timothy 2.15. He tells Timothy, be diligent. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. The same concept of diligence and study.
He says, take pains with these things, be diligent. And then he adds, be absorbed in them. Literally the Greek phrase is be in these things.
And the implication is that you're to absorb, to immerse yourself in these things. Or what are these things? The work of ministry, the studying and the preparation and the examination. He says, give yourself wholly to this ministry.
There's a blessed obsession, a blessed obsession that is required for pastoral ministry. You cannot be half-hearted when you're pursuing this. I'll tell you, I talked to, and over the years I've talked to a lot of men, a lot of especially young men, about the possibility of ministry.
And there are times when you look at it, and I did this myself, I would sit in the pew and I'd watch my pastor do his job and I'd say, oh I could do that. And you get all excited and you get worked up and then you get into the study, you get into the preparation, you realize this is really hard. And I'll tell you, it takes some diligence.
I'm not saying that to puff myself up, I'm saying that to actually bring myself down quite a bit. It's work. And I'll tell you, the guys who are going through our leadership training right now, they'll tell you, it is work.
It's a good work that we're called to do, but it is work nonetheless. But I'll tell you, you can't be half-hearted in doing it. Over and over again, Paul talks about this concept of laboring and striving.
He uses that phrase over and over again. Laboring and striving. Laboring.
Any ladies ever went through labor? Is it fun? No, it's not. I have an experience that I've watched it. It is not fun to watch either.
Laboring and striving. What is that describing? It's strenuous, difficult work. It's painful at times.
He uses the word agonizomai in the Greek. It's a striving, a painful striving toward the work of the Lord. On some level, you need to eat, sleep, breathe the work of ministry so that you can be completely committed to the task.
But why is this blessed obsession needed? Well, because of 1 Peter 3.15. Because you never know when you're going to be able to or be called to make a defense for your faith. There's one phrase that I love that one of my dear friends will tell me all the time, that he's ready to preach, pray, or die. Got to be ready.
Now, we joke about that, but there's some serious truth to that. Am I ready to get up and say what I need to say when I have to say it? Are we ready to pray for people? Because you're never prepared. Emergencies happen.
You got to be ready to go. I'm just talking about pastors. I'm talking about all believers.
You don't know when you're going to be called on to minister to other people. You don't know when you're going to be called on to give an answer for your life. We have to be ready.
And the same thing goes for those in ministry. In the same way the Levites were set apart for the work of ministry, pastors are consecrated for the work of the Lord. That's why Paul exhorted Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 to preach the word, be ready in season and out of season.
What does that mean? When you want to, when you don't want to. When you're ready to go, when you're not ready to go. Be ready all the time.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. This is why the training for the ministry is so extensive. It is not for the faint of heart.
And so Paul encourages his young disciple to take pains with the things of ministry and be absorbed in them. Why? What's the answer? Why does he have to do this? He says, so that your progress will be evident to all. This word in the Greek for progress has to do with advancement or development.
If the ministry is ever to grow, the minister has to grow along with the ministry itself. Mark Dever writes in his book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, he says, talking about the pastoral task here, he says, to charge someone with spiritual oversight of a church who doesn't in practice show a commitment to hear and to teach God's word is to hamper the growth of the church. In essence, allowing it to grow only to the level of the pastor.
The church will slowly be conformed to the pastor's mind rather than to God's mind. In other words, if the leadership of the church, the elders, myself, if we stop growing in our understanding and character, if we stop growing and just mute it and hold to a plateau, ultimately the church will plateau as well. There is a task to constantly to be pushing forward, to growing in knowledge and truth and godliness and understanding, to grow, grow, grow.
Why? Because the heights of heaven are farther than we can reach. The wisdom of God, we read about it this morning from Proverbs, the wisdom of God is so infinite to stop and say, I think I've got enough. I think I covered it all in seminary.
That is, that's insanity. No, to be growing and developing and learning and progressing in your understanding of God's word. Believers, don't stop.
Just because you read through the Bible in a year one time, don't stop there. Drill down, dig deep, and if you need help, that's what the shepherds are here for. We'll help you.
I'm more than willing to help you understand the word of God. But here's the thing, the pastor must always be sharpening and growing in such a way that his progress will be evident to all in the congregation. This is why Paul testified in Philippians 3, I press on.
Who knew the Bible better than Paul? Nobody. And yet Paul says, I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ. He's talking about growing in the knowledge and relationship with Christ.
He says earlier in chapter 3 verse 10, he goes, I want to get everything else in my life in order so that I can know him. I want to know Christ Jesus my Lord. That's the goal.
He says, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I'm not going to stop until I hit the heights of heaven. I want to learn to know God so well that one day I'm going to see him and then it's going to be revealed.
But we got to get as close to that now as possible. And I'll even challenge you some more. Don't just settle for Sunday morning sermon.
If this is the only meal you get this week, you're starving to death. Be in God's word daily if you can, as many times as you can. My work schedule is busy.
I have a big family. I got a lot to do. Prioritize.
If this is your spiritual food, you find a way to eat three meals a day, don't you? Should we not be trying to nourish our souls on the word of God? That doesn't just take diligence from the one who's preaching. It takes diligence from the one who's learning and growing you. To be diligent in learning the word of God, he says, take pains.
Be diligent in this work. And so I want to, I'll make an agreement with you. I'll keep working hard.
You can keep working hard with me. How's that? I'll preach as many times as often as far deep as I can go, but I expect you to learn and grab these things as well. Let's do this together.
It's better if we learn together. And so we're to take great pains. Number six, and finally the responsibilities of the pastor.
Number six, to guard your life and doctrine. Verse 16, pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things.
For as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. In many ways, this verse is a summary of everything that's been said so far, but he says, pay close attention. It translates the word epecho, which refers to watching or guarding.
It's a standing at an outpost and looking out and watching, protecting, guarding. Well, what are we watching for? Two things. We're guarding over two things.
He says, yourself, that's your conduct of life. Watch over your life. In terms of leadership, that's the character qualifications of chapter three.
That includes the discipline of godliness in chapter four. This will include warnings against greed and discontentment in chapter six. We have to make sure the testimony of our life stands up under scrutiny.
Again, that's all church leaders. We have to watch our life closely. But also, he says, pay close attention to your teaching, didaskalia, your doctrine, your theology, what you teach.
We're always charged with contending earnestly for the faith. I can't grow slack and lax in my theological formation. Just so you know, I'm always reading theology and teaching theology and reading books about the Bible and reading the Bible, just constantly bathing my mind in doctrine.
I've taught systematic theology, I don't even know how many times, a dozen times in 13 years. I mean, you just keep on going back to it. I'll tell you what, I never get sick of it because you're always learning more.
We'll never master the Christian faith in this life, but we're just immersing ourselves, guarding your doctrine, not resting on your laurels, he says, but persevering in these things. Because here's the thing, brothers and sisters, and I know some of you have seen this, it doesn't matter if you're faithful for 49 years of ministry, if you then disqualify yourself in your 50th year of ministry. And I've seen and known pastors, even recently, who have gotten into their mid-70s after a lifetime of faithfulness, and they have blown it up.
And now we throw their books in the trash, we don't listen to them anymore, their families are in ruins, and their people are wounded. And now the next pastor to come on, they're on guard now because they just watched a guy who was supposed to be faithful ruin himself. That scares me to death, because as it stands right now, I have absolutely no plans whatsoever to bomb in my ministry.
But as soon as I say, oh, I'm beyond that, I'm in grave danger. Nobody's beyond failing, which is why we have to guard ourselves so carefully. We have to guard ourselves, be careful, persevere to the end.
But here's the thing, you can't have one without the other, life and doctrine. You can have amazing theology and fail in your personal life and be disqualified, or you can be a wonderful family man and be a heretic and you're disqualified. We have to have both to preserve and protect both our life and our doctrine, our teaching.
But what is the reward for this, he says? He says, for if you do this, if you persevere in guarding your life and guarding your doctrine, if you persevere in these things, as you do this, he says, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. Now, this verse could understandably be confusing, but what it is not saying is that the pastors have the ability to save anybody. I can't save any of you.
Nobody can, on this earth at least. He's not saying pastors will save his congregation, but what he's saying is that God gives by his grace, through faith in Christ, that salvation comes by grace. Again, I can't do it, the work of the Lord has to be present in your life, but it's through the ministry of the Word of God that God does accomplish salvation.
It is through the faithfulness of exposition of the Word of God, it's through the gospel, the message of the gospel, that you hear and believed and are saved. In other words, a false gospel message will not lead anyone to saving faith. It's not to say that God is limited.
God can do anything he wants at any time. He can draw a straight line with a crooked stick, as they say, but God will not use a false gospel message to save people. That's why it's so important that we have a true gospel message.
A true gospel message is the vehicle through which salvation is accomplished, and so this is why getting the gospel right matters so much, because lives are at stake. We have to understand and preach and proclaim a true gospel. Read Galatians 1. Paul even says, I don't care if an angel from heaven comes and preaches a gospel different to you than the one that's already been preached.
He says if they do that, they're accursed, they're condemned. Even if an angel from heaven, it doesn't matter. The gospel must be preserved at all costs, and as you do that, as you proclaim that gospel, that will ensure salvation.
That's what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. He says, listen to the words of Paul here, for though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I may win more. To the Jews I became a Jew, so that I might win the Jews. To those who were under the law, as those under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might win those who were under the law.
To those who are without law, pagans, as without law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without the law. He's basically saying wherever I have to go, to whoever I'm ministering to, that's where I try to get to. Then he says in verse 22, to the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak.
I have become all things to all men, so that by this means I might save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a fellow partaker of it. That's what he's talking about.
This very same sentiment here, again he's not saying that he can save anyone, that's not what he's saying. But he is saying that through the faithful labors, the lost will be saved. In this way we can ensure salvation by believing the true gospel ourselves, and then proclaiming that true gospel to other people as well.
And so this is why diligence, and faithfulness, and soundness are so essential to the ministry of the word of God. Because without the ministry, as Paul notes elsewhere in Romans 10, how then will they call on him in whom they have believed? How will they believe in him if they've not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they're sent? For just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news of good things. Then he says in verse 17, so faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Therefore this is important that churches support the ministry of the word, the ministry of the word. And we need qualified preachers and teachers who will devote themselves to the ministry of the word, which is what Paul says in first Corinthians 15, is of first importance. This ministry, beloved, is so important.
It's life and death for the souls of the lost, and it is encouragement, and strength, and growth, and nourishment for those who are saved. The vital importance of the ministry of the word of God. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your blessed word. Father, I continue to pray that as those who teach the word of God, the many teachers that we have in this church, and Lord as the one who stands before you call to proclaim your word on a regular basis. Lord, I pray that you would find the teaching here faithful.
Lord, if there's error, please correct it so that we can make those amends, Lord. But we do continue to work and strive to make sure that the doctrine of this church is conformed to the scriptures. Lord, that whoever is here among our number will hear from you, because the word of God is proclaimed faithfully, Lord.
That is our desire, that every single Bible verse that is taught at this church, regardless if it's a pulpit, a Bible study, a small group, a youth group, wherever it may be, Lord, that we would be faithful to you, because your word is pure, and clean, and true, and can save the souls of those who are lost. So, Lord, help us as we commit ourselves to you. And Lord, we understand that, again, it is not our efforts that save anybody, but it is the finished work of Jesus Christ, who gave himself, who shed his blood on the cross as an atonement, a payment for sin.
Lord, we sang about this earlier this morning already, the precious blood of Christ that cleanses us from the penalty of sins, O Lord. And Father, you know, you've told us that if we turn away from our sins, if we confess, repent of our sins to you, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that you will grant us salvation. John 3 16, for God so loved the world, you, O Lord, gave your only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
Lord, would you continue to grant salvation to those who hear and believe that message, even today, even here right now. If there's anyone here, Lord, sitting who's never believed, confessed their sins, and believed on you, and received forgiveness for sins, and salvation, eternal life, Lord, that you would save them even now as I speak, to turn away from their life of doing whatever they want for themselves, ruining their own life with their own selfishness, Lord, turning away from you, that they would see their need for Christ, and turn away, and come to you by faith, and find forgiveness, and find life. Thank you, Lord, for the blessed responsibility, this compassion that we have for the lost, Lord.
Thank you for the ministry of the Word of God. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.