I Timothy Lesson 8

Heads up on the sound there. Alright. Take your Bibles if you would. Turn to first Timothy chapter three. First Timothy chapter three, we're going to read verses one through one.

And then we're going to flip over to Titus and then first Peter and then Acts. So so we well, I'll have you flipping a good bit good bit this evening. But first Timothy three one through seven, this is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good thing a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given the hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy or filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, nor covetous, one that ruleth his ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good rep have a good report of them which are without, with outside the church, lest he fall into reproach in the snare of the devil. So again, Paul is giving instructions to Timothy concerning several aspects of the ministry of the local church that Timothy was responsible for as Paul had sent or left him in Ephesus to oversee the church there. Understand that Timothy was not only involved in the ministry of a local church in the city of Ephesus, but was likely involved in helping to oversee and instruct and advise several churches in surrounding cities. If you remember, there are seven churches that John wrote to in the book of Revelation.

Those form sort of a semi circle around the church at Ephesus in Western Turkey, called Asia that in scripture, but Western Turkey to us. And these churches were at least loosely connected to the church at Ephesus. It may be that most of those churches were started out of the ministry of the church in the city of Ephesus. So his responsibilities were considerable as Paul had left him there in the city to help in that ministry and he felt that Timothy needed some instruction. You know, we all can use some instruction.

Sometimes your pastor can use some advice and instruction. A matter of fact, I find a lot of instruction pretty much every time I read the Bible. And if that ceases to be, then I should cease to stand in the pulpit and teach you because if I'm not being instructed by the word of God, then I'm not really qualified to seek to help instruct you from it. So this is the case with Paul and Timothy concerning the ministry that he was currently involved in there in the city of Ephesus. If you'll turn to Titus chapter one, just a few pages to your right, not far.

You go very far, you're going miss it. Titus one and verse five. Okay? Titus, another young man, another apprentice of sorts to Paul that he sent here to Crete. Crete is an island that is South Of Greece.

For this cause, left I thee in Crete that thou should have said in order the things that are wanting, that is lacking, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. So very similar instruction to Titus as he gave to Timothy. You'll notice in verse five, he mentions elders. He said, and ordain elders in every city and then you get to verse seven.

He says, for a bishop must be blameless. Okay? These are not two different people. He's clearly talking about the same office and by two different names. One elder, the other bishop.

Okay? Turn if you would to first Peter chapter five. So, first Peter chapter five. So, over a few more pages towards Revelation and you'll come to first Peter chapter five. Here, he refers to them as elders.

The elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that should be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. Not by the way that over oversight is connected to the term bishop. Okay? He doesn't use that term here, but a bishop is an overseer.

It's related to the term. Taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, that is money, particularly, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage but being in samples or examples to the flock and when the chief shepherd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. There we have the first mention of the word shepherd. The chief shepherd is who? That's Jesus Christ.

Right. But the implication is that the bishop elder is an under shepherd under the what? Under the chief shepherd. That is the word from whence we get the term pastor, which basically means shepherd. It can be translated that way.

When you refer to a pastor, you're basically referring to the shepherd of of the flock, the congregation of the Lord where God has placed him. Turn if you would to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Now, you have to turn back a few pages. We quit going towards Revelation.

Acts chapter 20 verse 17, and then we'll move down to verse 28 in a second. And from Miletus, he, that is Paul, sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. K? These are the leaders, the spiritual leaders, basically synonymous with pastors of the church in Ephesus. If you look over at verse 28, part of his challenge to these elders, these pastors, these teachers at the church in Ephesus, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers.

That could also be translated bishops. Okay? To feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Now, he talking about make sure that they are getting their daily nutrition and food and meat and vegetables? No.

He's talking about feeding them how? Spiritually via the word the word of God. Okay? All of these passages are referring to the same office in the church referred to by different names, elder, bishop, pastor. In Ephesians four eleven, it refers to that person as a pastor teacher that is in responsible for that ministry in the church.

There's some churches have tried to take these terms and to to high make a hierarchy of bishops, then you have pastors, then you have elders, then you have but it seems in scripture really that these different people referred to here that that it's all synonymous. It's all a reference to the same person. In the early church, you often would have a head elder or a head pastor that was the pastor of the church in the city, like the city of Ephesus to begin with, would have not have had several congregations. There would have only been one congregation. That congregation might break off into other congregations or there might be a head pastor that kind of help to mentor the pastors that would take over those other congregations.

But basically, they're synonymous terms in reference to the same office in the church. The bishop emphasizes his leadership role, overseer. Elder focuses on his level of spiritual maturity and pastor, his responsibility to teach, preach, guide, and admonish the congregation. So, all seemingly the same person who's being referred to in all of these passages that we read from scripture. So now let's go back to first Timothy.

We could go through Timothy. We could look at the list in Titus. We won't, for the most part, look in Titus because, well, we're not teaching through Titus, we're teaching through Timothy. But both lists are are very close to being identical to one another. We're not going to get through the entire list this evening.

For your sake, I will cut it in half and we'll get through the rest of it next week. So let's read that verse one again of chapter three. This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. So Paul starts out with an encouraging word for those who were called to this ministry and for a certain amount of respect to be given by others for those that were called to this ministry in the church. It is an important one.

It is a good one. It is the word good in scripture often means beneficial. It is beneficial not only for the person who holds this ministry but also particularly for those hopefully that are under that ministry of the bishop, elder, pastor, so forth, and so on. There are some churches that have tried to shy away from having a a full time pastor, and I believe to their own to their own detriment because it seems pretty clear in scripture that there were full time pastors in the early church who did not necessarily, though in some case it is necessary to have another full time job and pastor at the same time. And so here he says that if you desire such a ministry, he that desireth it desireth a a good a good work.

Those pursuing this area of service do indeed is led sincerely by the holy spirit desire a good work. Sad, to be called into the ministry as a pastor and preacher of the word of God is a great privilege and responsibility which when desired and accepted at the Lord's bidding is a good and beneficial thing to all that are in the church. It is both a great privilege and a great what? Responsibility. Those two often go hand in hand.

If you want the great privileges, guess what? You also get the great responsibility that goes along with the great privilege. And that is not a bad thing. That is a good thing. But it's something that oftentimes people want the privilege, but they don't want the what?

They don't want the responsibility. First Timothy one twelve, Paul writes, and I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Is Paul saying that that he that he worked hard to deserve and to earn that position? No. Matter of fact, he goes on to say, in that very same passage in first Timothy one, not to say how great a person he was, but to say how terrible a person he was until Christ reached down and grabbed him and pulled him up, and then Christ made him fit for the ministry that Christ had called him to.

Whatever God does call you to, he will make you fit. He will equip you to do that he what he has called you, what he has called you to do. He is faithful to do that. Sadly, the reputation of pastors as vain, self serving, politically, and sometimes monetarily motivated is somewhat well deserved by many. But we must not allow their duplicity to solely and undermine the godly use of this vital office ordained in the scripture by the Lord.

Sometimes it's hard to get people when you're knocking on doors or just talking to people out in public to come to church. And one of the things that the devil uses is the hypocrisy of those that are pastors and leaders, those that are particularly on TV as leaders of the church has undermined sadly the reputation of the church. However, we should not allow that to undermine this godly calling and this important office in the church. We should seek to help others to understand that those that God has called by his grace are not perfect. I'm not perfect.

But there are godly, humble people that are seeking to minister to, which the word minister means to serve others. Sometimes we call the the leaders in the church, we call them servant leaders because a shepherd, particularly in reference to the term pastor, the shepherd actually is there to serve the sheep. The sheep are not there to serve the what? The shepherd. You see, the the shepherd is there to make sure the sheep get water and to make sure the sheep get food, make sure the sheep are protected.

The shepherd is there for the sheep. If the shepherd is there for his own glory, for his own gain, for whatever the case may be, which sadly is sometimes the case, then, well, that's he's not a good he's not a good shepherd. And sadly, the world has seen a lot of that because the ones that are particularly public and everybody knows are often in it for the money and in it for the politics and in it for for the fame. But there are thousands of small to medium, to in some cases, large churches in our country that are led by godly men. And we must not allow Satan to make us jaded in respect to the ministry.

So he says those who seek the ministry are seeking a a good thing. And then he goes on to give certain qualifications. It is I'm I'm jumped ahead of myself just a little bit. That is to say, also don't don't let the those that are in it for the wrong reasons discourage someone that might God might be calling into the ministry because that happens as well. We must be open to what God would have for us because it is a good thing.

Even though it may be hard at times, it is a good thing. And I would and I would fully endorse that. There's nothing I would rather be doing. It is a good thing. It is a joyful thing.

And sometimes it is a difficult thing. But guess what? So is many other things that we do in life. So those seeking the ministry of bishop should demonstrate certain character traits and meet certain qualifications in the list following. The purpose of these instructions given by Paul is to avoid appointing pastors and elders that were neither called of God or fit for the ministry.

In both Asia, Western Turkey, Crete, Timothy and Titus were both tasked with guidance in this endeavor. So Paul sent Titus to Crete, Timothy to Western Turkey, Asia in order to help in the planting of churches and in the appointing of pastors, the mentoring of pastors for these different churches. Therefore, they needed some criteria to help weed out quickly. The churches needed criteria as they called pastors to their churches so that they called men that were not like those others we talked about but those that were humble and and truly seeking to serve the Lord and to serve their congregation. Those that could be looked up to as leaders and examples.

So thus the reason for the list here. It is hard to minister to other people if the shortcomings in your life are glaringly obvious, particularly in the areas you're trying to minister to them. I think it is sometimes in our culture today, we seem to sometimes exalt those that have had terrible issues in their life, terrible problems with their life, and say, look at this person. They've had all these terrible issues, and and the Lord changed them and and they're the example that we should follow. Well, praise the Lord for his grace and that they can be used, in the ministry.

They still can be an example of the grace of Jesus Christ, and we desperately need those testimonies of how God has changed those who had gone astray. But also, we don't need to to glorify going astray for the sake of being a ministry because sometimes I think we end up doing a disservice because we're too quick to throw people into ministry to make them an example that maybe aren't ready for that or aren't qualified for that. And so thus the reason that Paul gives some qualifications here to Timothy. The first one he says concerning the bishop is he must be blameless. Blameless, verse two there.

Blameless is a term used to describe those of godly character to which God's children are called. It doesn't mean sinless. A matter of fact, as it's used in scripture, it is generally applied to believers because the blamelessness doesn't come from the flesh, it comes from who? It comes from the savior. It says that one day we will all be presented without spot and blameless before our father which is in heaven because our savior is blameless who died on the cross for our sins.

In second Peter three fourteen, it says, where for beloved brethren, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him, of Christ, very important point, in peace without spot and blameless. The first thing that obviously must be true is if you're looking for somebody to be a spiritual leader and a pastor of the congregation, they must clearly have the testimony that they are what? Saved. That they are saved. And sad to say, there's a lot of pastors of churches today that aren't saved.

I've been to a few of those churches. I've been to to two or three funerals since I've been here at churches where the pastor got up and said things that clearly were antithetical to scripture and made me wonder, do they even know Do they even know the gospel? I went to one where the pastor got up at the funeral and said, now, you know, some of us believe that there is a place called heaven. There's life after death and and there are different ways to get there. I know some of you don't believe that, but nonetheless, you know and then he went into the state and didn't have nothing of the kind to indicate which group was right and which group was was wrong.

Nonetheless, to give the gospel and tell them how to get there. And sadly, that's the case in many of our pulpits. So therefore, you've got pastors leading churches that aren't even what? That aren't even saved. They're not Christians.

And so, obviously, that is the first most obvious thing. The word blameless also indicates one of unassailable moral and ethical character without obvious flaw. Liars, frauds, thieves, embezzlers, womanizers, drunks, wife beaters, lazy, untrustworthy, those kind of people are not worthy to be spiritual leaders of the church. Sad to say again, that is sometimes the case because they're they're charismatic, they're they're very politically astute. And in churches where that is rewarded over true character, sometimes people get in positions and they're not leading the flock the right direction, they're leading the wrong direction, they're certainly not qualified to try to help somebody who has a alcohol issue if them if they themselves are suffering from an alcohol issue.

Now maybe they had an alcohol issue years and years ago and God has delivered them from that alcohol issue, God can still use them. But but certainly, if there's a current problem, they're really not qualified to help somebody else to deal with it. The word blameless is kind of a broad overarching description which is followed by more specific qualifications. So it's kind of the summary term of what is to follow. And if there's an obvious chink in the character of the pastor, the devil will certainly use it to hinder his ministry and the reputation of Christ.

He goes on in the begins the more detailed description here. The first one he says, the husband of one wife. So, as we covered last week, a husband is an heir. It is the Greek word for a it is gender specific to a man, a husband. Therefore, the clear indication here that the pastor, elder of the church is to be a man who has who is married to one wife.

It is not likely meant to indicate that pastors must be married, although that seems to be the general assumption. Was Paul married? The answer of that is no. Did he minister in this capacity? Yes, he did.

He was called as an apostle. He was called as an evangelist. I even took on the role as pastor when he was in these churches as well. So it doesn't follow that the the pastor had to be married, but if he was married, that he was to have how many wives? One wife.

Okay? We do not know if Timothy at this point was married. There is no indication at this point that Timothy was married, but he may have been. It may not just have been mentioned here. However, there's some debate even in fundamental circles today concerning this qualification.

What is the debate over? What does it mean by what? One wife. What does it mean by one wife? Now, some people take the easy road.

Oh, here's the here's the easy road. The the the obvious road, well, that means that the bishop, the pastor can only be married to one woman at a time. Okay? So it's saying, so you can't have two or three wives at a time. You know, you can only have one wife at a time and that is what Paul is saying.

But look, you look back in the Old Testament and you see that David had several wives. Solomon had hundreds of wives. Jacob had essentially four wives, two wives and two concubines. Elkanah, that would be Samuel's father, had two wives. So there's several cases in the Old Testament where people had multiple wives.

Was that ordained of God? No. It never was. God made Adam and he made Eve. That was the example set by God.

One man, one woman. He said, the the husband, the man shall leave his family and shall cleave unto his wife, singular, and they shall be one flesh. God's design was one man, one woman, not one man, three two women or three women or or crazy Solomon's case. And we see in every case in the Old Testament when someone had multiple wives, it always caused all kinds of jealousy issues and infighting in the family and it it it never led to anything particularly good. And that's what happens when we don't follow God's simple design.

When we complicate things by not following God's design, they get complicated and it gets it gets messy. However, having said all that, God simply, God certainly does not want pastors to have more than one wife at a time. However, it wasn't all that customary in Jesus' day, in Paul's day, for men to have more than than one wife. There were exceptions to the rule, particularly in Arab countries. It was in some of the Roman world, particularly in those that were wealthy and powerful, you know, Caesars and that type of thing, would have more than one wife.

Sometimes, they'd only have one wife, but that they'd have other escorts. Those things were common among the pag in the pagan world, maybe not common is the word, but sometimes that was the case. But it wasn't common in Jewish society in that day. It wasn't common among the common people. So I think there's more to it than just Paul saying you can't have but one wife at a time.

I don't think there would be much use in him saying that. That would have kind of been obvious and would not have been often the case. So if he's not talking about one wife at a time, it is then understood to mean a bishop cannot have been what? Divorced. Okay.

Divorced. In other words, have more than one living wife. They understood it would understood to be living if your wife had passed away. Scriptures make clear, you are not bound by the marriage covenant after your husband or wife have passed. You are certainly free to remarry and that would not have been in opposition to this qualification.

It doesn't specifically say divorce, though it can certainly be implied. Considered consider the words of Christ here in Matthew chapter chapter five verse 31. It hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. Now that, of course, was Moses. And he's talking primarily here.

He's talking to his disciples, but he's reacting to common practice among the religious leaders, the Pharisees, and the Pharisees in Israel in that day, and they were doing this sort of thing. So again, he's quoting Moses. It's been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give a right of divorcement. But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. This is not the only place that Christ says this.

There's about three places that Christ says that divorce is obviously not something that should be practiced. It is potentially permitted for the cause of fornication, that is one party having committed adultery or some sexual sin in breaking the covenant with the other. However, this terminology is pretty strong here. He's saying is he saying don't get remarried? I don't think that's particularly the purpose of the verse.

He's not saying so much don't get remarried. What he's saying is don't get what? Don't get divorced. So you don't have to worry about all this mess if you don't got get divorced. If you do get divorced and you've been remarried, guess what?

If we confess our what? Since he is faithful, just forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You're not doomed to a life of of being unusable or offensive to God because God God forgives and God God uses us despite our failings. But nonetheless, it would seem reasonable to assume that as Paul's writing Timothy, he is saying that a bishop should be someone who has not been divorced and remarried. That is a reasonable conclusion.

One who has had only what? One who has had only one wife. Now, would that mean that you couldn't be used in other areas of ministry? Obviously not. But just not holding the office of a pastor.

Why would that be? Well, it would potentially, arguably, indicate a chink in the character of the person who was seeking the office of a pastor because in most cases, marriages fall apart not only because of the failings of only one person, but there is a little bit of failings on the part of of both in most cases. And also, it's hard to counsel people against getting divorced if you have been what? Divorced. Okay?

And that does add a complication and a question concerning the blameless part of being a pastor. Now, there are some that I respect, one in particular off the top of my mind that I greatly respect that doesn't believe that that is strictly the interpretation of this verse. And what is certainly the interpretation of this verse is a bishop must be a faithful and loving husband to his one wife. It is very clear that a bishop, a pastor, must be faithful and a loving husband to his wife. That is the kind of character that is necessary for being in the what?

For being in the ministry. And there are those who would say, well, somebody that might have got divorced and remarried before they were saved or who had been divorced and remarried thirty years ago might be qualified today. I understand that. I kind of shy away from that myself, but I do understand that thinking. What is clear is that the pastor, bishop, or overseer, or elder, whatever you call him, should be a faithful and loving husband to his wife, not a womanizer.

However, sadly, we find that sometimes still to be the case in the ministry. And if we should find that to be the case, then that person would no longer be what? Qualified to lead the church. So that brings us to the next qualification here. And we'll lump the two next two together, vigilant and sober.

Vigilant and sober. The word vigilant and sober, I think both of them are used in this this verse. Let me get there. Where did the verse go? There it is.

First Peter five eight. Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Now this is Peter's instruction to church leaders. No. This is Peter's instruction to who?

Every believer. Every believer. Be sober, be vigilant, be watchful, take this seriously. Don't particularly when we're young, we think we're invulnerable. Is that the word invulnerable?

Yeah. We think that we can't be touched. We we tend to kinda maybe play around with things. Peter is saying you need to be sober and you need to be vigilant. You need to be watchful.

Why? Because you have an adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. He wants to destroy your joy. He wants to destroy your ministry. He wants you to destroy your family.

He wants to destroy your faith to the extent that he can. He wants to destroy and devour you and spit you out. Where was the first time Peter heard this? He heard it from the Lord Jesus himself. Before he denied Christ, Christ told him that the devil wanted to sift him as wheat, but the Lord had prayed for him.

And despite his panicky denial of Christ because he was scared and cowardly, the Lord did not lose him. And though Satan tried to destroy him, Satan did not what? He did not succeed. He did not succeed. But Satan is certainly after all those who would seek to be a testimony for Jesus Christ in this world.

And he is certainly after those who would desire to be a leader and a teacher. Because if he can destroy them, he can also affect affect others. So thus, we must be vigilant and watchful, careful and circumspect and mindful of the will of God and of the tools and devices that the enemy would use against us, especially in ministry. These qualifications that we're reading, blameless, husband of one life, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, these are things that really should be true of every believer. It's just things that God demands of his leaders, but should really be true of all of us.

One seeking the office of elder or bishop should be discerning and discriminating in a positive sense, particularly when standing for the truth of God's word against heresy and false teaching. One of the devices that the devil uses is false teaching. He brings people across our path. He has them whisper in our ear. We hear them on the radio.

We read about it in a book and maybe they walk in the door of the church and they seem to be these wonderful people, these loving people, these eloquent people, these and you gotta be careful. There were a lot of those in the early church. And guess what? There are also a lot of those today. And if you're a pastor and you're responsible for leading the church, you have to be vigilant and you have to be what?

Sober. And you have to be discerning and I know we use that word when we've heard the word discriminating, we we think of discrimination as a bad thing. Discrimination is a good thing and it's something we must practice, not against those other people because of the color of their skin or what nationality they are or because of their status in society. That is called prejudice and partiality. But discrimination, we need to discriminate between right and wrong, between true and false.

And if you're in the ministry, you need to be a good discriminator because if you're not, then these false things are going to work their way into this church, these these bad attitudes, these false teachings, and it's going to undermine your what? Your ministry. So be vigilant. Also, not inclined to make snap decisions without due deliberation and careful consideration and to be of somewhat serious bent, not sullen nor frivolous, but demonstrating appropriate gravity and self control. There are some people that are prone to just make snap decisions all the time.

You don't want that person in leadership. You want somebody who's going to be able to take time to think things through. When it comes to church ministry, sometimes I might be accused of thinking things through a little bit too long and in some cases, you may be right. When it comes to purchasing certain things, I'm a little more inclined to snap decisions and I'm thankful that I have a wife that discourages me from some of those impulse buys. I have made a few of those in my my days and have lived to regret them and hopefully learn from them.

I talked her into a vacuum cleaner years ago. It was called a Filter Filter Queen, was that the name of the vac? We had a vacuum cleaner salesman come. Have you ever had a vacuum cleaner salesman come to your house? Can you believe I bought into that?

Okay. I got rid of a perfectly good vacuum for a perfectly dumb vacuum that I paid a bunch of money for. Can't believe it. Live and learn. Number four of good behavior.

The Greek word translated good behavior here is the same word translated modesty in chapter two verse nine. You say, well, the Bible talks about women being modest but not men. Well, no. Not actually. Verse chapter two verse nine, it says, in like manner also women adorn themselves in modest apparel.

The word modest there is the same root as the word good behavior here of men in chapter three and verse two of bishops, pastors in particular. As such, a bishop must be modest in his appearance, not flashy. And look at me. You ever seen those pastors with five gold chains about their neck? That's not modest.

That's saying, look at me. I'm successful. You should follow me because I have enough money to waste it on these gold chains that are weighing down, weighing me down. Must be modest in his appearance, his speech, and actions. Not a seeker of vainglory nor inappropriate in his interactions with others, particularly women.

Modest. Of good what? Of good behavior. Now to some people, being flashy and that comes a little easier than, you know, when you're short and bald and kinda rotund. It's it's a little more difficult to be flashy and but but it isn't just talking about your appearance, but it's an attitude of the what?

It's an attitude of the heart. Yeah. When one becomes starts feeling pride and that you're better than others and that you're deserving of this and and that they should, you know, look at you a certain way because of and should, you know, reverence you in this way or and then one thing leads to another and pretty pretty soon you got somebody that does have a woman problem, does have a pride problem, does have a money problem, and it leads into those those kind of things. So there's very much link with the idea of humility. Number five, given to hospitality.

Given to hospitality. Bishop need be someone whose home, office, and heart are open to others, who is of a generous and a sincere spirit. Someone who is approachable. That's the kind of leader you want. Someone that is approachable.

Someone that doesn't just disappear. I tend to appear at the up at the pulpit before the service sometimes because I'm in the back praying and collecting my thoughts. But I try not to disappear right after the services are. You know, we have an evangelist come. His name's Mike Pelletier, most of you know who Mike is.

And one of the things I adore about Mike is that so many evangelists, they pop up on the platform, they preach and poof, they're gone. Okay? Because their ministry is, you know, getting you pumped up or getting you convicted and getting you to the altar and they've done their job and now it's time to leave. But the last person here every night of revival is Mike Pelletier. And there's one thing about Mike that he has in spades.

He is approachable. And I have met many people in ministry that I just didn't feel that they were approachable. I didn't feel like I could go up and talk to them. I felt like they were here and I was down here somewhere and and I couldn't just come up and talk to them and they didn't have time for me and that should certainly be the case. And if that has ever been not the case with me, I apologize because that should be the case, and it's certainly my desire.

If if you have a question, call me. If you have a question, text me. Right, Jules? Yep. Yeah.

Answered one from Jules yesterday. Answered one from Ashley the day before. Anyway, I get quite a few texts throughout the week. Guess what? I enjoy that.

If I don't answer your phone call per chance, it isn't because I don't wanna talk to you. It's because, well, I had to turn my ringer down for bible study or church and I forgot to turn the ringer back up. Or every now and then my phone is dead. Those things happen. But in James three seventeen, it puts it like this, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure and peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

In other words, the one who has the wisdom from above is part to impart to others is somebody that should oppress should express it in a peaceful, gentle way, speaking the truth in what? In love. Easy to be what? Intreated. What's that mean?

Approachable. Easy to be intreated. That should be true of one pastoring a church. Number the final one we're going to look at tonight is apt to teach. Okay?

Apt to teach. That is one who has an aptitude to teach as well as a willingness and an eagerness to give loving instruction to others. One who has an aptitude to teach and a willingness, yea, an eagerness to teach and to preach and to give living loving instruction to other people because that is a major part of being a pastor of a church. It's not just about having a position. It's not just about having the authority.

It's not just about carrying out the duties. It's about having a desire to share and to communicate and to vise and to help others and to preach and to teach what? God's word. I I can say in all honesty, most of my life, I have had a burning desire to help others to understand and to apply this. Now, was a time in my life when I said yes to God and then no to God.

I said, yes, God, I wanna do that. No, God, I can't do that. So I will do it as long as there's a place where I can minister the word of God, where I can help other people, where I don't have to stand in a pulpit and talk to a congregation because that scared me to death. And guess what? It still scares me just a little bit every time I get up in the pulpit.

And I think maybe somewhat that is a good thing Because what we're doing here, whether you're the pastor in the pulpit or a Sunday school teacher teaching a class, whether you're advising another Christian in the word of God, it is a it is an important important ministry, and it is one that we should feel the need to get right because it does affect other people. It's not just affecting me, it's also affecting other people. And and that's that's quite a bit of responsibility. But God's word needs to be taught, it needs to be shared, and it needs to be preached because people need to know the savior and people need to follow the savior. People need to make good choices that honor the savior.

And so a pastor ought to be somebody that is apt, willing, eager, and has a aptitude for teaching and preaching to some degree that God will help him hopefully over time to get a little bit better and a little bit a little bit better at. But it is necessary. Now, when you get to the deacons later in chapter three, we'll get there, that's not one of the qualifications for deacons. It's a qualification for pastors, but it's not listed as a qualification for deacons. Well, why is that?

Well, go back to Acts, early church. The apostles were preaching and teaching and spending time in the word and in prayer, and there was problems in the church. The widows weren't getting taken care of and so, why did the apostles come up with leading to the holy spirit? Call out a few men in the church, deacons that can help to take care of these temporal needs in the church so that the apostles and the pastors and the elders can focus on what? Preaching and teaching the word of God.

And so seven men were chosen out. Some of them became teachers, but some of them did not, it would seem. They had different areas of ministry within the church and they all started out just helping to make sure the widows were what? We're taken care of in the early church. That that burden was taken off the shoulders of who?

Of the apostles who were called to preach and what? We're called to preach and teach. And so that's not one of the qualifications for deacons, but it is a qualification for a pastor or elder or bishop because you cannot lead the church, you cannot you cannot impart the scriptures, you cannot warn people against heresy and false teaching if you are not eager and willing and at least a little bit apt to teach. And so that that is important. And by the way, what the Lord calls us to do, he what?

He equips us to do. Public speaking was not my thing, but what the Lord calls us to do, he equips us to do. It started with a burden and then a willingness and then the Lord filled in the gaps. And that's what the Lord does no matter what it is. You may say I have a hard time witnessing to other people.

I understand that. I do. I'm I'm I'm by nature, I am a shy person. But you know something? If you'll just take a step of faith, add them that track, tell them Jesus loves you, give yourself the opportunity, you'll find God will equip you to do what he has called you to do.

And that may just be to tell somebody about Jesus, who your waiter or your waitress or somebody else, and he you will grow in that as you do it. But you got to step out in faith. So this evening, we covered blameless, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, and we'll catch the rest of the list next Sunday evening. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for your word.

Thank you for the privilege of serving you as a pastor for being called into the ministry. Thank you, Lord, for those that you have called to this place to assist in the ministry here. And every member of this church, every child of God has a valuable role in the ministry of Missouri Avenue Baptist Church. And I pray that we would take that all take that somewhat soberly and gratefully and with joy that we have been called to serve the king of kings and the Lord of lords here. May we do it to the best of our ability.

We may we reflect all the glory to to the Lord who has called us to this. And may he indeed be glorified in this place and in our lives. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.