53a) The Biblical Importance of Oversight

Introduction to the Importance of Corporate Oversight

0:02 Once again, brethren, we take up our weighty subject of the work of oversight, government, and shepherding by the man of God in the pastoral office. And thus far, in this unit of our study, we've considered the biblical description of the task of oversight, both in its essence and in its governing disposition. And as your abstract indicates, we now move on to consider the two major biblical categories of the task. There are the tasks that I have designated as Section 1, the tasks that pertain to the corporate life of the people of God, and then Section 2, the tasks that pertain to the individual needs of the people of God. That will be taken up in PT 8. The whole section. The whole section on pastoral counseling or individual pastoral care.

1:01 Now, beginning on page 129 of your full notes, you will note that we now address ourselves to the issue of the tasks that pertain to the corporate life and activity of the Church. And as we do, we must be brought by the Word and the Spirit to feel the crucial importance of this subject. And in seeking to set forth...

1:25 To set forth this importance, we're going to consider this morning the biblical data under two headings. Most of our time will be taken up with the first, the pivotal passage which demonstrates the crucial importance of the corporate activity of the people of God, and then, in conclusion, the supportive passages and perspectives. So as we take up this matter of the crucial importance of our subject, let us first of all then address ourselves...

1 Timothy 3:14-15 as the Pivotal Passage

1:55 to what is listed as number one under your introduction, the pivotal passage which demonstrates the crucial importance of the life and activity of the Church. And that passage is 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 and 15. 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 and 15. These things write I unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly.

2:23 But... But...

2:24 But... But...

2:25 But... But...

2:27 But... But...

2:30 But by which flight of the life should I come onto thee?

2:40 But that is... That is...

2:43 That is... That is...

2:46 I must as it is do as I say to you...

2:50 To say... That is...

Personal Impact and Ecclesiastical Background

2:54 To rise in heaven and to go into heaven... in my judgment, no passage is more fundamental or comprehensive than is 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 and 15. I regard it as the epitomizing text on this issue. To use the Latin terminology, it is the locus classicus on this whole subject. I have a special affinity for this text because of its profound impact upon my own soul in the foundational days of the formation of Trinity Church. As many of you know, my background ecclesiologically was that of the Salvation Army. And if you know anything about the Salvation Army, you know that it has no ecclesiology. It is

3:44 an organization that has military framework and terminology seeking to function as a church.

3:52 Ordinances, neither baptism nor the Lord's Supper. They do not call the leaders by church names, but by military terms, lieutenant, captain, sergeant major, lieutenant generals, generals right down the rank, so that you can imagine growing up as a little boy into my early teenage years, the whole of my experiential ecclesiology was this hybrid of military-church situation in the Salvation Army. And then coming into broad evangelicalism with some contact with a Baptist church that had the typical structure of the pastor, and then these men called deacons, who were basically men with perhaps a little more spiritual perception and some kind of impressive credentials in terms of their place in the business world that functioned as sort of semi-shared overseers. It's hard to identify them. Then off for two years, they did. And then they went on to a very different kind of denominational Christian college, where there was no ecclesiology, and on to two years at a Bible college, where to keep everyone happy from a broad ecclesiological constituency, again, there was no ecclesiology. For example, when it came in

5:08 systematic theology to the subject of baptism, we were told to read so many hours on both sides of the subject of infant baptism or confessor's baptism, and write a paper on what we felt was the more biblical position. That was the beginning. That was the middle and end of the subject. Well, then, five years in an itinerant ministry, totally freelance, answerable to no one but the Lord, and a few men of God to whom I made myself answerable, and then, after all of that experience, plunged into a denominational situation that was also, from an ecclesiastical standpoint, a hybrid. The Christian and Missionary Alliance began exactly as its name indicates. It was an alliance of Christians. It was an alliance of Christians with a missionary vision, and therefore, in its ecclesiology, there were influences of Episcopalian perspectives, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Independent, and so its ecclesiology was hashed. Now, with all of that marvelously preparatory background, here we were in 1967, starting afresh with the question, what is a church? We had our Bibles and a conviction

6:18 that we wanted to be a biblical church, and in the midst of wrestling with that, we had a church that was a Christian. Now, those issues, I shall never forget, when this truth of this passage came home with power to my own heart, that God had deposited in the Scriptures specific data that was explicitly concerned with the oughtness of behavior in God's house. And I can remember the thrill when, having discovered this, I went to a man who was, in many ways, my mentor in helping me to struggle through my life. I went to a man who was, in many ways, my mentor in helping me to struggle through my life. I went to a man who was, in many ways, my mentor in helping me to struggle through my life.

6:52 I went through to some conscious embrace of what we call the doctrines of grace, Calvinistic soteriology, when I discovered that as we were thinking about the formation of the church and church officers, that here was, in a very real sense, a divinely inspired manual of what an elder is, and what he ought to be, and what he does, and what a deacon is, and who should take the lead in the church, and the place of men and women. And I can remember my excitement, although my excitement wasn't shared, I was told, now look, look, that's the ideal standard, but don't take it too seriously. If you do, you'll end up causing a split, you'll end up having no officers, etc. But God gave me grace not to take that compromising counsel, and this passage was indeed, in those early days, a tremendous spur to take seriously this whole issue of the task of an overseer with respect to ordering the corporate life of the people of God. So I'm prejudiced to the text, not only because of what I understand to be its objective content by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but because of my own personal experiential interaction with this text in those

Circumstances and Principal Issue of Paul's Writing

8:14 early days, and throughout our experience as a congregation. And so we're going to park on this text this morning. As I seek to lead you through what I trust is a responsible exposition of its content, and then some very practical applications of that content to the subject in hand. And first of all, I ask you to note with me the circumstances in which Paul wrote these words. When he wrote, these things write I unto you, he is referring most likely to the things that he began to articulate in chapter 2. Verse 2 and verse 1. Notice he is conscious that he is making a transition into a fresh body of concern. I exhort, therefore, in the light of what is preceded, first of all. First of all. So there

9:09 is in the Apostle's mind a segment in the letter that has a first of all. And then he goes on to develop these various aspects of public worship, the public teaching, particularly the who should do the teaching with respect to gender, and then the instituted leadership in the church that he addresses in chapter 3, verses 1 through 13. And he says, I write these things out of the matrix of these particular circumstances. And the circumstances are identified in terms of what I've called, and you see in your notes, a sanctified desire coupled with a realistic qualification of that desire. The sanctified desire is that he hopes to come to Timothy shortly. He has left Timothy behind at Ephesus, as he indicates in chapter 1 in verse 3, and he hopes, it is his desire, his wish, that in the providence and purpose of God he may, within a relatively short period of time, join Timothy in the ongoing work of seeing the church at Ephesus come to fuller spiritual maturation. However, he has a realistic qualification of that desire.

10:31 He says, but if I tarry long, he has had no direct revelation from God that he will return to Ephesus at all. In other situations in the life of the Apostle, he had revelatory data concerning future places of ministry. God said to him, as you've borne witness before me at Jerusalem, you will bear witness of me at Rome. So Paul knew, no matter what happened, any amount of shipwrecks and all the rest, Almighty God has told me I'm going to live long enough to get to Rome and bear witness to him. That was an infallible revelation, and in that sense, Paul knew he was invincible.

11:10 But here, he had no such revelation. He has this sanctified desire, but then there is this realistic qualification of the desire, but if I tarry long. Long. And it is within that set of circumstances that, secondly, the principal issue of concern behind his writing is explicitly identified. And what is that focus of his concern? Well, he tells us, but if I tarry long, that you, Timothy, may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar, and the ground of the truth. Now, the varying translations indicate that there's a little bit of difficulty in the grammatical construction. The hina is followed by a second-person singular perfect subjunctive of oida, that you may know, properly rendered, that you, Timothy, it's second person singular, that you, Timothy, as the apostolic representative, the servant of God to implement the will of God, and the ground of the truth. And so, he tells us, and he tells us,

12:21 there at Ephesus in the church, that you, Timothy, may know how you ought. And here we have this third-person singular present indicative of that verb that means obligation, how it is necessary for you to behave yourself, a present middle infinitive of amistrefo. So, he clearly indicates that the principal issue of concern behind his writing is explicitly identified. And if I tarry a little bit longer, I'll come back to that. So, the principal issue of his concern is the ought-ness of the behavior which Timothy ought to be aware of with respect to that church there at Ephesus. Lenski's comments on the passage are helpful. The infinitive is a present middle to be conducting thyself, and here refers not to ordinary Christian conduct like that of other godly church members, but to the official conduct of the church. But to Timothy in his work of supervision. The edes is the second perfect, which is always used

13:29 in the sense of the present tense. The indirect question introduced with how is deliberative. Timothy will ask, how must I act in this or in that matter? Paul has here told him how.

13:43 The directions are so important because Timothy is managing things in God's house. This is not Timothy's own house, nor the house of the church members. It belongs to God. And so, as I've indicated in the outline, the principal issue of concern is behavior in the house of God and how Timothy, not as a private Christian, but how Timothy as an apostolic representative, the official conductor.

14:20 of the life of the church there at Ephesus, how he is under obligation to behave himself. These things are brought into the category of moral necessity. There is an oughtness of a distinct pattern of behavior with respect to the corporate life of the church, which Timothy must understand, lay to heart, and make a matter of visceral conviction. Paul is not writing, giving a litany of suggestions or a pick-and-choose litany from which Timothy may select, well, this seems like it may work best here and this may work best there. No, these things I write, hoping to come to you shortly. But if I am not able to come shortly, since these are the passionate concerns of my life, then I am not able to come shortly. In my heart, and you, Timothy, are there as my representative under the Lordship of Christ, I'm writing these things that you, Timothy, may know how you ought to behave yourself in God's house in order to be a faithful steward in the implementation of apostolic rule and government

Undergirding Convictions: The Identity of the Church

15:42 within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul is clear that he does not want Timothy to be ignorant. He does not want Timothy to be ignorant. Concerning the details of specific church behavior, he then states issues calculated to make sure that Timothy will not be negligent in implementing these directives, and that brings us to letter C, the undergirding convictions that gave birth to this concern. Out of those circumstances of sanctified desire and realistic qualification, with the principal issue of concern articulated, what are the undergirding convictions that gave birth to this concern in the heart and mind of the apostle? And I have noted in your notes that, first of all, the specific identity of the church in its corporate life. That constitutes the backbone of his undergirding convictions. It is the specific identity of the church in its corporate life.

16:52 And here, the apostle sets that before us by means of two very pregnant descriptive phrases. First of all, it is the house of God. And by the use of a genitive of possession, it must be seen in Timothy's eyes as God's house. As Lenski indicated, it is not Paul's house. It is not Timothy's house. It is not the people's house. It's God's house.

17:22 Concerning the details of specific church behavior, he then states that he does not want Timothy to be pregnant. And essentially, in that pregnant imagery is the concept it is God's house, that is, the church is God's special dwelling place. Certainly in the New Testament, that emphasis comes through in the text that I have listed, 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 16, where the apostle indicates that the church there at Corinth was the sanctuary of God, and His dwelling place in such a way that if any would destroy the temple of God, it would destroy the whole of the process of temple of God, him would God himself destroy. Know you not that you, that is, the church in its corporate identity and life and existence, that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. 2 Corinthians 6.16, a parallel passage, and then the clear statement of the Apostle in Ephesians 2.22, that we are builded together to be a habitation of God through the Spirit. And I would urge you on some occasion when you want to do a little sanctified ruminating

18:33 through your Bible, to just trace out the house of God concept. I've given you just three seed texts. It's a rich vein of biblical theological study. You remember that in the incident recorded in Genesis 28.17, Jacob is fleeing from his brother and from his household, and God comes in this amazing theophany and manifests himself to Jacob in the middle of the night. And as the Lord does this, what conclusion does Jacob come to? Genesis 28.17, when he awakes, verse 16, Jacob awakened out of sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.

19:19 And he was afraid and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. Here's a man lying on a rock in the middle of nowhere to go to sleep, and he says, This is the very house of God. Why? It was the place of the peculiar, concentrated manifestation of the presence of God himself. This is the house of God. God is here. In a way, he is not everywhere. This is the house of God. Likewise, with respect to the tabernacle, the same terminology is used. One specimen passage, Exodus 28 and verse 17. Exodus 28 and verse 17. That's the right reference, Exodus? No. It is the wrong reference. Let me

20:17 pull the reference. It's 23.19. I don't know how that got into your printed notes. Please correct that. Exodus 28 and verse 17. I don't know how that got into your printed notes. Please correct that.

20:23 Exodus 28 and verse 17. I don't know how that got into your printed notes. Please correct that. Exodus 23 and verse 19. The first fruits of the ground you shall bring into, now this would be the tabernacle, and it is called the house of Jehovah thy God. And then likewise with the temple in 1 Kings 8 verses 10 through 13. At the dedication of the temple, it picks up this phrase. It is called the house of God. And then as we go through the prophets, and we see the house of God, it shows prophetic utterances of gospel days. Often the imagery is in terms of God establishing his special dwelling in Zion, and the nations flowing up to the house of God. So it's a rich biblical theological strain of thought. I can only, in the interest of time, throw out a few seeds. But

21:17 notice its peculiar relevance. Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, I want to come to you shortly. But if in the providence, of God I'm delayed, I am passionately concerned that you, Timothy, will know how you ought to behave yourself in the church which he now identifies as God's house. The place of his unique and peculiar dwelling on earth. And then there follows an indefinite relative pronoun, hatus. And as Fairbairn very astutely remarks, when we find, the hatus, it is an unusual pointer to that which follows. The indefinite relative hatus is in such a connection stronger than the simple relative being employed to introduce an especial attribute belonging to the nature of the object. It is its real and peculiar property, or differentia, that wherein it differs distinctly and specifically from something else. So he says to him,

22:25 it is the house of God. And then he says to Timothy, Timothy, I want to come to you shortly. It is the house of God, namely, that which is, or which is indeed, the church of the living God. So it is the identity of the church in its corporate life, not only as house of God, but as church of the living God. It exists as the called-out assembly, the ecclesia, constituted, in its identity by the kletos, the ones thus called out of God. The God who in contrast with the dead idols of Ephesus, the idols worshipped in the plethora of the heathen temples at Ephesus, the uniqueness of this God is that he is the living God. All that he has ever been as God, he is now in the livingness of his glory. He is the glorious being. And I've cited two texts, 1 Thessalonians 1.9, where Paul is recounting

23:33 the conversion of the Thessalonians, and he says that you turned from your idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for his Son out of the heavens. And when our Lord draws forth from Peter the confession of his identity, thou art the Christ, the Son of the Lord, and the Son of the living God. And that terminology, the living God, if not parallel or equal to, certainly is in the direction of the exclusiveness of the one God who exists. But even more than his exclusiveness is the fact that all that he ever has been, he is now. And therefore, to contemplate him in terms of the frightening nature of coming into his hands in judgment, the writer to the Hebrews says, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands, not of some dead, impotent deity, who is just made of wood or stone, or the mere concoction of men's ideas extrapolated into that which they call God, but into the hands of the living God. Of all the designations the writer to the Hebrews could give, he designates him as the living God. Now, do you see why Paul is so concerned about the corporate life of the people of God? Because he is a living God. He is a living God. He is a living God.

24:57 Why he writes to Timothy with such a sense of urgency? Do you see why he writes as he does? It's because of his understanding of the identity of the church in its corporate life. He really believed that the church was not mere religious club that could be encouraged, that it would be helped somehow or another by the blessing of God because of his promises. He believed, as he wrote, that there it is. He believed that there it is. He believed that there it is. He believed that there it is.

25:27 Those who gathered, wherever they were now gathering, that they were in a unique and very real sense God's very special dwelling place on earth. And therefore, as God was deeply concerned with his dwelling place on earth under the old covenant, see that thou make all things after the pattern shown thee in the mount. How concerned he was with every detail of the life of his people as it centered in the presence of God. He believed that there it is. He believed that there it is.

25:58 He believed that there it is. He believed that there it is. He believed that there it is. He believed that there it is.

25:58 And with respect to the temple, how much more under the new covenant where there is a measure of his presence and indwelling that is heightened and even more glorious. And he says, Timothy, I write these things and I take them seriously and I want you to take them seriously because I'm writing concerning matters that touch the house of God, the ecclesia, the called out assembly, of the living God that exists because he lives. And in the livingness of his grace and power, he has called out a people to himself. And the God who dwells within them is indeed the living and the true God. How evil then to be indifferent to these issues, to be merely pragmatic on these issues, to be in bondage to ecclesiastical traditions on these issues. The identity of the church, the identity of the church, the identity of the church, the identity of the church, is one of the undergirding concerns of the apostle. But then, if you'll notice on page 130 as we move on in the outline, there was a second pregnant phrase that is used that points not to the identity of the church in its corporate life, but to the unique function of the church in its corporate life. And

Undergirding Convictions: The Function of the Church as Pillar and Ground of Truth

27:19 again, we have two things. Both of them have reference to the common denominator, the truth. Notice what the passage says. It is the house of God, church of the living God, pillar and ground of the truth. So the common denominator is the truth. Now, in the context, the truth is all of revealed religion. But as surely as Christ is the lodestone of that truth of revealed religion, this does have peculiar reference to him in the reality, significance, and uniqueness of his person and work. For notice, he goes on with the conjunction in verse 16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. And this, that many feel was

28:13 an early Christian poem or confessional hymn, focuses upon the uniqueness of the person and work of Christ in actual redemptive history. So when he points now to the unique function of the church in its corporate life, and says that that function, in the two prongs that we'll look at, has as its common denominator the truth, the truth is, in the most general sense, the full corpus of revealed religion, revealed truth. But peculiarly, as that truth focuses upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. And what is that two-fold function? Well, he uses two words, obviously. In a way of imagery. Pillar of the truth, and basement or foundation of the truth. Pillar, that which holds up the roof of a building. And often in New Testament times, it was the pillar that would be

29:13 one, if not the most ornate part of a structure, particularly if it were a temple. And the word for pillar, stulos, is found in Revelation 3.12 and Galatians 2.9.

29:28 And here I read these references to give us just a little biblical flavor for the significance in the Lord's word to one of the seven churches, Revelation 3 and verse 12, the church at Philadelphia. He that overcomes, I will make him a stulos, a pillar in the temple of my God. He will be put in a prominent place, and he shall go out thence no more, and I will write upon him. You see the element of the ornateness, the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God. And then Galatians 2.9, it's used metaphorically, where Paul speaks of the pillars of the church. And when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship. Men who by their prominence of gift and usefulness were considered unusually significant in supporting the structure of the church there in Jerusalem. All that rests upon

30:36 them. And he says that the church in its function is with respect to the truth, both its pillar that holds it up, and also its basement or foundation that holds the pillars and all that rests upon them. Now what does that imagery convey? Well, we do not have here any Romish idea that the church is the mother of the scriptures, and the mother of truth, and the definer of truth. No, according to Ephesians 2 and verse 20, the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself, the chief cornerstone. However, while totally turning away from the Romish concept and the Romish perversion of this text, we must not bleed the text of it. It's true significance that in a very real sense, one that the apostle did not have any scruples about saying concerning specific local church at Ephesus, and by implication any other churches there in that part of Asia Minor, or wherever they may exist, that they are constituted by God,

31:49 both pillar and foundation of the truth. Now in what sense is the church the basement or foundation of the truth? Well, here, in the book of Ephesians, we see that the church is the foundation of the truth. I quote from Fairbairn's most perceptive remarks in his commentary on this passage from his book on the pastoral epistles. They should be, and they are, that is churches, while steadfast to their profession, a basement whereon the truth may securely rest amid all the fluctuations of the world, and a pillar to bear it aloft that all may know and consider it. Now there's been a disinclination in certain quarters, but there's been a disinclination in certain quarters, but there's been a disinclination in certain quarters, but there's been a disinclination in certain quarters, to acquiesce in this mode of interpretation because of its supposed tendency to play into the hands of the church of Rome. It is no doubt one of the passages on which Rome seeks to ground her claim to universal homage as the one church of Christ, but it's no more suitable to her purpose than the promise to Peter in Matthew 16 and verse 18. Only by arbitrary distinctions and vain assumptions

32:56 can either the one passage or the other be made to favor her pretension. Here in particular, where the church is set forth as the pillar and basement of the truth, it is a test we have to deal with, as well as a claim to consider. For the truth is not of the church's making, but of God's revealing. She has it not as of her own, but from above, and has it not to alter or modify it to her own will, but to keep it as a sacred treasure for the glory of God and the good of men. And if she should anyhow corrupt the church, she would not be able to uphold or lose hold of this truth. She so far ceases to be the house of God, for she now does that part to the devil's lie, which ought to have been done exclusively for the sure word of God. That is, she now becomes foundation and pillar for the devil's lie, rather than of the truth, and therefore she ceases to be the church. It was so, we know, with much of the pretentious section of the Jewish community before the time of Christ. And the apostle is elsewhere,

34:00 informed us that in the Christian church there was to be a great apostasy, a mystery of iniquity, working under the cloak of Christian profession, in consequence of which many should be given up to believe a lie. 2 Thessalonians 2. Rightly understood, therefore, this passage determines nothing for Rome, or for any church which rests its claim to apostolicity on historical dissent. The grand test is, does she hold by the truth of God?

34:30 Does she in her belief and practice a witness for this truth? Or does she gainsay and pervert it? In that sense, the church is constituted not only pillar that holds aloft, but foundation or basement that supports the pillar and all that rests upon it. It is a figure of speech to set forth the reality of the function of the church as the divinely ordained instrument, to set forth, to propagate, and to communicate the truth to the world.

35:08 And here I trust you will not find it tedious to listen to a rather lengthy quote from Calvin, who so often as an expositor has an unusual ability to go to the heart of the issue. It is no ordinary dignity that is ascribed to the church when it is called the pillar and ground of the truth. For what higher terms could be used to describe it? There is nothing.

35:30 There is nothing more venerable and holy than the truth which embraces both God's glory and man's salvation. Were all the praises which its admirers have lavished on heathen philosophy gathered together into one, it could not compare with the worth of this heavenly wisdom, which alone has a title to be called light and truth and instruction for living, the way and the kingdom of God. But this truth is preserved in the world only through the truth of God. Only through the church's ministry. Thus what a weight of responsibility rests upon pastors to whom has been entrusted the charge of such an inestimable treasure. How shameless are the triflings of the papists to infer from Paul's word that all their absurdities should be considered the oracles of God, because they are the pillars of the truth, and so infallible. But we have here Paul bestowing such a high title to the church, and we have here Paul bestowing such a high title on the church. Clearly he wishes, now notice the practical pastoral sensitivity, he wishes by expounding to pastors the greatness of their office, to remind them with what faithfulness, diligence, and reverence they ought to discharge it, and at the same time how dreadful is the

36:49 retribution that awaits them if by their fault harm comes to the truth which is the image of God's glory, the light of the world, and the salvation of man. And then he goes on to amplify this very principle and lay upon the consciences of all of God's servants this sense of awesome responsibility with respect to the truth, but not just the truth generically, for remember, in this section where Paul identifies the function of the church as pillar and basement or foundation of the truth, he is not dealing with what he dealt with in chapter one, objective doctrine. He's dealing with church behavior. And he's saying, Timothy, you must think of the church as pillar and ground of the truth, not only in terms of the maintenance of orthodoxy in what you confess, but in orthodoxy in what is practiced in the house of God. There is a heterodoxy of ecclesiastical practice, just as there is a heterodoxy of objective confessional principles. And it's interesting that he brings forward this rich and powerful principle of orthodoxy. And he says, Timothy, you must think of the church as powerful imagery, not in connection with what we would call objective saving truth, but with

38:10 respect to matters of practical ecclesiology, behavior in the house of God. Now it's in conjunction and in connection with the function of the church, as well as its identity, that the apostle writes as he does to his son in the faith, Timothy, determined that he will feel something of the passion of the church. And he says, Timothy, you must think of the church as powerful imagery, of his own heart, with respect to behavior in the house of God. And I want to conclude before we come to our extended application of the text by reading again most perceptive words from the servant of God of another age in his masterful collection of sermons preached to the Princetonian students of another generation, Warfield's Faith and Life. And I again underscore their worth in opening up the text, Great is the Mystery of God. Godliness from verse 16, in typical Warfield fashion, he weaves in the setting of that confession with these words. It is, this is page 375 in Faith and Life. It is of the more

39:19 importance that we should note this, that there is a disposition abroad to treat all matters of the ordering of public worship, and even of the organization of the church, as of little importance. Any new things? We even hear it said about us with wearisome iteration that the New Testament has no rules to give, no specific laws to lay down in such matters. Matters of church government and modes of worship, we are told, are merely external things of no sort of significance. And the church has been left free to find its own best modes of organization and worship, varying doubtless in the passage of time and in the church's own passage. From people to people of diverse characters and predilections. No countenance is lent to such sentiments by the passage before us, or indeed by these pastoral epistles, the very place of which in the canon is a standing rebuke to them, or in fine by anything in the New Testament. On the contrary, you will observe Paul's point of view is precisely the opposite one. He takes his start from the inestimable importance of the gospel.

40:34 Thence, he argues, to the importance of the church, which has been established in the world, so to speak, as the organ of the gospel, the pillar and buttress on which its purity and its completeness rests. Thence again he urges to the proper organization and ordering of the church that it may properly perform its high functions. And accordingly, he gives minute prescriptions for the proper organization and ordering of the church, which is the pillar and buttress on which prescribing the offices that it should have, and the proper men for these offices, and descending even into the details of the public services. His position, compressed in a nutshell, is simply this. The function of the church as guardian of the truth, that glorious truth which is the gospel, is so high and important that it cannot be left to accident or human caprice how this church should be organized and operated. And so, Paul's position is simply this. The function of the church as

41:35 guardian of the truth, that glorious truth which is the gospel, is simply this. The function of the church as guardian of the truth, that glorious truth which is the gospel, is simply this. The function of the church as organized and its work ordered. Accordingly, he, the inspired apostle, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the commandment of God our Savior, and Christ our hope, has prescribed in great detail, touching both organization and order, how it is necessary that men should conduct themselves in the household of God, which is nothing other than the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. In other words, it is necessary that men should conduct themselves in the household God's church, not man's, and God has created and now sustains it for a function, and he has not neglected to order it for the best performance of that function. To imagine that it is of little importance how the church should be organized and ordered, then, is manifestly to contradict the apostle. To contend that no organization is prescribed for it is to deny the total validity of the minute directions of the church. The church is not a church, and the church is not a church.

42:36 The church is laid down in these epistles. Nay, this whole point of view is as irrational as it is unbiblical. One might as well say it makes no difference how a machine is put together, how, for example, a typewriter is disposed into its several parts, because, forsooth, the typewriter does not exist for itself, but for the manuscript that is produced by it, or rather through it. Of course, the church does not exist for itself. That is, for the beauty of its organization, the symmetry of its parts, and the beauty of its organization. The majesty of its services, it exists for its product, and for the truth which has been committed to it, and of which it is the support and stay in the world. But just on that account, not less but more, it is necessary that it be properly organized and equipped and administered that it may function properly. Yes, the typewriter doesn't exist for itself, but for the manuscript it produces.

43:31 But if you're not concerned that all of the mechanism is so arranged that when you push an A, an A comes up and taps the ribbon and you get an A on your thing, you're not going to have a manuscript. That's the point that Warfield is making. Beware how you tamper with any machine, lest you mar or destroy its product. Beware how you tamper with or are indifferent to the divine organization and ordering of the church, lest you thereby mar its efficiency or destroy its power as the pillar and ground of the truth. Surely you can trust God to know how it is best to organize His church. So that it may perform its functions in the world. And surely you must assert that His ordering of the church, which is His, is necessary, if not for the essay, that is the being of the church, certainly for the benny, the well-being, the benny essay of the church. And to those sentiments of Warfield, though he doesn't need my amen, I say a hearty and an unreserved amen. Or perhaps Warfield

44:34 might have preferred a more sincere amen. Amen. And I hope your heart says amen. Now, at this point, since we've gone for our 50 minutes, I think it'd be well for us to take a break. We've done the exposition of the text, and I hope persuaded your judgment as to why it should be regarded as a watershed, epitomizing text, a locus classicus with respect to this subject. And then after we take our 10-minute break, we'll come back, and I want to make an extended application of the text. So, thank you very much. of the text, and then pick up that second category of biblical witness, some supporting biblical text and perspectives. But let's take our 10-minute break, all right?

Paul's Example and the Pastoral Epistles

45:24 Letter D to an extended application of this text that I've designated as the watershed, the epitomizing text, the locus classicus with regard to this whole issue of the tremendous importance of the subject that we've embarked upon in this semester of our study, which is the work of oversight and government in the Church of Christ. And having sought to give what I trust was a responsible exposition of the text that carried your consciences, bringing in the confirming voice of respected exegetes and theologians to confirm and validate and underscore. Now then, in this extended application, I want you to consider with me basically Paul's example in this matter than the particular application of the text. And I want you to consider with me basically Paul's example in particular areas of temptation for the man of God, and then the peculiar relevance of this text as an antidote to these temptations. Now, if indeed Paul's perspective in this text reflects his overall ministerial perspective, we should expect that it would be validated in his own practice. This passionate concern for behavior in the house of God. And I've listed in your notes two biblical witnesses. First of all,

46:43 the summary statement of Acts chapter 14, with a divinely given commission to bear the name of Christ to the Gentiles, and with his evident passion that he would literally take the gospel to all of the major population centers of the existing Greco-Roman world. You remember he writes there in his epistle to the Romans that his next foray is going to be up to Spain. He said, I have no more place in these parts. I have no place in these parts. I have no place in these parts. I have no place in these parts.

47:13 I have fulfilled my understanding of my commission, but I'm not coasting and I'm not retiring. And I want to come and make some contribution to you and be enriched by my fellowship and be brought on my way by you to Spain. So here's a man who has not lost any of his tremendous world-encompassing evangelistic and missionary passion, and yet he did not have this notion that minimal amount of truth for minimum amount of time and rush on to the next place. That's what he did. He did not have the task of building up the churches, securing well-ordered churches. That's the task of the resident pastor. That was not Paul's perspective. And whenever I hear someone say, well, I'm called to quote an evangelistic ministry in which my only responsibility is to preach the minimal truths of the gospel, get people to make professions of faith, and then I go on and someone else does the rest of the work. I have no scruples to challenge them and show me from the Bible where God ever

48:12 gave such a commission. The commission of the risen Lord is make disciples, baptize, and teach them all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And in the apostles' own ministry we see this validated. Acts chapter 14, verses 21 to 23. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, what did they do?

48:37 Press on to new areas where the gospel had not yet been preached? Not yet. They returned to Lystra. And to Iconium. And to Antioch, the places where they had previously labored, confirming the souls of the disciples, strengthening, establishing the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. They give them a realistic assessment of what persevering faith will, how it will be manifested in their lives. That many tribulations await us in the kingdom of God. And that through many tribulations we must enter into the and their entrance into the consummate expression of the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed for

49:22 them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. Now we know, though all of this is condensed into one verse, verse 23, when they had appointed for them elders, we have every reason to assume that what Paul gives to Timothy as his marching orders to his disciples, is not the same as what Paul gives to Timothy as his marching orders to implement in his place, represents Paul's pattern in doing the very thing when he was on board to do it in person. So that would mean that Paul had to give instruction about the biblical standards for elders, the biblical functions for elders. Perhaps some of the very stuff we find in Acts chapter 20 when he's charging the Ephesian elders, and some of the stuff that eventually finds its way into the pastoral epistles, just as the gospel of the Lord. And that's what we find in Acts chapter 20. The gospel materials, or the materials of the gospel, were first of all fixed in oral traditions, and then put in writing. Could it not be that what we have in the pastoral epistles is the divinely inspired record of the kind of stuff that Paul did, squeezed into a verse 23?

50:36 When they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. This much is clear, that he was concerned that there be biblical church order. Here the focus is upon responsible, competent, God-equipped leadership, and we know from the analogy of scripture, he would not establish the leadership without imparting to the leaders at least the broad outlines of what they were to do in that position of leadership. You don't give a man two bars and call him a captain and not tell him what captains do, and have him stand around the ground polishing his bars, saying, well, I know they mean something. Hey, I'm a captain, guys.

51:21 Well, you tell me what captains do. No, no, captains appear on the scene, they know what they're to do. And they tell the lieutenants, and the sergeants, and the corporals, and the privates what they're to do. And so it's unthinkable, from the analogy of scripture and general revelation, to think that the apostle would do these things without imparting, at least in principle, the stuff that finds eventual embodiment in the pastoral epistles.

51:45 And so we learn from Paul's example that this passionate concern for behavior in the house of God, church of the living God, pillar and ground of the truth, did indeed regulate his ministry, and then I've said all of the pastoral epistles. When we pick up 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, they are called pastoral epistles for a good reason. Not because Timothy was a pastor in the strict sense of the word, nor Titus. They were apostolic representatives. They occupy a unique place in the church. They were apostolic representatives. They were apostolic representatives. They had a unique place in redemptive history. And that's a moot question, as you know. Were they evangelists? Were they this? What was their precise identity? But I don't think anyone would argue the statement that they occupied a unique place in redemptive history. However, when we collate

52:33 all of the data regarding the task of ordinary bishops, overseers, presbyters, shepherds, pastors, and teachers, all of the terminology used in scripture for the ordinary standing office of those appointed by Christ to lead in his church, we see that, for the most part, those tasks find a concentrated expression in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Hence, they've been called the pastoral epistles, because Timothy and Titus carried on tasks that are of the very essence of the standing order of the tasks of pastors. Now, that is another validation, then, you see. that Paul's perspective poured into our epitomizing text was not something that was the result of a concentrated meditation upon this thing and a temporary flight of emphasis, but it marked the whole corpus of his ministry. But then there are, and I felt this was the best place to put it under extended application, particular areas of temptation for the man of God in the pastoral office with respect to the task of ordinary bishops. And I think that's a very important point. And I think that's a very important point. And I think that's a very important point. And I think that's a very important point.

Temptations to Indifference and Laziness in Pastoral Ministry

53:47 to working out the implications of this text in the nuts and bolts pastoral duty. We're going to be taking up the work of oversight and shepherding and governing and leading as it touches the public services, those mandated by God, those that are mandated by our cultural setting. We're going to be taking up such issues as range all the way from conducting funerals to weddings to the ordinary services of ministry and preaching, etc. Well, I think that's a very important point. And I think that's a very important point. And I think that's a very important point. And I think that's a very important point. Well, what temptations will we face when we encounter these things, when we encounter the matters of how we give oversight to the people of God and direct the prayer meetings and how we seek to sort out the matter of gender functions within the church? What will be the practical temptations we will face to

54:36 have something less than a passionate, meticulous desire or a desire to give meticulous obedience to the implications of 1 Timothy 3.15? Well, I've listed the major ones as I've seen them in my own heart and observed them in my brethren. And the first is the temptation to laziness in examining these issues from the scriptures. The temptation to laziness in examining these issues from the scriptures. You remember what our Lord said in Matthew chapter 22 when his enemies thought they had him on the horns of a logical dilemma. And they come up with this cockamamie story, as though they knew such a person that he's going to, they're going to get the Lord in a position where he has to give a ridiculous answer with respect to the resurrection. You remember verse 23. On that day there came to him Sadducees that say there is no resurrection. And they asked him,

55:38 saying, Teacher, and then they quote from one of the dictums of the Mosaic law. Now there were with us. They state this as though it were a fact. I think it was a story they made up, figuring they got the Lord.

55:50 They got the Lord backed against the wall. And I can just, can you see the smirk on their face? We really got him now. We got Moses saying, this is what you got to do. I'm not going to argue with Moses. We've already tried that before. And we find he's not going to argue with Moses. So we got him now. Moses said, a man die, have no children, brother shall raise up seed, marry his wife, raise up seed to his brother. Now this guy went through seven and still had no kids. Now then, or she had no kids. Who's she going to belong to in the resurrection? Can't you see the look on their face? Who's she going to belong to in the resurrection? Can't you see it? And what did the Lord say? Verse 29, But Jesus answered and said unto them, You do err, not

56:36 knowing the Scripture. That's it. Nor the power of God. And then he attacks their fundamental premise, which produced their phony situation, this charade of a situation. But the Lord says, You do err, not knowing the Scripture. And then it's amazing what he brings forward, saying, If you knew the Scriptures, you would know that when God says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, involved in that statement is not just a surface association of Jehovah as the God of the covenant, who made covenantal commitments to Abraham, reiterated those commitments to Isaac and Jacob. But in saying, I am the God of Abraham, I'm the God of all that Abraham is and ever shall be as a body, soul, entity. And if I'm Abraham's God, not just the soul, then there's got to be a resurrection, because Abraham died. And if I'm his God and God

57:30 of all that Abraham is, he's got to be raised up so I can be his God forever in covenant fidelity. And you folks should have been able to extrapolate that from that statement. In other words, you see, the Lord charges them with a culpable ignorance for not digging beyond the surface meaning of the text of Scripture. That's the point. Now, if he charges these blind, unbelieving Pharisees with culpability for not going beyond the surface, obvious significance to the real heart of the text, what would he say to us, who have the Scriptures, who have the Holy Spirit, and who are put in a position of ruling under Christ, in Christ's house, according to the directives of this book? What a wretched thing, when through laziness and refusal to search out the blueprint of God for his church, in all of its activities, the church ceases to be something less than what she ought to be, as pillar and ground of the truth, ordered in all of her life by the directives of Holy Scripture.

58:42 And then I've listed that text in Hosea 8 and verse 12, one of the saddest passages in the Word of God, where there are times God reveals his broken heart when there's covenant infidelity. Notice, beginning with verse, Verse 8 of Hosea, Israel is swallowed up. Now are they among the nations as a vessel wherein none delights. They have gone up to Assyria like a wild ass, alone by himself. Ephraim hath hired lovers.

59:13 What a sad thing. Ephraim has hired lovers. I, Jehovah, having entered into covenant relationship, married to my people, Ephraim hires lovers. Though they hire among the nations, now will I gather them. They begin to be diminished by a reason. I, Jehovah, have hired lovers. I, Jehovah, have hired lovers. I, Jehovah, am the reason of the burden of the kings of princes, because Ephraim hath multiplied altars for sinning. Altars have been unto him for sinning. I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law, but they are counted as a strange thing. God says, Here I disclosed my heart in great detail to my people, but they treat them with absolute indifference. And God's grieved. He's not only angry, he's grieved. And now, how must I say it reverently, how must God feel when here he's given us in this blessed book, in the completed canon of scripture, all that is necessary for the man of God to be thoroughly furnished unto every good work, even the good work of oversight and government and shepherding of his people.

60:21 And matters are treated with indifference. I wrote unto him the ten thousand things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. The temptation to laziness in examining these things is very real, brethren, and I would urge you to resist it in the strength of Christ and remember your task as I've listed in that third text, 2 Timothy 2.15.

60:47 Do your utmost, the imperative of Spudazzo.