87b) Desire for the Office, Spiritual Character #2

Graces Essential for Good Relationships with People

0:03 to consider the major concerns of the two statements of requirements for the pastoral office as we find them stated explicitly in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1. And we've considered those that go down through letter E. Now we take up letter number F. In both passages there is a requirement of graces essential to good relationships with people.

0:33 And here I refer to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 3. The one who would be found in overseership must be one who meets this requirement, no brawler. You'll see the marginal reading, not quarrelsome over wine, and the translators struggle with how to render the word because it came into being in conjunction with the kind of quarreling and brawling that was going on in the pastoral office. There is no brawling that is associated with excessive use of alcohol, but you get the notion that it means not a pugnacious person, no brawler, no striker, but in contrast, gentle, not contentious.

1:18 Well, those are the graces essential for good relationships with people, and in Titus 1.7b we have no brawler, no striker. There are two of the same requirements mentioned in 1 Timothy, and obviously Paul is not giving an exhaustive list, but he is giving a sampling of those graces essential to the establishment and maintenance of good relationships with people. And then in the next place, in both passages, there is a requirement of the graces essential to, that should be essential to, a pattern of self-control.

Graces Essential for a Pattern of Self-Control

2:03 And here we look at 1 Timothy, and verse 3, and verse 3, chapter 3, I'm sorry, and verse 2,

2:17 where the apostle says the bishop must be one who is self-controlled. He is temperate. He is not merely someone temperate with the use of his wine, but has the general grace of self-control, and that's the precise word. It is used in Titus 1, in the same family of words found in Galatians 5.23,

2:42 the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. So that this must mark the servant of God. The one who would function in overseership will find himself again and again in situations where if he doesn't have self-control, he will lose a handle on his schedule, he'll lose his ability to relate to people, in a way that is godly and meaningful. There are just a host of areas in which a man who does not have control over his own spirit is indeed like, Solomon says, he is like the city with its walls broken down.

Requirement of Pure, Non-Mercenary Motives

3:22 And then letter H, in both passages, there's a requirement of pure motives or non-mercenary motives. And here the words are very clear with respect to, the non-mercenary motives. In verse Timothy 3, 3b, he is not to be a man who is a lover of money. It does not say he is to have no money, he is to refuse money, but he's not to be known as a lover of money.

3:56 There is to be a heart that is free from the love of money, the love of things, that disposition that looks upon the ministry as a theater, as a theater, in which to accumulate things for myself rather than a framework of giving of myself to the service of others. And likewise in Titus 1 and verse 8, different terminology but the same thought, he is not to be greedy of filthy lucre, he is not to be greedy of base gain. And then in the next place, we see that in both passages, there is a requirement of the graces indicative

Graces Indicative of an Aggressive Love of People

4:39 of an aggressive love of people. And here I've used my words deliberately and carefully, an aggressive love of people. And it's expressed in 1 Timothy 3, 2 as one who is given to hospitality. And the emphasis there is not so much upon the social dimensions or the physical dimensions of providing food, but one who has such an outgoing love to people that he has as a conduit of his open heart, his open door, and where necessary, and where he is able, an open guest room, an open table.

5:22 But all of those things are overlaid upon the more fundamental grace of being a genuine lover of people. And so I've expressed it in the words, the graces indicative of an aggressive love of people. And in Titus 1, 8, similar terminology, he must be one given to hospitality. And then there's a question when it says a lover of good, some of the translations put good men, good in general, but certainly the requirement given to hospitality takes the idea of being a lover of people and as so often in Scripture, God puts the graces,

6:05 grace in its concrete expression. If it simply said a lover of people, we'd say, oh well, that's fine, I love people. But when it says given to hospitality, now you see suddenly a check is placed upon us and we have to ask ourselves, do I have the aggressive, outgoing love that manifests itself by bringing people through my door and where necessary and where convenient, to my table, to my guest room, etc. An aggressive love of people, not just a love of ideas and a love of truth and a love of preaching, but a love of people.

6:42 And that's why we emphasize, beginning with our foundational perspectives, that the call to this office, biblically understood, is a call to the pastoral office, to the role of an elder, a bishop, an overseer, one who may labor in the word and in doctrine, yes, but the generic requirements come out of overseeing and overseership, not simply, quote, a call to preach.

Graces Essential for Effective Leadership of Others (Distinct to Timothy)

7:11 Then we have in Timothy things that are distinctive to Timothy and I've sought to express these in the final three requirements. In Timothy, there is a requirement for the graces essential for effective leadership of others.

7:33 There is nothing in the list in Titus that explicitly refers to the grace of God. It refers to a proven ability to lead. It is inferred in the concept of stewardship for the bishop, overseer, must be blameless as God's steward. And what is the function of the steward?

7:55 Well, he is to administer the affairs of the house according to the directions of the Lord and owner of the house. So it is inferred and implied, but in Timothy, it is not inferred or implied. It's explicitly, set forth. If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

8:22 And here we have a focus upon the graces essential for the effective leadership of others. And if they are not proven in the domestic sphere, as it came out in our discussion last week, there must be some other sphere where a man can be observed with respect to whether or not he has the combination of graces essential to effective leadership. There must be the moral courage. There must be foresight.

8:53 There must be broad spectrum awareness. You must not have tunnel vision in which you look at one thing and fail to look at the other seven things that are tied to that one thing by inseparable bonds of spiritual power, perspectives, and consequences. Some men are constantly botching up the life of the church because they do not have the combination of graces essential for effective leadership. And they simply ought not to be overseers.

9:27 There may be a place, as we indicated Wednesday night in prayer meeting, one of the graduates of this academy went into the pastorate and his preaching ministry very soon became such that he was asked to speak in other places and at conferences. But it also became evident he did not have the graces that caused him to be aggressive in his manifested love to people and also he lacked the graces essential for the effective leadership of others. Well, rather than take that as being cast off as junk, he faced his peculiar strengths and weaknesses and as we've indicated is now pursuing a Ph.D. in an area

10:11 that I believe will be greatly helpful to the churches in days to come and he's doing it with a sense of nobility and dignity and that he has found his niche. Well, there's nothing disgraceful in that. If God does not grace a man with those graces essential for effective leadership of others, it may not be something that's morally culpable. It may be, but it may not be.

Graces Essential for Maintaining a Good Testimony Before the Unconverted (Distinct to Timothy)

10:35 And we must not assume that it is. And then, in Timothy, there is a requirement that the grace is essential for maintaining a good testimony before the unconverted. This is not mentioned in Titus, but it is explicit in Timothy, verse 7. Moreover, assuming that all of these other graces would come to light and be manifested not only in the conscience of the aspiring overseer, but in the consciences of the people of God, moreover, in addition to passing muster in the house of God, he must have good testimony

11:18 from them that are without. And that terminology, them that are without, in the Pauline corpus, clearly refers to the unconverted world. He must have good testimony. It doesn't say that he must be the darling of all the unconverted people in his place of business, in the place of worship, in the place where he shops.

11:40 No, but he must have good testimony. There must be no just clause to say, that guy, an elder? You've got to be kidding. No, but when word gets out to the outside world, this man's being proposed for high-profile spiritual leadership in the house of God, they can say, well, I can't stomach his narrow-minded, bigoted religion, but one thing I have to tell you, he sure lives what he believes.

12:07 I think what he believes is all about the God. It's all a bunch of bunk. But one thing is clear, he not only believes that he lives by it, and in the crunch, there's nobody else I'd rather be in the foxhole with than that guy. I know he'd fall on the hand grenade because he knows where he's going.

12:23 And he believes I'm going to hell. He'd give up his life for me. That's having a good testimony of those that are without. And Paul said, this is absolutely essential.

12:34 And you can see why. What it's doing, it's being, as it were, the second rank of attestation that this man's graces are indeed genuine. He doesn't turn them on when he walks through the doors of the church. They are what he is.

12:51 And he is what he is wherever he is.

12:55 He has no closets that he fears to walk by wondering what skeletons will fall out and expose him for what he is. No. In all of his contacts, he is a thoroughgoing Christian man who, though he may not have the affection, has the consciences of the unconverted. And then we also see in Timothy that the graces of pride experience, which in some measure will neutralize vulnerability to pride, are requisite.

Graces of Tried Experience to Neutralize Vulnerability to Pride (Distinct to Timothy)

13:28 That's how I've tried to express the thought of verse 6. Not a novice. Now, we get our word neophyte from the Greek word. Not a new plant.

13:40 Not one who has just been planted by the effectual working of God's grace, united to Christ as branched to vine, beginning to manifest new life in Christ. He must not be a relatively new plant, a recent convert. Why? Because he lacks the tried experience that in some measure, and here I use the words carefully again, would to God, years of experience, would totally neutralize vulnerability to pride.

14:14 But that would go contrary to the word of God and the experience of every honest man of God. But according to the apostle, not a novice, lest, being puffed up, he fall into the condemnation of the devil, the apostle is assuming that the longer one is planted and his roots are tested and his foliage is tested by the blast of temptation and trial and the knowledge of his own heart, he is less vulnerable to pride. And I think we are safe to say on the basis of this text, this is why the man who enters this office must not be a recent convert. Now again,

14:59 people say, well, how long must he have been converted? I don't know, because there are so many variables. You take a man at Ephesus whose whole background had been soaked,

15:13 the life of a Jewish family of the dispersion. He was brought up not only knowing Aramaic and Hebrew, but Greek. He was brought up in the synagogue. He had parents who taught him large portions of the Old Testament.

15:30 He may have been an Old Testament believer in that sense, someone who had come to genuine faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And when he was born, when the gospel came, his heart was open to the gospel. All of the basic norms of biblical ethics and morality were implanted in his soul. Why, in a matter of a year or two, that man might be ready to assume the office of an overseer, and you couldn't call him a recent plant, because the rate of growth was tremendously influenced by those particulars.

Summary and Recommended Resources

16:06 In another case, you might take someone after five years, and it's far too soon. to lay hands upon him. So God expects, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, we will apply the principle and seek that wisdom that God alone can give you. Well, in summary, I remind you, brethren, this is only a cursory overview of the graces that are indicative of genuine, matured, balanced, and proven Christian.

16:38 Your own further and hopefully careful study of these requirements, and I trust in the future when you preach on them, I recommend what I've listed in your notes, the commentary of Hendrickson on Timothy and Titus, and the tabulation on page 347 to 349 is most helpful. He lists in a column the requirements in Titus and Timothy and where they parallel and where one lists one that the other does not, and then there's another comparative column. I forgot what it is. There's a third element

17:22 in that comparative column, but very helpful material. And then in the little paperback, the Pastoral Epistles by Jeffrey Wilson, published by the Banner of Truth, has a compilation of some excellent comments from various commentators. And then, of course, Lenski is excellent in this section, and then, as I indicated, last week, if you can get hold of a copy of Fairbairn's commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, his insights at some points are uniquely penetrating. I want to give you a sampling of it in closing in just a few minutes.

17:59 And then I found for this preparation Reinecker and Rogers' linguistic key to the Greek New Testament very helpful. I do not use this as extensively as, obviously, Pastor Dunn does. When you read his notes, you constantly find references to Reinecker and Rogers. But in this type of thing where you have a whole list of words and you have neither the time nor the kind of background to do an independent word study, unless you were to take off weeks to do it, it's helpful to have proven guides like this to get to the heart of the sense of those words.

18:37 So I recommend this very highly to you. And then, of course, don't forget old Matthew Henry. I didn't list him down. But don't ever forget Matthew Henry because there are helpful insights on anything concerning which that dear man of God wrote, even those things that were published posthumously from the latter part of the New Testament.

The Pastor as a Living Example: Quotations from Murphy, Hooker, Herbert, and Fairbairn

19:00 Now, in closing, to give you a little feel for these men, oh, I left them sitting on my desk. No, I didn't. I knew some of you might want copies of these, so I made copies. So they can be recopied.

19:19 Even forgot my virtuous deed for you men. All right. This is from, first of all, Murphy. This is Murphy on Pastoral Theology, page 57 to 59.

19:36 And if some of you would like a copy of this, you can go ahead and take and copy it afterwards. And the heading is, The pastor is appointed to be a living example of the gospel which he preaches. Now, notice how he captures the heart of everything I've tried to say regarding this first element of fitness for the pastoral office with respect to proven, manifested Christian character. This places the necessity of his being an eminently godly man in a very strong light.

20:07 The solemn charge is imposed upon him of demonstrating by his daily walk and conversation the truth and power of the doctrine of the gospel. From this responsibility no possible argument will release him. The divine law which has been laid down for his guidance is this. An overseer then must be blameless.

20:35 And then he simply quotes the whole section out of 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 7. The reputation for holiness which the pastor is to sustain is here described with some minuteness that there may be no mistake. This appointment of the minister to teach by example must be carefully studied. All his other learning will be in vain without it.

21:04 All other preparation for his office will be lost if this does not receive the chief attention.

21:16 The chief attention of ministers emphatically it may be said that they are Christ's living epistles sent out into the world in order that men might read in them the transforming efficacy of his gospel. To them especially, not exclusively, but especially is the direction of Christ given. You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

21:48 To pastors, the particular charge is given that they strengthen the church by their own example. And now he's going to quote Peter. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And this example is to be set by them in all the Christian graces.

22:22 And then he quotes another text that I use. Let no man despise thy youth. Be thou an example for the believers in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. In this way they are to illustrate all kinds of good works and to disarm all opposition.

22:41 Then quoting Titus 2.7, In all things showing yourself a pattern of good works, in doctrines showing uncorruptness, gravities, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is at the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. There is no law of the whole pastoral office that is more fully and explicitly enjoined than this. Those who hold this office are not only to describe to men the effects of religion upon the life, they are to show them in their own practice.

23:20 This is something that can be better understood and will be more deeply felt. Holiness of life, the pure and noble character that is reached by daily communion with God when seen in the minister will convince men of the truth and power of the gospel as nothing else short of God's omnipotent spirit could do. Men form their opinions of Christianity not so much from what they read in the book of God, as from what they read in the book of the lives of its professors. When this book is fair and beautiful, they will be attracted.

24:00 When it is blurred, they will be driven away. Example will break down opposition and produce conviction where nothing else will. An eminent man of God has said, quote, Be assured of this, brethren, there is no preaching like the preaching of ministerial, sanctity. End quote.

24:23 Hooker used to say that, quote, the life of a godly clergyman is visible rhetoric. And Herbert, that the virtuous life of the man of God is the most powerful eloquence. And what will give this sanctity of life but the unction from on high? What but the possession of the very mind of Christ will so purify and ennoble the life as to make it a fit example to illustrate the gospel and attract to the cross.

24:55 The life of the pastor should be one of such heavenly mindedness that he would not only bear witness of Christ but be a living witness to him. That his example would give a high tone to the piety of the church that in boldness with the devoted Paul he could say, Be ye followers of me even as I am of Christ. And then Fairbairn, in a briefer quote, commenting on 1 Timothy 3, 7 and following,

25:29 Thus ends the apostle's list of qualifications which he desired to see meeting in every one who might be placed in the responsible position of an overseer of Christ's flock. They are, as already stated, predominantly moral and consist of attributes of character character, rather than gifts and endowments of the mind. And would to God that would be thundered in every seminary across this country. And the day it ceases to be thundered in this classroom, may God blow its walls out or empty its students.

26:11 It's not worthy to have students here. That list, if we take God's emphasis out of these two passages as to what must be present, we must say, that the requirements are predominantly moral and consist of attributes of character rather than of gifts and endowments of mind. Now, in subsequent lectures, when I come to the matter of fitness as it relates to specific gifts, gifts of the mind and gifts of utterance, I tend to do justice to the biblical witness, but that witness will never negate what we've seen this morning or neutralize it.

26:56 The latter also to some extent are included, that is, endowments of mind and general gifts insofar as they might be required to form clear perceptions of truth and duty, to distinguish between things that differ, etc. Yet with all, it is the characteristics which go to constitute the living, practical Christian which together, symmetry, you see, balance, make the man of God that in this delineation of pastoral equipments are alone brought prominently into view. And whatever else the church may, in the changeful circumstances of her position in history,

27:41 find it necessary to add to the number in order to render her responsible leaders fit for the varied work and service to which they are called, the grand, moral characteristics here specified must still be regarded as the primary and more essential elements in the qualifications of a true spiritual overseer. Do you see what he's saying? With the passing of time, where we are distanced from the language with which common people were, in which they were proficient and with which they were conversant,

28:25 and we may have to add to these requirements an able teacher, an apt teacher, one able to exhort in the healthy doctrine requirements linguistically. Two thousand years of church history have afflicted the church with all kinds of heresies and with a sharper grasp upon the truth. We may add other requirements that are implicit, but what Fairbairn is saying is recognizing all of that, whatever, we may of necessity add, this must still have the primary place. And this is why I've put it where I've put it, in dealing with this second element of what constitutes a biblical call

29:09 to the pastoral office. Not only must there be an enlightened and sanctified desire for the work of that office, there must be a fitness, a fitness grounded upon this element manifested Christian and without it the ministry becomes a sham. The gospel is neutralized in its effect and I pray God that you men will never move from the perspectives that we've sought to articulate here this morning. Well, it's one o'clock, right on the button, and...