If you have your Bibles, I invite you to open to 1 Timothy chapter 4. We'll be reading 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 6 through 16. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather, train yourself for godliness. For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end, we toil and strive because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially of those who believe Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this. For by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Let's pray. Father, page of this book is true and full of truth that you would have us to know and take seriously because it is breathed out from you. It is your instructions to us for what we are to know and how we are to live. Father, I ask you that you would help us to grasp this passage, believe it, live by it. Help us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Occasionally I get asked the question, so what's it like to be a priest? The question's well-meaning, of course, and I have to gently explain, well, first of all, I'm married. Second of all, I'm a pastor. What does a pastor do? It's kind of the idea of this whole message. One job posting for a pastor goes like this. It says, the senior minister leads in a process for discerning and clarifying vision, then gives leadership and supervision for implementing that vision through the various ministries of the church. To do this, a team approach should be developed with all staff members and with all ministry groups and leaders of the church. The senior minister is a pastor, leader, preacher, challenger, trainer, teacher, resource, initiator, counselor, and guide. However, he or she works with many other members of the body who also minister to one another and the world." End quote. I don't know what you think about that job description, but I find it to be lacking. Pastoring At this church, many of you know, we hold to a biblical understanding of the plurality of eldership, or it'd be better to say the plurality of pastors. We believe that is what the scripture holds out as the model for pastoring in a church that would mean that there are to be multiple qualified men who serve in the role of an elder, which is the same thing to say as a pastor. It's not my intent to defend that model, but more to focus on what the role of a pastor is. Any pastor at this church is to be a man qualified according to the scriptures for the job of pastoring as described by the scriptures. And here would be, as I summarize what I understand the scriptures to teach would be my definition of pastoring. Pastoring means to shepherd the flock of God by teaching them the word for the sake of their holiness and perseverance in the faith to the glory of God. There are many expectations that are held about what a pastor should be and do. There are many expectations that we all have, including me, of what we think that a pastor ought to be doing. Some of them are biblical and some of them are not. We might say some expectations out loud and some we might just hold within ourselves for what this job should entail. Some expectations that are commonly held, not necessarily here, but within the broader evangelical world, hold that a pastor might be an errand runner, an office manager, a CEO of a board, a program organizer, a dispenser of grace, a funeral coordinator or a wedding coordinator, a counselor, a cheerleader, a vision maker, an idea maker, a communicator, a facility manager, a toilet cleaner. We don't have to make up our ideas about what a pastor is to do. The Bible tells us plainly. It's why it's a bit mysterious when I find job descriptions that so lack a biblical grasp of what this task entails. Why am I preaching this message today? Preaching it for a couple of reasons, one, It is good to know what the actual job of a pastor is and how he is to do it. That is so John and myself would be reminded of what the biblical expectations are upon us. From time to time, one of our vehicles begins to steer to the right. Just after a certain amount of time, one of our cars, just as you're driving it down the road, and if you let go of the wheel, it starts going to the right. It means it's time for an alignment. We can have that in our sense of what our responsibilities are. We might be very clear on what the Bible says about being a pastor, but occasionally kind of drift. We need to come back to the standard of what God expects of a pastor. It's important for the church to know this, not just the pastors, but the entire congregation to know what the responsibilities of a pastor are so that you have right expectations and so that you can help hold us accountable for what the actual job is. Another reason that I'm preaching this passage is although pastoring is not a responsibility of every member of the congregation, The roles and expectations of a pastor often overlap with the general role and expectation of a church member. A pastor is called to holiness. Church members are called to holiness. When the character qualities of an elder are listed in 1 Timothy 3, they're not to be dismissed by the rest of the church because they say, oh, I'm not an elder. They are to be aspired to and pursued by all of us. Perhaps the most obvious reason that I'm preaching this passage is because Silas is leaving today. I'm preaching this message because I want to exhort Silas as he heads to seminary. It's not my practice to preach to one individual in the church. So Silas, you have a special honor this morning. But I want the whole church to hear this. Because the whole church has gotten behind Silas this past year. And we send him out today to go and be trained for pastoral ministry. And I want all of us in 10 years to be able to say to Silas, I'm watching you. I know what you're supposed to be doing. So listen up, church. And listen up, Silas. This passage from 1 Timothy lays out for us the responsibilities of a pastor. It is written by the Apostle Paul to his protege, Timothy. who he sells elsewhere that he has no one like him. For everyone else seeks their own interests, but Timothy seeks the interests of Christ Jesus. And he writes this letter to Timothy as Timothy has the responsibility of almost being a delegate of Paul to the church at Ephesus. And he's there to help the church run according to the model of Christ Jesus' intention for the church. And so Timothy effectively has a pastoral role. He's not exactly a pastor, but he's not exactly not a pastor either. He has a very pastoral role as he has to put in order the things of the church at Ephesus. In Paul, in chapter four, verses six through 16, after laying out to Timothy basically here's what a church is supposed to be and look like, he now moves into these very personal exhortations to Timothy to get him to enact these requirements. And it helpfully lays out for us what the role of a pastor is. And we'll see this unfold in a couple of ways. First, the role of a pastor requires you to be a good servant of Christ Jesus. When thinking about pastoral ministry, perhaps the most important thing that you can say about it is actually the same thing that you would say about any other element of ministry, which is the most important thing that you need to do in any ministry is to be a good servant of Christ Jesus. If you aim for anything else other than serving Christ, you will not endure in ministry. If you aim to please yourself, you're going to be disappointed. Because ministry doesn't always produce the results that you desire for it. You have plans and goals, which may be good, but if that is your only goal, to succeed in what you want, you will be disappointed. If you aim to please other people, you're going to be disappointed. You're gonna let them down. If you aim to please one person, person A, person B is not gonna be happy. If you try to please person B, person A is not gonna be happy. When you make yourself or others your master in ministry, it's going to be disillusioning. But Jesus Christ is a good master. He is better than us. And so it ought to be our aim to be a good servant of Christ Jesus. And so Paul says in 1 Timothy 4 verse 6, if you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. When I think that I'm in charge or it is my aim to do what I think is best and I forget about Jesus Christ, I effectively steal the ministry out of his hands and try to place it in a much less qualified person's hands. Ministry is not about making a name for yourself. Pastoring is not about lifting yourself up. It is about making Christ known and serving him and his kingdom. Paul chooses his words carefully. Servant, diakonos, someone who's just a humble minister in the household of God. And you want to be a good one, not a bad one. You want to listen to what the master says and do what the master says and make it your aim to please your master. Well, how do you do that? Paul gives us two attendant circumstances to being a good servant of Christ Jesus. First, he says, if you put these things before the brothers, These things are all the things that Paul's written so far, all of the instructions, the apostolic instructions about what a church is to be. We don't get to conjure up our own ideas of what a church is to be and look like and sound like. The instructions are crystal clear in the New Testament for the main things that the church is to do. And so you are required as a servant of Christ Jesus to put these things before his church. You think of yourself as a servant in the household of Jesus Christ. He has prepared and designed the menu and it is a wonderful feast. He's declared the order of the evening and all you are required to do is to take the meal that he has prepared and bring it to his people and serve them. His guests in his house are actually his brothers bought by his own blood. and pastors and ministers of the word are simply servants in that household to bring the meal that Christ has prepared, his own gospel, and serve it to his brothers. Put these things before the brothers, and you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. Another circumstance of being a good servant of Christ is by being nurtured or trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Charles Spurgeon said, it is a terribly easy matter to be a minister of the gospel and a vile hypocrite at the same time. When you serve the meal that Christ has prepared you have to eat of it as well. You have to be trained in the very things that you claim to follow or have followed. You have to be trained in those words, the ideas of being raised up like a child being reared or nurtured. In its present tense, it's ongoing. It is the responsibility of every pastor who serves up the word of God to be nurtured in the very word that he is serving. He's to eat the same feast that he serves. The gospel message is not just for those in the pews, it's also for the one in the pulpit. In a recent conversation I had with a dear friend who's also a pastor, we were remarking what a profound privilege it is to spend time in God's word week after week. And you know what a daunting thing it is to be confronted every week with the very word of God and to have our hearts laid bare before him and know that if we have to stand and preach to others, we have to let that word have its way with us first. Never attempt to serve the meal of God without eating of it yourself. In order to fulfill the role of a pastor, you have to be a good servant of Christ Jesus. And a good servant of Christ Jesus serves what He has commanded and consumes what He gives. Secondly, the role of a pastor requires you to focus on the right things. The role of a pastor requires you to focus on the right things. Verse seven says, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness. It's the responsibility of the servant of Christ and really for all of us to focus on the right things. A distracted servant who knows the luxuries of the feasts that have been prepared and comes to the table and finds that the guests are passing around a little carton of saltines and sets down the feast that has been prepared by his master and sits down with the guests and starts eating saltines, neglects the responsibility that he has. He's a poor servant. And yet how easy it is to get distracted with pet ideas, controversies, social issues, but in order to be a good servant of Christ Jesus and a faithful pastor, you have to keep your focus with laser precision on the things that the Lord has given us. And so he tells us, have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. One of those words is translated, old wives' tales, and it's the idea of old women who gather around and just spin yarns together. Have nothing to do with those things. And it's not often just old women who tell those tales. Many times it's middle-aged men It's referring to those conversations that people have and come with great urgencies. I know who the Nephilim are, and it's gonna change your life. Did you know that they discovered where Noah's Ark has been buried? It's gonna change your life. I know where the Garden of Eden is, and they've taken the food and they're selling it at Whole Foods. It's gonna help you. One theologian says, some ideas or proposals are so far beyond the pale of plausible that a pastor has no time or business giving them the dignity of extensive attention. This does not mean writing people off crudely, but overall Paul's view and example is to focus on and promulgate the truths of Christ and the faith, not to be distracted with undue attention to aberrant beliefs. There are contemporary analogies, for example, in conspiracy theories, so-called urban legends, and endless issue-oriented and often polemical blogs and websites from which most pastors find it wise to recuse themselves." End quote. Silas, you're gonna need the wisdom of Solomon to be able to discern what God wants you to focus on, and when people are trying to distract you in worthless, irreverent talk. People don't need to know which mountain Noah's Ark is on, but they need to be holy. And so Paul says, rather train yourself for godliness. Because people need to be holy more than they need to know about these myths that are out there. Paul exhorts the young man Timothy to pursue holiness in his life. Don't get caught up in all that other stuff. Don't spend your time on petty matters. Focus on the main thing. To train yourself for godliness is to recognize that there are real threats to your ministry that really have nothing to do with popular myths and conspiracy theories. but there will be people that are out to get you to stumble and fall. There's an enemy prowling around to destroy you and you don't have time to deal with these silly things because there's a real battle raging and you need to keep your feet grounded on God's word so that you don't stumble in your walk. Don't spend your time on petty matters. The world is so full of information, so full of trying to get your ear so that you'll be distracted from the truth. But you need to train yourself for godliness. Those who are looking to get to the Olympics cannot go to every restaurant that they want to, cannot read every book that they want to, or see every movie that they want to. They have a singular pursuit, and that is to get to the Olympics. And that's just physical training. Heaven is in your sights. Eternity is coming. What matters are the souls of men and women. How will you shepherd them if you neglect your own? How will you stand in the battle of ministry if you're flabby in your spiritual life? How will you run the marathon of your ministry if your spiritual faculties are atrophied and if your gut is filled with all kinds of candied conspiracies? Plenty of people train themselves physically and Paul says that physical training is of some value. What he means by that is of temporal value. It has value now, here and now, but Paul says godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. If you devote yourself to the things of God, a pursuit of godliness, It's going to benefit you now and forever. It's not the kind of physical training that for a while or a season your body is fit and trim, but eventually age and time set in. No, godliness persists. Godliness continues. Godliness is a value in every way, and you'll find that it holds promise both now and in the age to come. And as you pursue your own godliness, pursue the godliness of your hearers. That's what verse nine would mean. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. That means training yourself for godliness is not just for Timothy. It's for everybody. Deserving of full acceptance. And this, verse 10, is why Paul and Timothy toil and strive It's the end for their ministry, or the goal for their ministry. Colossians 1, 28 and 29 says, Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me. This is what we work hard for in ministry. Ministry will exhaust you, and on your own you would despair, but you strive in labor for the sake of the holiness of the people God has entrusted to you, because, not that you have hope in yourself, but because you have set your hope on the living God. Oh, Trying to bring the gospel to people and trying to see people transformed on your own is just an exhausting, tiring thing. But when you set your hope, and I don't mean that to assault anyone, I know my own heart and how slow I am to change, how resistant I am to God's word, how pathetic I am in pursuing the realities of eternity and get so sidetracked by these temporal things. So I don't say that with a condemning tone, but ministry is exhausting because it takes time. It takes repeated effort. It's like parenting where you got to tell your kids again and again and again the way to go. And it demands everything of you. And if you look for a place to set your hope apart from God, there's no pedestal that can hold it. Your shoulders aren't broad enough to bear it. There's only one who has shoulders that are broad enough to bear the burden of ministry. And we put our hope on him, the living God. Not a dead God. Not a statue of stone. the God who is alive, who commands the seas to part, who sent his own son for salvation in this world, and he is the savior of all people, especially of those who believe. Scripture is clear that not all people go to heaven. that all people will find forgiveness for their sins. When it says He is the Savior of all people, it speaks of God's common grace, His common mercy to all people as He lets the seasons continue, the rains continue, and the goodness of God is poured out on this world day after day after day as people draw breath day after day after day. But for those who want to know the fullness of the salvation of God, you have to believe in Christ Jesus. And that's why he adds, especially of those who believe, because it is those who know the power of the salvation of Jesus Christ. And we set our hope on Him, because He's the Savior, not us. And so we toil and strive because we've set our hope in the right place, on the living God who is the Savior. So as you seek to fulfill your role as pastor, Silas, you need to focus on the right things, put your hope in the right place. And third, to fulfill your role of a pastor, you've got to keep your orders. After laying out the main thing, which is to be a good servant of Christ, Paul now gives a set of marching orders. Look at verses 11 through 16 and just notice this litany of commands. He says in verse 11, command and teach these things. Verse 12, let no one despise you. Set the believers an example. Devote yourself to public reading. Do not neglect the gift you have. Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this. These are marching orders. Command and teach these things. You have to have full confidence that God has given you the responsibility to tell other people how he wants them to live. And you have to teach them because you have to instruct why it's that way, how it's that way, how you see it in scripture. Paul put Timothy in the church of Ephesus so that in chapter one, verse three, you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. He's laid a heavy responsibility on Timothy to put before the people what is true, but not just to put it before them, but to expect them to live in agreement with it. It's not a passive approach, it is an active approach. But it's not a domineering approach either. Even though he gets that command to command and teach, In chapter one, verses three through five, the charge continues, and especially in verse five, he says, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. You don't get to do this with a heavy hand, with an authoritarian mentality. You do it from a heart of love that seeks the good of those that you are ministering to. And yet he's not to back off, not to have a mild-mannered pastor who just gets steamrolled. Command and teach these things, he says. The problem that comes with that, if anybody ever commands or teaches you, you might ask, well, who are you to tell me that? It's kind of our gut response. We think, why in the world do you think that you're qualified to tell me that? and especially for Timothy because he was a young man. Most conjecture that Timothy was likely saved when he was a teenager, and by this time he's probably in his late 20s or early 30s. He's a young man, and so as he's given this weighty responsibility to command and teach these things, Paul goes on to immediately tell him in verse 12 of chapter four, let no one despise you for your youth. The way he's to do that is not when someone looks askance at him because he's so young. And Timothy is not to just say, hey, stop despising me. That's not his response. The way that he is supposed to alleviate any despising that would happen for his youthfulness is that he would live a life that is exemplary. And when he does that, the despising will kind of roll off of his back because there's no accusation that will stick against him. Because he is living a life, regardless of his age, that models how all of the believers are to live. All pastors are to be examples worth following, not perfect men. but an example in these particular areas of speech, of their conduct, of their love, of their faith, of their purity. You'll be facing for probably another decade or two the accusation that you're too young, Silas. Set an example in your conduct. And I commend you because you've done that here. Press on with that. Alleviate that concern by showing yourself as an example. The next marching order, as Paul says, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture. Devote yourself to scripture, and this is so insightful, into the mechanism of pastoral work. When you try to go and do pastoral work devoid of the word of God, it loses all the power. Because when someone would come up to you and try to command and teach these things based on their own authority, it falls flat. But when there is a life that is exemplary and the word of God is brought to bear on the lives of the people in the church, then there is power. And so Paul exhorts Timothy and all pastors to devote yourself basically to scripture. to its public reading, to exhortation, which would be encouragement or admonition, and to teaching it. One pastor says, despite what current trends would have us believe, a godly pastor can be ignorant about pop culture and the latest internet memes. He can be ignorant about psychology and sociology. He doesn't need to be an expert on world events, social movements, or leadership strategies. Being well-versed in movies, music, and sports isn't part of the job description either, and is often a hindrance to the actual work of ministry. Rather, a pastor must be an expert in the Bible. One pastor tells a story. He says John Broadus, who is one of the founders of Southern Baptist Seminary and author of the most influential book on preaching ever written in America, was lecturing his class just nine days before he died when he paused and said, If this were the last time I should ever be permitted to address you, I would feel amply repaid for consuming the whole hour endeavoring to impress upon you these two things, true piety and like Apollos, to be men mighty in the scriptures. Broadus then paused and stood for a moment with his piercing eyes fixed upon the class. Over and over he repeated in that slow but wonderfully impressive style that was distinctively his, mighty in the scriptures, mighty in the scriptures. This devotion to the scriptures has to be attended to because of the sheer power of God's word. We have no other resource like it. And when we close the book and don't use it in ministry, we detach ourselves from the very power that God has given us for the transformation of souls. Keep the book open. Paul told Timothy in verse 14, not to neglect the gift you have, which is given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you." Clearly, the responsibility Timothy had was there because God had given him a gift and it was obvious to the church. Paul says elsewhere of Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, 6 and 7, for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Your gift is to teach, to pastor. And you do that by using God's word. fulfill the gift that's been given to you. These last commands in 15 and 16 are rapid fire. He says, practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. One author says, The young preacher has been taught to lay out all his strength on the form, taste, and beauty of his sermon as a mechanical and intellectual product. We have thereby cultivated a vicious taste among the people and raised the clamor for talent instead of grace, eloquence instead of piety, rhetoric instead of revelation, reputation and brilliancy instead of holiness. The last charges here are to immerse yourself in these things, practice these things, keep a close watch on yourself in the teaching, persist in this. The mechanics of your sermon are so secondary to the practice of holiness in your life, of care for the people entrusted to you. And as you do this, Paul concludes by saying, and your hearers. And what he means by that is not to suggest that any pastor ever made atonement for his people. Christ Jesus alone has that honor. He alone died on the cross. But what it means is that the pastoral responsibility is to keep a watch on his own life and to endure to the end. And to keep a watch on his people's lives and help them to endure to the end. For the one who endures to the end will be saved. I'll let the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter have the last exhortation. He says, quote, And now, brethren, what have we to do for the time to come but to deny our lazy flesh and rouse up ourselves to the work before us? The harvest is great, the laborers are few, the loiterers and hinderers are many, the souls of men are precious, The misery of sinners is great and the everlasting misery to which they are near is greater. The joys of heaven are inconceivable. The comfort of a faithful minister is not small. The joy of extensive success will be a full reward. To be fellow workers with God in his spirit is no little honor. To subserve the blood shedding of Christ for men's salvation is not a light thing. To lead on the armies of Christ through the thickest of the enemy, to guide them safely through a dangerous wilderness, To steer the vessels through such storms and rocks and sands and shelves and bring it safe to the harbor of rest requires no small skill and diligence. May God help you. May God help us. Let's pray. Father, once again, we thank you that your word is so clear about what you expect of pastors and what you expect of your church. Oh God, help us. Have mercy on us to abide in these things, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.