The Pastor
A sermon series
In the Summer of 1999 (geez, I feel old typing that) I put a personal ad up on Yahoo Personals.
Now, this was the time period before all the eHarmony and Match.com sites where you had to "pay-to-date", filling out a personality profile and hopefully getting matched up with someone who perfectly fit your needs.
I went on and wrote up a nice page about myself.
It is where I met my future wife.
She responded to my ad and the rest is history.
I wish I had time to tell you the whole story here.
But, I am using the event in reference to set up a larger point and message about the pastor and how much you think you know about him/her.
SO, how much do you know about your pastor?
If bringing a new pastor into your church was like meeting someone on a dating website, what kind of qualities would you want in your pastor?
What kind of characteristics and behaviors would you be willing to put up with?
Would you take him/her in if they had a snoring problem?
Would you still want to be with that person if they liked different food than you?
(If you can't handle the Comfort Food, then this not going to work out, by the way.)
Now, in the United Methodist system, you kind of surrender your selves and your church to an 'arranged marriage'.
There are very capable people who form a 'Cabinet' that meets with the Bishop of our Conference, and they discuss and pray and finally determine for you as a church who they think would be a good fit for your church.
Sometimes that works out well. Sometimes it does not.
And, the pastor in question has to surrender him/her self to this system and hope that the Cabinet and Bishop know what they are doing in the appointment process.
"All to Jesus, I surrender, All to Him I freely give.In the Lutheran church, there is a long process, sometimes two years or more, of interviews and meetings.
I will ever Love and trust Thee. Put me in a Mega-church."
This is done in order to give the congregation plenty of time to detach from the last pastor and actually hunger for that needed leadership.
The process should lead them to look for that right person, man or woman, who might be able to lead the congregation in the direction they need to go.
No matter which background we come from, there is a need to sit and consider, to ponder and think, about what kind of qualifications a person should have to be in this role.
You would do it for yourself in a marriage setting. Why not in the church?
Unless, however,you simply believe in 'love at first sight'.
I grew up in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and our process was similar to the Lutherans.
People want a pastor so bad that they just jump into a dependent relationship with the first interim they see.
They have not taken the time to really get to know that person or understand if they truly fit here.
We can do that also in our Methodist setting.
Although the arrangement and appointment can seem 'forced' (in some minds), do we truly take the time to get to know this new person?
We liked the last person and all of the sudden, here is the new person.
We are sad that the last person is gone, so we jump to that new relationship to quickly.
Or, we are upset that the old person is gone and we don't even give the new person a chance.
Somehow, we have to get past the human expectations and focus on what God wants for us.
If we trust our Bishop and Cabinet to take care of us, then maybe we should look at some of the biblical qualifications that they have to use in there work of providing us with the proper pastors to be in our pulpits.
Paul wrote extensively to Timothy and to Titus as he worked with both to get ready to be teachers and pastors in their congregations.
He showed them both what kind people they needed to be in order to serve the Lord in this capacity.
Lets look at Timothy's letter and then Titus' and then make some correlations and comparisons.
1 Timothy 3:1-7
New International Version (NIV)
Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons
3 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.Titus 1:5-9
New International Version (NIV)
Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good
5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint[a] elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe[b] and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.If you as a church had a chance to look for your pastor like a man or woman searching the personal ads, what would you be looking for?
Well lets do some comparison.These passages could be like our personal ads.
What are some things that both passages say?
Above reproach/be blameless - there shouldn't be anything questionable in the area of morals that people could hold up and say "AH HA! Look at this!"
Faithful to his wife - I might be pushing the one a bit, but I have told people in the church, "If you push me and make things difficult in our relationship; if you make me choose between you as a church and her as my wife, guess who I am going to choose. 'Cause I don't have to lay down next to you all at night."
Temperate/not quick tempered/not violent - pretty self-explanantory. People in the church are going to get on your nerves. Your spouse is going to get on your nerves. People in the town/community are going to try you. A pastor needs to keep it together. Not responding with violent means is essential.
Self-controlled - none of these other areas will matter if the pastor cannot control him/her self. Again, pretty self-explanatory.
Respectable/have a good reputation with outsiders -lets see what Webster's has to say about this one.
Definition of RESPECTABLE
2: decent or correct in character or behavior : proper
3 a : fair in size or quantity respectable
4: fit to be seen : presentable <respectable clothes>
Hospitable - I'll sit down you. I'll go out to lunch with you. But it goes a little farther than that. We should see once again what Webster's has to say.
Definition of HOSPITABLE
1 a : given to generous and cordial reception of guests
b : promising or suggesting generous and cordial welcome
c : offering a pleasant or sustaining environment
2: readily receptive : open <hospitable to new ideas>
Gentle - when I see this, the first thing that came to mind was "knowing how to pick your battles". Church people can be hard to handle sometimes. People get their feelings twisted up about...anything. The pastor has to handle people with kids gloves sometimes. If you are used to your pastor taking your faults and miscue, crumpling them up like a piece of paper and then stopping n them for the whole world to see, then you know your pastor has not treated you gently.
Not quarrelsome - This ties right in with the last one. I didn't come here to pick a fight. I came here to lead you in the direction God wants us to go. Is that always going to be well received? Not always. But, there are ways to get the job done without a fight breaking out.
Not a lover of money/not given to dishonest gain -I know of guys who have gone into the ministry purely because they wanted to make a buck. Turn on the TV. There are people out there flapping their gums, running their mouth simply because people will listen. And, the preacher in question is making money off of it. Burns me up.
And, now some more detailed statements...
Titus 1.6 A man whose children believe
1 Timothy 3.4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect
As if the list above wasn't already hard enough, now I have to make my children obey? They have to be believers too? This is not just a list of requirements. It is an accountability system.And, my children are the chief thing that keep me accountable. They are watching my ever word and move. They will make a decision about what to do in their own lives based upon what I do here.
1 Timothy 3. 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
Wow. It should come as no shock that the devil would be described in terms like conceited. But to put that title on a pastor and then lump him/her into the same pile as the devil That's serious now. I mentioned those TV preachers a moment ago. How many of those guys were recent converts. They might have shown some signs of charisma, of having a gift. But they haven't developed it that gift yet. They really know what they are doing yet. Then there is another problem. I've seen pastors at the the other end of the spectrum. 20, 30 years into the ministry and they still haven't learned the lessons they should have learned in those first couple of churches. It's all about the title in front of their names. "Well, I worked hard for this title and i deserve it." That don't mean you have to go sticking it in everybody's face. There was a pastor who was appointed to my home church a few years back. Immediately upon entering the decree was put forth, "You shall address me as Reverend. Not Pastor, not my first name. Reverend So & So." And, I immediately thought to myself, "Well, I guess I won't be talking to you." The attitude a pastor goes into the ministry with will determine just how effective it all works out.
Just for fun, we should go take a look...
Just for fun, we should go take a look...
Definition of CONCEITED
adj
1: ingeniously contrived : fanciful
2: having or showing an excessively high opinion of oneself
Yep, nice knowing you Reverend So & So.
Titus 1. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
So, what is the trustworthy message? Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
To trust in God through the name of Jesus Christ for salvation.
I have sat through some very watered down preaching in my years. I have sat through some preaching where Jesus was present, but it was all about ourselves obtaining some gift. Ihave heard some flagrant health and wealth. Get it for yourselves kind of preaching.
If the person standing behind this pulpit cannot simply tell you about the saving grace of Jesus Christ and let it be, I seriously wonder if they have ever experienced Jesus Christ at all.
If the person standing behind this pulpit cannot simply tell you about the saving grace of Jesus Christ and let it be, I seriously wonder if they have ever experienced Jesus Christ at all.
And, that's why "the question" was so important when I met my future wife on that first date.
What kind of music she liked was irrelevant. (I'm glad we both enjoy country music.)
What was her favorite place to eat? We'd find that out later.
What was her political views? Not real important for me.
On our first date, I popped the question.
"SO, what do you think about Jesus?"
"SO, what do you think about Jesus?"
I remember her stopping mid-bite into a sandwich I had brought for us to eat.
She looked down and then at me again.
"That's a pretty deep subject."
And, it is too.
I actually wanted a much more in-depth discussion.
But, we've had 12 years now to get into all that.
And, I thank God for every day of it.
How well do you know your pastor?
Maybe you should take the time to get to know him/her today.
