Who Let That Guy Preach?
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Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an honor to present the Word of God to the saints of Durbin Memorial baptist Church.
Allow me to share with you from an often overlooked book of the Bible, Song of Solomon
15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.
Song of Solomon is widely considered to be a collection of love poems between a man and a woman that celebrates God’s design for marriage and the blessings contained therein. This is certainly true, but there is a deeper way to appreciate Song of Solomon.
I’d like to share with you an extended excerpt from Dustin Benge’s The Loveliest Place.
“Reflecting on Song of Solomon 1:15, John Gill, an eighteenth-century English Baptist pastor, wrote, “These are the words of Christ, commending the beauty of the church, expressing his great affection for her, and his high esteem of her; of her fairness and beauty.” Gill interprets Song of Solomon as an intense allegorical portrayal of the love, union, and communion that exists between Jesus Christ and his bride, the church. In chapter 1, the bridegroom fixes his eternal attention upon the bride and identifies her as “beautiful.”
What must it be like to be admired by the sinless Son of God? Rather than admire her, we imagine he would identify her failures, her shortcomings, and the loathsome sin that so often spoils her garments. Instead, through the eyes of a bridegroom transfixed upon his bride, Christ invites our gaze with the attention-grabbing, “Behold!” Her beauty commands awe, wonder, and astonishment.
More profound amazement is ours when we consider that the church is composed of sinners. Albeit forgiven, still sinners. In her own eyes, the church is full of spots and blemishes and is, in fact, sometimes disgusting to behold. Paul says that only at the end of the age will the church be presented to Christ “in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing” (Eph. 5:27). Yet Christ draws our attention to his bride here and now, not for veneration, but that we may be astonished and lost in the wonder of his love and sacrifice on her behalf.
The church is beautiful because the lens through which Christ regards her is his cross—the focal point of blood, righteousness, forgiveness, union, justification, regeneration, and grace. His cross makes her beautiful. His perfection makes her beautiful. It is his sacrificial, substitutionary, sinless blood that washes her garments as white as snow. The cross of Christ makes her beautiful not only inwardly by justification but also outwardly through sanctification. From giving second birth to final glory, the righteousness of Christ creates a beautiful church.”
Church, the reason we care about Order in the church, the reason we talk about the importance of right teaching, the reason we talk about the qualifications of pastors and deacons, the reason we look at all of this and seek to better our practice, is because Jesus Christ our Lord looks on us, His Church, His church on Durbin Lane, and says, “behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful.” We are a group of sinners whom the Savior loves and gave His life for! We seek to follow Him in response to the great and unmerited love He has shown to us! We care for about our practice and our Order because He cares for us.
On this side of glory, the church will never be perfect. However, we must cherish the honor that the Lord has given us to be His beloved.
If you have not already, open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5. As we have been walking through this book, we have seen that God has called certain men to be elders/pastors/overseers of the local congregations He has established. As we begin our walk through this morning’s selection of Scripture, we will begin with another look at the position of pastor and conclude with reminder for ALL of us to work hard in all we do for the glory of God. Begin with me in verse 17:
17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
This sermon has been entitled, “Who let that guy preach?” As baptists, we affirm congregational polity. Our statement of faith reads, “Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord.” We are organized in such a way, that recognizes the dignity and priesthood of every member. We have provisions in our church constitution for both the calling and the potential removing of a pastor from our church. I believe this is in line with the teaching of the New Testament especially in regards to the congregations role in approaching discipline. So from that perspective, the church plays a vital role in “letting that guy preach.”
In a greater way, affirming the provision, sovereignty, and design of God, it is God Himself who has ordered His church and given pastors the authority to share the Word of God and provide leadership to His church.
We believe that these words of Paul written to young Timothy are inerrant and inspired by the Holy Spirit, the third person of the triune God. Through the pen of Paul, God is telling us today, the elder who “rule[s] well is worthy of double honor,… especially those who labor in preaching in teaching.” This tells us that God considers the position of pastor as a position of honor!
I recently saw a clip where a pastor was asked “how much authority does a pastor have in the lives of his congregants?”
He responded, “Um none. No authority. I have no authority in this church, personally. My experience doesn’t give me any authority. My knowledge doesn’t give me any authority. My education doesn’t give me any authority. I have no authority. … if I am telling you what God has said in His Word, that has authority, right? But I cannot exceed what is written. … So the pastor in himself has no authority. Listen to what Paul says, who is Paul, who is Apollos, who is Cephas? We’re nothing. It’s all of Christ. It’s all of the Holy Spirit. It’s all of the Scripture.”
The ultimate authority in the church is God! This is Christ’s church! This is God’s Word!
So how do we reconcile this with the “rule” of the elder mentioned in our text this morning?
Well first we need to recognize the limits of language and not read more into a word than it’s necessary meaning. Ruling does not have to mean ruling with an iron fist. The word translated as “rule” in our Bibles means to guide, to lead, to direct, to be active in helping, to engage in aiding.
God has designed His church so that Pastors are leading, but the direction they are to lead is HIS DIRECTION!
That is what “ruling well” means! When ever we talk about the sufficiency of Scripture, we bring up the 2 Timothy 3:16–17 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Now, that verse shows all of us the worthiness of God’s Word to be followed, but the direct context of those verses, Paul is specifically talking to Timothy about his function as an elder! As the pastor provides teaching, reproof, correction, and trains up in leading the church, he does so through observance of and adherence to All of Scripture.
For pastor-elders, “ruling well” is simply sticking to the Word of God and directing the church to follow suit. The authority does not belong to the pastor in and of himself, rather the authority lies in God.
And when we recognize that that is happening, the right response is to honor the pastor. Paul writes, the elders who rule well are worthy of DOUBLE honor. In just a moment, we’ll discuss what double the two-fold way in which a church shows honor to an elder.
Before we get to that, we must first note the good design of a church having a plurality of elders. This verse is written in plural. “the elderS, let THEM.” This is not to say that a individual church is in sin if it only has one pastor, but rather that the duties of caring for the flock, leading and teaching is a lot for one man to bear on his own.
As a individual pastor, I look forward to the day in our own church where we are building up, instilling, and honoring a plurality of pastoral ministers. If the church exists to build up the saints for the work of the ministry, then we should all desire to see called men grow and take on responsibility for the care of the church and the glory of God.
From the church’s perspective, we should all give glory to God for building up His Kingdom and equipping more folks to enter formal pastoral positions. It should be a joy to have pastorS we can look to for Scriptural guidance and direction as we steward this church for the Lord.
As we “honor” these pastors, we are ultimately giving thanks to God for equipping leaders to serve His church.
So how do we honor the pastor or pastors of the church? When we see double honor, we should read that as “two-fold” honor. The congregation honors the pastor who leads well with consideration and compensation. You could substitute “respect” for “consideration” but it’s easier to remember 2 “c” words. Let’s see how consideration and compensation are supported in our next two verse, look first to verse 18:
18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
There is an old joke that likes to be repeated often and that being a pastor is an easy job since you only work one day a week.
If that were true, then the pastor certainly wouldn’t be worth honoring with compensation, at least not anything significant. But remember the verse prior. We are talking about pastors who LEAD well, and LABOR in preaching and teaching.
The pastor who leads and labors well does not contain their work to a simple Sunday morning service. The faithful pastor is constantly seeking the growth of the church. He is consistently looking for better ways to build up the saints for the work of the ministry. Laboring in preaching and teaching requires intense prayer, focus, and precision. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit can work swiftly through a sloppily prepared message, but the pastor is called to be a student of the Word who puts effort into feeding the sheep. Our God is a God of means. That means He works THROUGH His people. He works THROUGH His pastors to share His Word. God COULD write His Word in the very clouds for all to see. He could poke you in the eye every time you sin. But He has chosen to work through faithful pastors studying His Word, obeying His Word, and preaching His Word.
Our church’s constitution states, “The pastor is responsible for leading the church to function as a New Testament church. … He works to
Proclaim the gospel to believers and unbelievers.
Lead the church in the achievement of its mission.
Oversee the ordinances of the church.
Care for the church’s members and other persons in the
community.
Some of that takes place during the church service. But much of it occurs in the quiet hours of the night.
I can say for myself, that there is nearly not a waking hour of the day in which the function of the church does not creep into my mind. I fall short in many ways, but it is my sincere desire to lead well and preach well for the glory of God and the building up of His saints.
Speaking about pastoral compensation is admittedly awkward. I just want to say to the church, that I am honored that you all would allow me to be in this position and that your support helps me provide for my family and continue serving the Lord through the ministry of this church. You all have honored me well and I sincerely hope that you have not seen that as a waste.
The second way a pastor is honored is through consideration. Look at verse 19.
19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Now when I talk about consideration, I am ultimately talking about respect. You show a respect to a pastor by considering the teaching he brings to the church. By considering it, I don’t just mean thinking about it for a moment then tossing it aside. I mean weighing the validity of teaching by the Word of God and applying it.
This morning I am going to challenge all of us to pass out Easter invitations. You will be tempted to say, “nice idea but someone else can do it. That’s not my thing.” But I would say to that, if 25 awkward middle and high schoolers from Jacksonville Florida care enough about our church to pass out 1000 invitations across northern richmond this week, you can pass out 20 or 30 to family friends and neighbors. We pass out invitations, not just to have something to do, but to glorify God! We want people to come and hear about the risen Savior! Plus you never know what may happen when you walk up to door, the Lord may give you an opportunity to share the Love of Christ. Worship Pastor Lee from Westside in Jacksonville was telling me the story this week from a few years ago when students were doing some door to door invitations for a church event. Two students walked to the door of a home and had a cordial conversation. At the end of of their talk, the guy at the door said, I need you to take this to your leader. He then handed them a gun. He said, “don’t worry, it’s unloaded. But before you all came to my door, I was about to kill myself. Through our conversation I know that’s not what God wants from me. I’ll be there at your event.” Now, the kids were shocked I’m sure, but they took the gun to the leader and that man ended up receiving Christ through a door to door ministry. Those kids followed the direction of their pastor and God worked through them to provide hope to a desperate soul.
One way we show consideration for the pastor when we follow guidance he gives that is line with God’s Word. Verse 19, however, shows a different way we show consideration for our pastors. We honor Pastors who serve well when we defend their character from false attacks. There should be clear evidence when bringing an accusation of impropriety against a pastor. One commentary notes “A high degree of caution is in order because pastoral leadership is a profession that depends on character. If you do not maintain character, you can lose everything except salvation. Next to your life in Christ, your character is your most valuable possession.
Also, church leaders are highly visible and are tragically vulnerable to the adverse actions of the disorderly, the malevolent, and the ill-willed—and to whispering gossip.”
When Paul says that charges should not be admitted unless there is evidence of two or three witnesses, he is saying that there must be solid proof before besmirching the name of a minister. We have said consistently, the gospel is offensive. Dealing with sins and conviction is difficult. You’ve heard the old saying, “A hit dog barks” well sometimes “a hit dog bites”.
In our day where it seems that so many “religious” leaders have failed, we can be quick to assume all pastors are actually vipers themselves. But this isn’t novel to our time. John Calvin wrote, “Satan makes most people, in fact nearly everyone, overcredulous so that without investigation, they eagerly condemn their pastors whose good name they ought to be defending.”
You show honor to the Pastor by assuming the best until the evidence proves otherwise.
Now, I don’t know how many other pastors will be listening to this message but I do want to share a word for pastors: While our congregations ought to give us the benefit of the doubt in an allegation against our character, we should not be giving people a reason to doubt our character to begin with. The point of requiring solid evidence for an allegation is not so that we’re given a pass to hide in the shadows. We must remember that teachers will be judged by God Himself more harshly and while we may be able to hide from our congregations, we are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.
Sadly, as we have seen in the world around us and in our look throughout 1 Timothy, there are times in which claims brought against a pastor/elder are substantiated. The process for dealing with that is laid out in our next set of verses.
20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. 21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.
What we are seeing here is the course of church discipline described in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5. When a brother is in sin, go to them, if they listen and repent, receive them as brothers. If they refuse to listen, go again with two or three witnesses, and give another opportunity for repentance. If that does not work, THEN bring the matter before the whole of the church. And if there is no repentance, remove the offender from participation in the congregation. All the while seeking not to besmirch the name of the offender, but instead seeking genuine reconciliation and health in the church that Jesus calls His beloved!
These uncomfortable conversations and applications of discipline are intended to be sanctifying experiences for the sake of Christ’s bride! Leaders in the church must understand that they may in positions of honor but being in a position of honor does not exempt them from practicing what they preach!
When we read “so that the rest may stand in fear” we should all be noting the seriousness of someone resting in ongoing, unrepentant sin. No one should be reveling in the process of discipline. It is a fearful thing to look at someone and say, “because of the proof of impropriety and your unwillingness to repent, we can no longer affirm you are a believer.” It causes all of us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
All of this is done to protect the beauty of the bride, the church. Please note, that when a church disciplines someone, they are saying they cannot affirm the individual’s salvation, but ultimately there eternal salvation is not tied to the church, but to the Lord. As Hymenaeus and Alexander were handed over to Satan to learn not to blaspheme in chapter one, their removal of the church does not negate the possibility that God very well may renew their repentance.
When grievous sin rears its ugly head, the right, God honoring, response is to deal with it, both as a church and as individuals. When that happens we remember first and foremost that we do this for God’s glory in the local church. We walk through the process with no vendetta other than dealing with sin. We follow His process without prejudice or partiality. We don’t take this lightly! It is happening with God, Christ, and the “elect angels” serving witness both to the individual’s sin and the church’s handling of it! Don’t get lost in trying to develop some robust Angelology from this verse. We just need to know that our Triune God and the angels He employs bear witness to all that we do. And if we care for His beloved church as He does, then we will deal with sin in accordance with the procedures He has given us to do so.
God has created the pastorate to lead Christ’s beloved, the pastorate is to be honored by Christ’s beloved, and sin must dealt with appropriately within Christ’s beloved. From here, we see that we are to use discretion when recognizing new leaders of Christ’s beloved.
22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. 23 (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) 24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. 25 So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.
The laying on of hands is recognizing someone for the task of ministry within a congregation. We are not to be hasty.
When we find ourselves in trouble, or their is a glaring hole in leadership, we can be quick to place the first person that comes along in a place they ought not be. “If a man is made an elder too quickly and then commits grievous sin as an elder, those who recognized him as an elder share in the shame insofar as they overlooked character flaws they should have noticed. This seems to be what it means to “take part in the sins of others.” Elders and congregations must be vigilant about whom they ordain. Thus Paul says, “Keep yourself pure.” Timothy cannot get bogged down by someone else’s sin because of not being vigilant when appointing elders.”
Verses 24 and 25, show us that with time, things become quiet evident. Through the test of time, character will be revealed.
At first glance, verse 23 seems like a random side note. It’s even put as a parenthetical statement in the ESV. But it contextually fits. Paul had just told Timothy to keep himself pure. “to keep himself in line with the qualifications for elders listed in chapter 3, which include the phrase “not a drunkard” (3:3). Perhaps Paul knew of Timothy’s resolve to keep himself pure with respect to alcohol. He may also have known that Timothy was drinking only water. Paul seems to be saying that Timothy does not need to abstain completely from alcohol but should make medicinal use of alcohol because of stomach ailments. He does not tell Timothy to give up his teetotaling ways. He does not rebuke him for taking an extraordinary stand for sobriety. He simply says that the extraordinary measure must not be made into a law that would prevent him from treatments that may help him when ill.” He is saying to Timothy, “take care of yourself, and don’t fall into legalistic asceticism as other leaders have in the church.”
This serves as a reminder to us all that as we seek purity in the bride of Christ, that God has given us everything we need to know to honor Him in His Word. We do should follow our convictions and take sin seriously, while not going beyond the guardrails of Scripture.
Pastors are servants of the Lord, using their lives, talents, and efforts for the benefit of Christ’s beloved, the Church. While we have walked through the work and responsibilities of the Pastor, we must understand all of us are called to work for the glory of God wherever He may have us.
1 Timothy 6:1–2 (ESV)
1 Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. 2 Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.
For the sake of time this morning, I want to refer everyone back to a sermon from January 15, 2023 on the Christian Work Ethic. You can find that on our online platforms or the Podcast feed. In that time we took a deep look at “bondservants and slavery” and how we deal with the issue of Slavery and the Bible. But we landed with this, “For us today, the application is professional as every one of us serve in some form as either masters of people who work under us and those we hire to work for us or we serve under masters that instruct the way we work.”
As we conclude this morning, the application is the same. For pastors, we are to honor the Lord in our position. But no matter your position in the church or in the world, you are called to serve well and work for the glory of God. The way we handle ourselves in the world is a testimony to our faith in God. We can’t change the world’s perception of Christians who do not practice what they preach, but we can change the perception of those around us.
Church we ought to cherish that we are Christ’s beloved.
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