Sermon Tone Analysis

Thank you so much for the privilege of being here this afternoon.

It is a great honor to be the one standing here this afternoon giving the charge to the pastor.

I am still relatively new in the ministry, this July will be my 5th year as senior pastor.

So part of me wonders what I am doing up here giving a charge to a man who has had many many many more years of faithful walking with Christ unto spiritual maturity.

Yet I will endeavor to share with you what God has shown me to be the chief concern of a pastor, who is given the charge to be a leader in his local church.

My charge begins with a question.

What does pastoral authority look like in the local church?

If you follow a congregational rule style of church government, so that it is the church as a whole that makes all the decisions regarding the governing affairs of the church, what kind of authority is left for your pastor?

If you the church make all the important decisions, and in a very real sense your pastor needs to submit himself to the decision making authority of the whole church, then what authority does your pastor wield?

How does he lead?

How does he shepherd the flock?

What does that look like?

I will attempt to answer that question from , but first I would like to lay some ground work before we get to our text.

I Tim 1.

Paul leaves Timothy in Ephesus, to set the church in order and to root out of the church certain men who were teaching strange doctrines.

This task that Paul leaves Timothy is nothing less than the duty of making sure that the glorious gospel of God is that which is thriving and flourishing and growing in the church- it was this gospel that was entrusted to Paul and now Paul was entrusting to Timothy.

It is the glorious gospel of God that also forms the primary concern of pastors today.

This same gospel has been entrusted to us and must be the at the very center of everything we do in ministry.

Paul is still, all these years later, he is still blown away that the Lord would consider him faithful, putting him into the ministry, entrusting him with the glorious gospel of God.

In vv.

13-16 Paul reflects on just how unworthy he was of such a calling, that is he used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor of the church, and now because of the glorious gospel, he was in the ministry.

When you think about the gospel, and how God saved you, what is the only proper response?

I Tim

This establishes the goal of the church and of the pastor- you have been entrusted with the glorious gospel of God, you have been called into ministry, and have been called to this in such a way that our Eternal King, immortal, invisible, our only wise God, would be honored and glorified for ever and ever.

How?

How does the church do that?

That is what is at the heart of the letter.

Paul explains how the church does this.

In chapter 2 he gives instructions to the men of the church- the men are to commit themselves to the ministry of prayer- most likely this is public prayer in the church setting.

The women are to adorn themselves with modesty and submissiveness and inner godliness.

Chapter 3- Paul outlines the qualifications of the pastor and the deacon- since your church has been entrusted with the glorious gospel these are the kinds of men you must look for to put into positions of leadership in the church.

Here is the expressly stated purpose of Paul for Timothy- I am writing so that you will know one should conduct himself in the house or the household of God- which is the church of the living God, a pillar and ground of the truth.

Not THE pillar and ground, but a pillar and ground of the truth.

This church here in Janesville WI, is a pillar and ground of the truth.

The church in Oconomowoc or Watertown they also are pillars and grounds of the truth.

is all about how a pastor, specifically Timothy, should behave himself in the church in order to preserve its ability to be a pillar and ground of the truth.

Here is a fascinating verse, I’m still mulling this one over- great is the mystery of godliness (piety-more on this in a moment), then Paul appears to give us an outline of the truth that both leads to godliness and is the content of which the church has been entrusted with- God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

The in 4:1-5 Paul again brings up the warning of those who fall away from the faith, they do damage to the glorious gospel of God, instead the give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

Then in v. 6 Paul begins his instruction to Timothy as to how he ought behave himself in the church.

And here in lies my first charge.

Pastor Hudson, if you are to be a faithful minister of the glorious gospel of God, if you are to bring glory to our Eternal King, immortal, invisible, our only wise God who has entrusted you with the gospel- Then:

I.

You must be constantly nourished in the words of faith and of good doctrine.

(v. 6)

If I could name one thing that would be indispensable to the ministry of a pastor it would be this- have your heart, your inner most being, constantly nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.

What does it mean to be constantly nourished in the words of faith and of good doctrine?

εὐσέβεια- piety, reverence, loyalty, fear of God, the pious follow sacrificial custom and take care of temples; awesome respect accorded to God, devoutness, piety, godliness.

Perhaps thinking about it in the negative can be helpful.

One of the dangers of a pastor is the reality of “Burnout.”

What does it mean for someone to burn out?

They no longer have the energy, motivation, the inward devotion, the loyalty, the piety to keep on going.

What is the defense, the counter point to burn out?

Godliness, piety, devoutness.

Pastor, you are to exercise or discipline yourself unto piety/godliness/devoutness.

What does that look like?

Why use the comparison to bodily exercise or bodily discipline?

Because the same discipline that is required to get into shape bodily- how much discipline does that require?

How much discipline is necessary to stay on a diet?

How much discipline is necessary to wake up at 6 am and exercise?

What we ought to be doing is putting that kind of discipline that kind of diligence towards our spiritual lives- towards godliness.

This gives new meaning to being nourished up on the words of faith and doctrine.

Not just grow in knowledge, but grow in grace!

Explain

I Tim 4.9

Herein lies your first kind of authority as a pastor.

Your authority is not primarily in the decision making of the church- that is the responsibility of the church as a whole.

Your authority is primarily a moral authority.

And it comes from your preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

But your preaching and teaching will be dry and stale and lifeless, unless you are constantly nourishing your heart on the words of faith and doctrine.

You must exercise yourself unto godliness, you must grow in grace and knowledge, you must labour and strive for these things- your church depends on you to do exactly this.

Maintaining the integrity of the gospel that has been entrusted to you, and not just maintaining it, but seeing the gospel thrive and flourish and grow in your church, and seeing our Eternal King, immortal, invisible, the only Wise God, be glorified forever and ever, this is in part, dependent on you pastor, being constantly nourished in the Word of God.

II.

You must be so personally affected by the Word of God that you become an example to your church in every area of life (v.

12)

Clearly, the example of the pastor is of utmost importance.

And any pastor who is not so effected by his own laboring in the word and doctrine that it doesn’t also change every part of his life, is severely lacking in his authority in the church.

Here are the two elements of a pastor’s authority in his church- Preaching and teaching the word of God and his example.

Which one is more important?

Recently I was challenged by this thought on the power of our example- It seems to be a general principle- children become like their parents, students become like their teachers, and churches become like their pastor.

If one day you are sitting in your office wondering why the people in your church don’t act the way you think they should, first ask yourself if you are modeling the way.

How can you expect your people to do something that you yourself are not doing?

Be an example, be so thoroughly compelled by the Word of God that it transforms all areas of your life, so that you can confidently say to your people, be imitators of me.

In closing I leave you with Paul’s words to Timothy:

.

Pastor Hudson, I charge you on this day:

Be constantly nourished in the words of faith and of good doctrine.

And be so personally affected by the Word of God that you become an example to your church in every area of life.

For you have been entrusted with the glorious gospel of God, and He has considered you faithful, putting you into the ministry.

What more can we say than this: