The Marks of a Good Minister Pt.1
House Rules: 1 Timothy • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
Introduction:
What is it that make a good minister? Is it the number of degrees that he has hanging on the wall of his study? Is it the amount of books that fill his shelves and how much time he spends reading those books? What about the numeric size of the congregation that he oversees? Or, perhaps the amount of hours he spends visiting his congregants each week? Things like this seem to be what people tend to think make for a good pastor and they are all good things. But, none of these things have the power in and of themselves to make someone into a good pastor.
It goes without saying that in order to be a good pastor a person needs to actually be a Christian and fit the qualifications of an elder. But a person can meet those qualifications and not actually be a good pastor.
The passage before us this morning in which we will spend the next two weeks give us the marks of a good minister and make up the second charge that Paul has challenged Timothy with so far in this book.
There are 12 marks of a good minister given to us in these verses and today we will observe the first six and the last six we will examine in our time together next week.
1.) Warns against false teachers. (v.6a)
1.) Warns against false teachers. (v.6a)
“These things”- hearkens back to vs.1-5 of chapter 4 which warns against the false teaching of asceticism that was being peddled in the church at Ephesus.
A good minister does all that he can to lift the name of Christ high and warn the flock he shepherds about false teachers who will try to seduce and lead them away from Christ.
It cannot be overstated just how much of a threat false teaching is to the church corporate and believers individually. Because of this, the good minister will do all that he can to instruct and warn and protect his flock from the wolves who would seek to destroy them.
This doesn’t mean that a pastor should spend all of his time preaching on these things (his job is to preach the whole counsel of God), he shouldn't ignore them either.
A pastors messages are a lot like road signs.
There are signs that tell you where you are going. “Washington D.C. 60 miles” but there are also signs that warn of danger to come “Bridge Out”.
A good minister will preach positive doctrine so that the people will understand what they believe and know where they are going. Bit, he must also expose false teaching and false teachers so that people will not fall victim to their lies.
2.) Nourishes himself with the Word and good doctrine. (v.6b)
2.) Nourishes himself with the Word and good doctrine. (v.6b)
Simply put, he spends time in God’s Word not just to feed the flock but to feed himself and then he spends time meditating on “good doctrine.”
Good doctrine- are those teachings that are based in the scripture. Any doctrine that is not firmly rooted in scripture is false doctrine.
Understand, a good minister has to know good and true doctrine from the word of God in order to spot and warns about the false.
He has to spend time himself being fed from God’s Word nourishing his spirit by those things that will build him up and strengthen him. He preaches the Word of God that he himself eats from every day.
This is why Paul would instruct Timothy is his next letter to him
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
3.) He avoids pointless speculations. (v.7a)
3.) He avoids pointless speculations. (v.7a)
The language Paul uses here is “profane and old wives fables.”
Profane- worldly and contradictory to the worldly of God.
Fables- myths
Old wives- this is Paul using sarcasm. For this phrase to make sense we have to understand the culture of the day in which it was written. Paul is not being a mysoginist as some like to accuse. In this time women were not allowed the educational opportunities that men had, so this phrase comes from that perspective. It was something that was used in philosophical circles as a term of disdain for a viewpoint that lacked credibility and appealed to the uneducated. The Ephesians would have understood Pauls use of this phrase in this way.
Paul is telling Timothy not to waste his time arguing the finer points of a false teaching. He is to simply mark and avoid it. A good minister must know what the enemy is teaching but he is not to allow himself to be influenced by it.
Much like someone who works for poison control may need to handle and study poison, but he doesnt need to ingest them into his system.
Paul would later instruct Timothy simply to “Preach the Word.”
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
4.) He exercises toward godliness. (v.7b-9)
4.) He exercises toward godliness. (v.7b-9)
Paul uses a metaphor here where he likens a good minister to an athlete training for the olympic games.
A.) The good minister is to exercise himself toward godliness in the same way an olympic athlete exercises his body.
Think of how much time, effort and energy is spent by the athlete training for the olympic games . His sport is his life in every way possible. He eats, drinks and sleeps his athletics. This is how the good minister spends his life. All of his time, energy and effort is to be spent on godly endeavors. He is to exercise himself in godliness.
B.) Paul is careful to say that bodily exercise is profitable, but that godliness is more profitable. The good minister ought to be physically healthy, but the focus of his life is becoming more like Christ.
Notice that godliness is profitable in the here and now and in eternity. God blesses the godly man in this life and rewards him in heaven one day.
1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
There is a constant spiritual tension that takes place in the believer as he seeks to be a good steward of his earthly body that God has provided for us to live in and pursuing godliness and spiritual maturity in Christ.
Martin Luther- “the believer dwells in the flesh but does not live in the flesh.
The good minister commits his life to do exactly what the scriptures tell him he should do in order to be as much like his savior as he can be.
5.) He is committed to working hard. (v.10)
5.) He is committed to working hard. (v.10)
Labor- To engage in hard and strenuous work. To be worn out, weary, fatigued and exhausted.
The good minister exerts every ounce of energy and effort he has in his body for Christ. Even to the point of suffering reproach for Christ.
This means he continues working even when he is ridiculed, mocked, cursed and persecuted.
He does this because he knows that he serves a living God in the Lord Jesus who is the savior of all men.
This means that Christ is the only hope for those who are lost in their sins. So the minster labors and works hard to love and feed those who know Christ but he also tirelessly spends his time preaching the Gospel to those who are without Christ.
We are engaged in an eternal work where the souls of men and women are at stake. There is no time to be idol. The good minster works tirelessly.
6.) He preaches and teaches with authority. (v.11)
6.) He preaches and teaches with authority. (v.11)
Command- to declare.
The good minister declares the word of God with all of the boldness and authority of God. He can do this because he’s not declaring his opinions or ideas he is declaring the very word of God.
He can’t allow for fear of men or danger of hardship to effect him,. He has been commissioned by the King of Kings and he stands in the Lord’s strength knowing that God will take care of him one way or the other.
Peter Cartwright, a nineteenth-century, circuit riding, Methodist preacher, was an uncompromising man. One Sunday morning when he was to preach, he was told that President Andrew Jackson was in the congregation, and was warned not to say anything out of line.
When Cartwright stood to preach, he said, “I understand that Andrew Jackson is here. I have been requested to be guarded in my remarks. Andrew Jackson will go to hell if he doesn’t repent.”
The congregation was shocked and wondered how the President would respond. After the service, President Jackson shook hands with Peter Cartwright and said, “Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could whip the world.”
The good minister is more concerned with pleasing the Lord and leading people to Christ that he is guarding his words so as not to offend anyone.
He is bold in confronting sin, unbelief and disobedience to God and he does this without wavering.
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
These are what marks a good pastor, not style and flare, but faithful dependence on God and the preaching of his word.