What a Pastor Does, What a Church Needs

ReCAST Church of Mattawan

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You're listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsack preaches from his series,

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Blueprints for a Healthy Church, following the plan from the book of 1 Timothy. Let's listen in.

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Well, thanks a lot to Spencer for bringing those announcements to us. As he said, I'm Don Filsack.

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I'm the lead pastor here. And welcome to all of you. And welcome back to Spencer and Megan, taking some time off for the birth of their second daughter,

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Lakin. So if you get a chance to see them, congratulate them on the birth of their new daughter. I'm really glad that you're back with us, and glad that you can be a part of our church family and the addition to your family.

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I want to set the table this morning before we sing some songs in worship to God together, and setting the table is looking at his word.

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I really think that we need God's word in order to worship him correctly. It's the way that he reveals himself.

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And I've mentioned before that the book of 1 Timothy is not often preached in a sermon series because it's often awkward for pastors.

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That's just a fact. This morning is one such passage. It's about the roles, the attitudes, and actions of a church leader or a pastor.

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Paul gives in this text what I would call almost the 10 commandments of pastoral ministry.

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And he gives them to Timothy, his understudy. And remember that Timothy is there leading the church in Ephesus.

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He's trying to lead that church and nurse that church back to health. And so Paul is writing to Timothy. That's what you need to understand when you're reading 1 and 2

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Timothy. He's writing to a guy. He's not writing to the church in Ephesus. He's writing to a guy. And he's writing to him about how to lead a church.

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So why in the world would we sit in this? Why would you want to hear how to lead a church?

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How many of you are like, I want to know how to lead a church because I'm going to lead a church someday? I guess it's not many of us, right?

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Like it's probably not likely. And so it may be tempting to look at these 10 commands as good information that ought to be reserved for a pastor's conference.

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But maybe it's of little value to preach this to the congregation. What benefit, what value are you going to get out of this?

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But let me tell you where the rubber meets the road today in very direct terms. My role here, Spencer's role here, the role of all of the elders here is only ever meant to be for your benefit.

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So why listen into a passage written about how to lead a church? In my calling, there is a description of what we all need.

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It's good for us to think about and to consider what is it that we need. It's good to know what to look for in a leader, but it's even better to consider why we need a leader like this.

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Our fundamental need is to know and understand God as He has disclosed Himself in Scripture.

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And God has chosen to bring that word to life through giving us fallen human leaders who are seeking to honor

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God in our current era. That's vital. In our current era, we need to hear the truth read.

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We need to hear the truth explained. We need to be encouraged to follow it. We need examples.

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We need to observe a life that is working towards immersion in the

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Word of God. Now, this morning, I am, I'm talking about my calling. This passage has me,

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I'm going to be honest, I'm going to be just very direct with you. It has me feeling a little bit exposed in studying it. It has me feeling a little bit chewed up by my own introspection this week as I consider this, as I think about the calling that God has placed on me.

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But this week, I've really kind of had what I would call a self -administered job interview. It's kind of a funny thing when you think about asking yourself questions, and am

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I qualified for this? Am I up to the task? Because this is a passage that really, when you read it, when we hear it in a second, it's kind of about what it means to be called into leadership and what it means to take the mantle of that leadership.

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And it's good that you know what I'm called to do so that you know what I'm trying to do among you. I have a goal.

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I have a purpose. I have a function here, and it might be misunderstood to a large degree. He's the guy who gets up and speaks, and that's it.

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God has called me to these 10 commandments of pastoral ministry. And I want you to consider your part.

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If I'm called to account for these 10 things, then equally, at least,

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God is implying that the church needs these 10 things from me. I am not, by the way, as I read them,

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I'm not equal to these 10 things that I'm about to read. But he who works in me and through me has carried this church forward to this point, and I trust him to continue to carry us forward into the future.

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And so, if you're not already there, I encourage you to open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4, verses 11 through 16.

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Again, 1 Timothy 4, 11 through 16. If you have a device, you can navigate over in that to find it as well.

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1 Timothy 4, 11 through 13, and recast. This is God's holy and precious word, what he desires to communicate to us this morning.

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Paul, writing to Timothy, says, 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.

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Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

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Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

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Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.

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Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

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Let's pray. Father, I thank you for meeting us here in this place.

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I recognize that we are coming from a variety of different circumstances and situations.

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There's a lot of good in life. There's a lot of struggle in life.

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And I recognize that this message is focused on what we need, which is your word.

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Your word that encourages, your word that strengthens, your word that builds up, your word that gives us hope in the midst of a chaotic and broken world and a broken life.

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And Father, I just feel moved in my spirit now to pray for that officer and his family.

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The one that was shot last night in Kalamazoo County. Father, I ask that you would be with them. I pray for a miracle.

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I pray that you would sustain his life against all odds. We don't know the outcome.

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We don't know the situation, but we know that it's dire. And Father, I pray for those that are here in this room that are in law enforcement and those who have loved ones that are in law enforcement.

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And what a fearful thing that is, day in and day out. Father, I pray that you would provide encouragement and strength where it's needed, peace where it's needed.

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And I pray for a focus on your word this morning, just even as we pray about these things. And the cycle of all of the things swirling around us in our minds and our hearts can be so heavy.

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And yet, Father, I pray with the full knowledge that you are God. And so I pray that you would meet us here in our moments, meet us here in the delights and the joys and the sadness and in the sorrow, and that your word would be enough for us.

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I believe that it is because it shows us our Savior. It is only through your word that we know the gospel, the good news by which we are saved and we know that this life is not all there is.

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So Father, I pray that you would meet us in this place. Allow our voices to mingle together and worship to you now in gladness because we are redeemed by your son.

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And it's in his name that I pray. Amen. Well, big thanks to David Schrock for filling in for Dave Bunt while he's gone.

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And so really grateful for them. Hopefully you were able to worship God well this morning and step before his throne.

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I encourage you to keep your Bible or your device open to 1 Timothy 4, 11 through 16 so that you can see and follow along in the sermon this morning and kind of see what

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I'm saying is coming from the word and not just something I invented and made up. So and then if at any time during the message you need to get up and get more coffee, juice or donut holes while supplies last, take advantage.

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I call those donuts every Sunday morning. They're not donuts. Those are donut holes. You guys know better. So if you need any of those, feel free to get up and take advantage of that.

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The Scottish pastor, Robert Murray McShane. Now he's not a very well -known pastor, but he had some really cool stuff that he said.

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And he actually died in his early 30s, so he didn't live a long ministry. But he declared this statement that is often quoted.

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Maybe you recognize it, maybe not. But it's, he said, my people, he's speaking as a pastor. My people's greatest need is my personal holiness.

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My people's greatest need is my personal holiness. Now it may be considered to be a bit exaggerated if you really think about it.

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What is anybody's greatest need? Jesus. Like, and Robert Murray McShane is not

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Jesus. But I believe that in context he was saying the greatest thing that he can provide his church or the greatest thing that he ought to be striving for for his church, that what his church needs from him is his personal holiness.

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And I would suggest to you that this passage in 1 Timothy does indeed lift high the standard on those who would be set forward to lead a church.

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McShane at least understood that as a pastor, he was also an example. As a pastor, he was also an example.

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Now once again, in case you missed the introduction, I want to be sure that you recognize that what are commands to me in this text, and you're sitting in and listening to God level things at me, these things are highlights for the things that you need spiritually from a church leader.

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Why does God call shepherds and elders and overseers in the church? Why did he set up structures like that?

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Why did he put things in place like pastors and elders in a church? This is a passage that defines God's purpose for organizing his church in this way.

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The structure of the message is 10 commands given from Paul to Timothy as he leads the church. It's beneficial for us to take some of them together, and so we'll look at the first two commands that we see in verse 11 to begin with.

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The first thing that a pastor is told to do and is required of them is to command and teach.

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You see it there in verse 11? Command and teach. That's exactly what

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Paul writes to Timothy, to command and teach these things, these things.

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Now Paul uses the phrase these things frequently in the book of 1 Timothy to highlight the content up to this point of his letter, and so he's basically saying everything that we've studied, everything that we looked at,

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Timothy, I'm leaving you there in Ephesus, you need to command and teach these things that we've been talking about over the last few chapters.

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Now this encompasses the previous revelation of how a church is to be structured regarding leadership, how we are to deal with false teachers, who is qualified to lead in the local assembly, what our message is all about,

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Jesus Christ, and how we are to continue to grow in godliness after we receive Jesus by faith.

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Command all of those things. And the word command, some of you, I mean, have you ever been around a domineering leader who's just authoritarian and a tyrant?

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So I wanted, I want desperately to soften this word. Like, I mean, pastors aren't to command, right?

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Like, I looked for all the loopholes and all the possibilities to study and understand this word in a different way, but it is an extremely strong word.

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It kind of goes over the top the other direction. It's a military or even judicial word.

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When the judge says, sit down in the courtroom, what do people do? Sit down or go to jail, right?

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Like, it's a pretty authoritative phrase. Sit down? Oh, yes, I will. Thank you very much. When a military commander tells the soldiers to advance, what are they expected to do?

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Advance or face court -martial, right? Like, it's just pretty straightforward, like direct things. So this is really starting awkward for me.

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Uh, I'm given command? Is the church in Ephesus supposed to jump when

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Timothy says jump? Is a pastor in the role of that type of command?

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Am I up here preaching for your submission? Is that what this is about? Let me speak to this right away and clarify this.

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Many pastors, I would suggest to you, recently over the last, and I say recently, over the last 10 years have shipwrecked their churches on the sandbar of command.

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They've been domineering. Tyrannical type of leaders. They've been found to be domineering and abusive to their flocks.

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Some of you have sat under pastors, leaders, teachers, elders that have responded that way.

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And I believe that if a leader is domineering his flock, if he is abusing the sheep, he does so in direct defiance of this text.

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Let's look at the two first commands to Timothy together. Command and teach these things.

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Not command and teach your preferences. Command and teach your desires. Not command and teach your political views.

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Not command and teach your hobby horse issues. Command and teach what, church?

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What is a pastor supposed to be teaching? These things. These things.

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The parameter of authority and command in the office of church leader, elder, pastor is merely a derived authority, derived authority from the word of God.

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I don't stand over you. Rather, these things stand over us.

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Amen? These things stand over us. And I have the privilege and the weight of commanding and teaching these things as the authoritative commands of our holy

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God. That's my role. To stand up here and to reveal and to expose what

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God has to say. That is where the authority rests. A pastor has authority as he explains accurately and truthfully the word of God.

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And I believe that many pastors go astray, and this isn't because I'm better. I can go astray just as easy as them.

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But I believe that many pastors do indeed shipwreck their churches on what I would say is authoritative application.

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Authoritative application of the word of God. We can take it a little too far and eventually we're out on a thin branch of our own opinions.

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Well, I think you should apply it this way in your life. I think you need to do this. I think this is your next step. I think you've got to do this and this and this.

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And you can get out into the weeds of... I mean, really think about the trunk of doctrine, the stable foundation of the tree that is completely rooted into the ground.

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But as you get away from that and further out into application, further out into your opinions, further out into your thoughts, you begin to get out and onto thin branches.

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Let me give you an illustration in case you're missing that. I can tell you authoritatively without question that God does not want you to lust.

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He doesn't want you to covet. He doesn't want you to want what somebody else has that you can't have. He doesn't want you to lust after somebody that is not your spouse.

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How many of you are okay with that command? You're like, yeah, I get it. Go ahead and raise your hand if you're okay with that command. You're like, Don, you can tell me that because the word of God is clear about that, right?

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Is the word of God clear? Don't lust. Okay, so I can say that. But then here's what

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I mean about getting further away from the trunk, getting out on a limb. I could then say nobody in my church is going to watch a

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PG -13 movie. And do you see how all of a sudden I went from thou shalt not lust to you're going to do it my way.

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Do you get it? And do you see how a leader can begin to domineer a flock, can begin to abuse a flock by declaring how you are to apply the principles that are taught clearly as commands in Scripture.

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Do you see how that can happen? Some of us have sat under that. Commanding application is different than pointing to the authority of the word and saying, whatever you watch with your eyes, you must be mindful of God's clear command to avoid lust.

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Now work that out. If you've got some questions, I can help you with it. I can help you, help guide you, but I'm not going to stand up here and authoritatively say, thus saith the

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Lord, you can't watch the passion of the Christ because it's rated R or whatever. I'm not going to make blanket statements like that.

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Does that make sense? Now that's the command part. Teaching, of course, is pretty self -explanatory.

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I have more time to study than you. That's part of the function of a pastor. More time in the study, more time to dig into the word, to dig deeply, to bring it to us on Sunday morning.

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And there's going to be a lot more of that in this text. But a pastor, a commaster, what?

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A pastor that's commanding, that's, that was weird. That was really weird. A pastor commands and teaches the word because the church needs to be exhorted to understand and to obey the word.

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We all need that. And so that's the first two commands, command and teach. The third and fourth go together really well.

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Let none despise you and set an example. Let none despise you in this particular context over Timothy, rather, from Paul to Timothy, was that he was young, young relative to others' age.

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The first command is taken in light of the second here, or the third in light of the fourth, rather.

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The let none despise you because you are to set an example or rather set an example. Paul tells Timothy, who's likely between 25 and 35 years of age, to not let anyone despise him for being young.

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There's all kinds of reasons why somebody might despise somebody in leadership. They might desire that position.

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They might think that he is a bit of a rogue. They might think all different kinds of things of him.

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And so there's all different kinds of reasons. In this context, it's particularly youth. But it's a funny command when you think about it.

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If I command you, don't let anybody despise you, what do you go do this week? In order to apply that. I think it's weird.

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How do you keep someone from despising you? By shouting them down and telling them that young people can do really, really, really, really, really, really good things too?

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I mean, is that how you're going to get people to stop despising you? So, I'm good. I'm really good.

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Don't despise me. I'm good. Like, I mean, isn't that, is it weird to try to apply a command, don't let anybody despise you?

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Anybody with me on that? You guys tracking? I'm getting a lot of blank stares this morning. So, I'm just kind of, people are like, okay, it's a strange command.

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Or do you do this, do you stop the despising by showing them spiritual maturity?

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You see, these two commands form one. Don't let anybody despise you. Rather, set an example of spiritual maturity.

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Don't let people focus on your age or the externals or any, a whole host of different things that people might focus on in leadership, but live in such a way that your age fades in light of your integrity, says

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Paul. And this highlights that a pastor is not first and foremost an administrator. God didn't invent the role so that the church could have a president or a

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CEO. The office was created by God for an example.

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You see, my life is intentionally and necessarily public.

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It has to be so. It will not do for me to hide out and be aloof or uninvolved, to spend my

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Sunday morning in my study, to walk out here, to proclaim the word with authority and then go back to and retreat to my study and not be involved and engaged with the flock.

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It is an intentionally public life. It will not do for me to hide out.

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A shepherd is among his flock. Must be. Showing them, leading them, guiding them, playing spike ball with them, trying to win with grace.

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I mean, lose with grace or whatever it might be. Right, guys? Right? The pastor is an example in speech.

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Here's some good questions to ask surrounding leadership. And this is to your benefit. I know that you're here right now, but you might not always be here.

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So ask yourself, and certainly I'm opening myself up in this message to your, boy,

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I don't want to get 70 emails asking, but you know, whatever. I mean, if you have questions, ask them.

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We'll deal with them. But here are the questions posed in here. The pastor is an example in speech.

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So ask yourself, how do your leaders talk? The pastor is an example in conduct.

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How do they live their life? The pastor is an example in love.

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Do they place others above themselves? They're an example in faith. Do they take

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God at his word and live according to trust in him? They're an example in purity.

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Are they above board with the opposite sex? And this makes a great list to write down.

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If God moves you from here, you find yourself in need of finding another church, ask these questions as you get to know the new leader.

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How does the leader talk? How do they live their life? Do they place others above themselves? Do they take

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God at his word and live accordingly? And are they above board sexually?

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A pastor is to live in a way that externals like age are not an issue because they are exemplary in their life, in their lifestyle, in the things that they do.

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And so God is saying that the church needs a contemporary present example.

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Contemporary present example. Somebody who's living in your community. Somebody who's living it out where you live.

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Somebody who's reading the headlines you're reading. Somebody who's facing the economic crises you're facing. Somebody who is there in the trenches, living life with you, seeking to honor

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God above all. The fifth command here in the text is devote yourself.

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Verse 13. There's a temptation to think that this is a temporary command, primarily because of the structure of the way that it looks.

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Verse 13 begins with the phrase, until I come. As if Paul is telling Timothy, do this, devote yourself to these things until I arrive, implying that the command ends with his arrival in Ephesus.

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So as soon as Paul gets there, they don't have to devote themselves to these things anymore. But it's just quite likely that Paul is intending to take over those pastoral duties when he arrives.

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Not that they're going to stop reading the word, stop exhorting the word, stop teaching the word, because Paul arrives. No, quite the contrary.

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It's just Paul's going to be the primary teacher when he shows up. And so until he arrives, do these things.

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And I want to point out that all churches down through the ages have needed pastors and elders and shepherds who are devoted to the reading of the scriptures, are devoted to exhortation, encouraging you to obey and do the things that are revealed in scripture.

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And then obviously to the teaching, which is to the proclamation of the word and explaining it.

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These have all been features of the gathered church since Paul was writing to Timothy way back when. Still features today.

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Why do I get up and preach a sermon? Why in the world do we have this as a feature, as a part of a church gathering?

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Because it's always been so. And it's always been pointing to, in this text, one of our fundamental needs.

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To know the word, to be encouraged to live out the word, to hear the word. For centuries on the

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Lord's day, which is Sunday, churches have gathered to hear the scriptures read, have gathered to hear the scriptures explained, and have gathered to be exhorted, exhorted to obey them in application.

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Now, we have, I have, I've had a front row seat to watch, watching the word of God build this church.

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From 14 people meeting in a basement to where we're at today. And you have to ask yourself, do you trust it?

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Do you believe that the word of God is strong enough? Do you believe that it's capable? What builds a strong church?

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I would suggest to you that it is connection to the word of God. My goal has been that as the church hears, as the church hears read out loud, every book that I preach, it's been a goal of mine.

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It might be paragraph by paragraph and week by week, but we'll get through it. We're digging into the word and we're reading it out loud together.

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If you've been here from the beginning, you've heard the reading and the exhortation and the teaching of the book of Genesis, Joshua, Esther, Jonah, Malachi, most of Matthew, Acts, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st

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Thessalonians, 1st Peter, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, Jude, and Revelation. You've heard those read.

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Some of you might say, I haven't read through the entire Bible yet, but you're getting close. You're getting some of the, just by coming to church, my goal is that you're getting the word of God in your mind and in your heart.

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We're a church that has intentionally set a value on the public reading, public teaching, and the exhortation to obey

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God's written, revealed word. I don't get up here and read and teach and exhort because I like to hear my own voice, pretty contrary to that, but I do this because it is the very command of God to me as a pastor and therefore a central calling on my life.

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I'm commanded to be all about the word because the church, church, we need to be all about the word.

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The sixth command given to Timothy by Paul, they're leaving him in charge, leaving him there to provide structure to the church in charge, is don't neglect your gift, verse 14.

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In context, that gift is the teaching, is the exhortation. That's what the structure looks like in the text, but let me state first that this implies that Timothy and maybe other church leaders may be tempted from time to time to neglect their gift of leadership and teaching.

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I believe that verse 14 highlights a propensity among leadership to feel easily discouraged and tempted to withdraw.

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And so Paul reminds Timothy specifically that his gifting was conferred and confirmed by two things that grab our attention in the text.

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He says there was a prophetic utterance was given to you, Timothy. Don't forget about that. When was it given?

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It was given at the time when the council of the elders laid their hands on Timothy, presumably, not very clear in the text, but presumably to pray over him and send him out.

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Now, does that grab your attention when you hear about that? Like, okay, there was a laying on of hands and there was some kind of prophetic utterance.

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Is that kind of a little bit strange, a little bit unique to a lot of you? I think it is. This laying on of hands maybe gets our attention a little bit.

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It seems unique and strange to us, and I think it maybe should feel a little bit strange.

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We can get the wrong -minded notion that there's a huge divide between pastors and missionaries and everyone else.

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Pastors get the laying on of hands. Missionaries get radical callings. All the rest of you get what?

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A phone call from Eliza saying, can you help in the nursery? Like, what does everybody else... No, no, no. What does everybody else get?

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You know, pastors get the big stuff. Missionaries get the highfalutin callings.

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But what about the people that are making the coffee in the back or the people that are greeting at the door? Do they get callings too? Do they get blessed?

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All the rest of you get what? But I believe there's nothing in the

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New Testament that makes this type of laying on of hands normative as many churches have practiced.

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Don't lose sight in this message that we are all called to serve. And yet, for some occasions, it seems like the church would intentionally send out individuals in a special way, would commission certain people or license certain people or ordain certain people for various ministry.

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And I believe this ought to be an as the Spirit leads kind of thing, not as we often do in the church, make a program out of it.

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You know what I'm talking about? Make it a standardized thing that we just do this when you got a new elder, you bring them up and you pray over them or you lay hands on them or something like that.

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This is an as the Spirit leads thing. It is not a major, it's not really mentioned throughout scripture, hardly at all, just in a couple of rare spots here or there.

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Paul appeals to this, of course, for encouragement to Timothy so that I think if the Spirit leads a church to lay hands on somebody and send them out, it's probably likely that they need it.

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It's likely that that encouragement is going to come down the pipeline for them someday and they're going to need to be reminded, hey, don't forget

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Timothy. Don't forget that the elders put their hands on you, prayed over you and encouraged you publicly and that was your calling into ministry.

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That was the place where your gifts were confirmed. Pastor needs to hone and practice his gifting, which means that the church needs a pastor that is growing, encouraged and ready to stay in the game.

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Timothy needs to be reminded. Keep your head in the game, get back into it. The seventh and eighth command that we see in the text is practice these things and immerse yourself in them.

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I think that those two go really well hand in hand. Practice these things and immerse yourself in them.

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Still keeping a flow that goes from reading, exhortation and teaching, Paul tells Timothy to practice these things and immerse himself in them.

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Now, the pastor is to be a constant student. A student of the scripture and from this perspective,

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I don't think you can really have a pastor that's not academically minded. They will be engaged with the word.

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They will be engaged with words. They will have parts of every single week where they're immersed in books, immersed in the word, but they will also be constantly asking, how do

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I put these things into practice in my life? My prayer at the start of every week is

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God, please press your word so hard into my heart that a passionate sermon pops out.

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I want these sermons to come through the press of my own soul first. A sermon is meant to be the light of the word shining through a filter of our contemporary culture and the life of a real person, somebody you can sit down and talk to.

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And once again, the exemplary role is highlighted. Practice and immerse yourself so that all may see your progress,

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Timothy. I must have times of intense study. I must have times of immersion in the text, but it is only for the purpose of living out these truths, teaching them, proclaiming them, exhorting them in front of your eyes.

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A pastor is not to remain a static painting of what God has done in the past. He is to be a progressively growing and maturing example of God working in the life of a sinful contemporary.

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A pastor shepherd must love to be alone in study and must also enjoy living among the flock, practicing these things he is immersing himself in.

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A pastor is called to practice and immerse himself in the word because the church needs to see what a life immersed in practicing the word looks like.

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It's intimidating. Maybe you're understanding a little bit, like if you were to put yourself in my shoes up here, like I'm basically calling you, the text is calling you, to watch my life.

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How many of you want that? Like you're just like, man, I just kind of like that. Like I love it. I just ask everybody to watch me, make sure that I'm, you know, crossing all my t's, dotting all my i's and all of that.

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And I would ask you, honestly, sincerely, I think I love how Paul does it at the end of almost all of his letters, unashamedly say, please pray for me.

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Please pray for me. If this is your church and you're here regularly and routinely, then

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I need your prayers. Satan would love to bring the leadership of the church, pray for your elders, pray for Spencer, pray for Ben as he starts his new role here.

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But Satan would love to bring this church down, starting with the leadership. And so we need to see what a life immersed in and practicing the word looks like.

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Satan despises that. The last two commands, 9 and 10, keep a close watch and persist.

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Verse 16, keep a close watch and persist. A pastor is supposed to be attentively,

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I made this phrase up, but attentively self -regulating. Attentively self -regulating.

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It's important, obviously, for pastors to remain open to outside accountability, but equally he must willingly submit himself to the text of Scripture.

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Hear me carefully, church. This is not a smear on any, there's nobody else in my mind on this, but a pastor who is not chained and shackled to the text is a dangerous rogue ready to slide away into falsehood at any moment.

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A pastor who does not see this as constricting. This is my boundary. This is the place where my authority rests and no further.

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This is the place that I'm shackled to this. I'm tied to this. I don't want to be creative.

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I mean, I want to be creative. Trust me, that means blow the doors off this church and build this new sanctuary out front and get a bunch of people in here by speaking whatever

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I could speak to just really tickle ears and get Matawan on fire for me or for whatever it might be.

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Can you imagine how there could be temptations in that? Tied to the Word. Wherever the

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Word leads us, if the Word decides to make, if God through His Word decides to make more people not come next week because I preached the truth, then so be it.

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Get it? But it's shackled and tied to the

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Word of God. And even as much as I have been raised,

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I mean, for some reason, God just raised me up from my youth with a trust in His Word. He just did that for me.

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That's not something that I can manufacture. I don't know how I'd love to, I didn't even manufacture that to a large degree in my own children, but for some reason,

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He raised me. I remember when I was, I remember I was a sophomore in high school reading the book of Matthew on my own and highlighting and taking notes.

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I loved His Word and it's just strange. No, I did some bad things when I was in high school too. I remember getting in a fight in 10th grade too.

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But yeah, I mean, there were things that God was working in me and yet with that kind of from my youth up of trusting

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His Word, my bias gets up here in the pulpit with me from time to time. I've got to push that down.

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So I need to keep a close watch on my life and on my teaching. I'm constantly striking a balance to make sure that there's a focus on the

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Word, not too much of me in the message. And I like the way that Karl Barth described preaching with this statement.

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You're looking for a leader. You're looking for a preacher or a pastor with one hand on the Bible and the other on the newspaper.

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It's an ancient and eternal Word and it speaks into our contemporary context with command and authority.

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And again, Paul encouraged Timothy to persist in his calling. He has to persist in a deep introspection to watch his own heart and to guard his own teaching.

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Because by doing so, he will save both himself and his hearers. Now, this could be a shocking statement if misunderstood.

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Nobody eternally saves themselves. And you see that at the very end of the text here, 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.

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Anybody suddenly like, does the phrase save yourself sound a little antithetical to some of the things you guys have heard in Scripture before?

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Sounds a little opposite. So how in the world can Timothy save himself and the church in Ephesus? The problem with this statement can be resolved by understanding the flexibility of one particular

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Greek word. We can speak of saving leftovers in English, or we can talk about Jesus saving us from the eternal fires of hell.

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The scope is a bit different on those two things that are saved, right? Anybody with me? There's a pretty big, pretty big difference between saving leftovers and being saved from the fires of hell.

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Anybody? Okay. The scope is different, but we use the same word saved for something that's very serious and for something that's like, how many ever just forget that thing?

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There's the cardboard box. We're going out to the car now. Anybody ever just leave your leftovers behind?

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You saved them, but then you didn't save them. But anyways, I'm sorry. You guys are tough this morning.

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Okay. Paul sent Timothy here to Ephesus to help rescue a church from false teachers.

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To rescue them. And I think it's fair to interpret the word save in that context to mean rescue.

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By persisting in these 10 commands, Timothy is going to save himself from much grief and heartache, not save his eternal soul, save himself from a bunch of pain and hurt.

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And by persisting in these things, he will also rescue the church that has been ravaged by wolves in sheep's clothing.

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Not saved for eternal life. Timothy is not saving the church. Timothy is not saving his own soul.

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But Timothy, by following these things and these instructions from Paul, will indeed rescue a church from failure and faltering.

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A pastor needs routine self -assessment of his lifestyle and his teaching. He needs to be introspective.

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So that means the church needs a pastor who is humble enough to truly consider critique and is also quick to acknowledge his own bias.

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Now, one thing stands out to me in this list of commands, and I hope it does to you too, that really brings it home for application, and it's how closely the role of the church leader is attached to the study of the word of God.

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A pastor without the word is like a penguin in the desert. He's lost, he's in trouble, doesn't know which way to go.

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But if a pastor is commanded to command and teach the Scriptures, if he's to be an example of obedience to the

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Scripture, if he's to be devoted to the reading of the Scripture, exhorting obedience to the

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Scriptures, not neglect the gift of teaching the Scriptures, practice the

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Scriptures, immerse himself in the Scriptures, constantly be assessing his obedience to and grasp and handle on the

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Scriptures, what is God saying that we need, church? The word.

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We need fundamentally correction from his word. We need to be set straight from the lies and deceit and falsehoods that are bombarding us ruthlessly, relentlessly.

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More so now than any generation, we have access to more lies than ever, right?

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All over the place. So why the church? Why has he left the church?

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Because there's the world. Why has he left the church the pastor? Because there's the blogger.

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Why has he left us the word? Because there are lies.

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Because there are lies. Recast, we are and always have been and will continue to be a word people.

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We're a people who believe it, we trust it, we live it, we breathe it, we proclaim it, we find in it our only hope, and his name is

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Jesus. It corrects the lies that say, you're good enough.

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It corrects the lies that say, you're too bad to be saved. It corrects the lies that say, we are not our brother's keeper, just let them go do their own thing.

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It corrects the lies that say, we are made for ourselves and can do whatever we want.

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It corrects the lies that we will be just fine without God. Lies, lies, lies, and the word is the answer.

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And it is this very word that reveals to us the glorious plan of redemption. It is in this word that we find the hope that we celebrate each week in taking community together, and so if you believe that Jesus died for you to cover your rebellious acts against God, and you've asked him to save you and be your king, then come to the table to take the cracker to remember his body broken for us during this next song, and take the cup of juice to remember his blood that was shed for us.

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And then church, I want to encourage you to go out from here celebrating his word. Read it, study it, immerse yourself in it.

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Let it be lived out in your speech, in your conduct, in your love, in your faith, and in your purity. These ten commandments are for me, but they're for me because they're what we need, all of us, so that we might be rescued from all the hardships that come from living out lies.

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And so my hope and prayer is that God would set us free, recast. Now I've been, even during this message,

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I've been trying to decide back and forth whether I was going to do something, and I feel like the spirit is leading me to do it. So I'm going to ask the elders to come forward,

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I'm going to ask Ben Wainwright to come forward, and we are going to pray over him. We're going to do that act that we see mentioned in this text.

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Wasn't even sure until this very second whether I was going to do that or not, but I'm going to do that. So Ben, if you would just be willing to come right up here and stand here in the middle.

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I'm going to ask a couple of the elders if you'd just be willing to just pray over Ben as he starts his role here, working full time with our youth.

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So a couple of you willing to pray? Pray nice and loud. Okay. Father God, thank you for Ben.

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Thanks for bringing him. Thanks for bringing his energy and his family and his love and his life.

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May that be a blessing on the young folks here, hungry and thirsty for your word and your life because you came to give us life.

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And I know Ben has tapped into that life and may he bring the ministry here at Recast.

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God, we're grateful for the way you raise up people to serve. And Lord, you equip us.

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Lord, and you prepare us for the callings that you've placed on us, God. And we just thank you for Ben and his willingness to follow in this role, in this calling.

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God, we ask that you would continue to equip him, God. Just fill him with your spirit and just enable him to do your work,

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God. We're so grateful for your word. We can all cling to that, God. We need your word in our lives.

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And I just pray for Ben that he would be a man of your word as well as he seeks to lead our kids in the high school and middle school age group.

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Father, I thank you for this service, this opportunity that we've had together in your name. As we go to communion right now, I pray that you would just continue to unite us together in you.

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Thank you for calling Ben to this place. And I look forward to the ministry you're going to do in him and through him. And I pray for our leadership,

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Father. I pray that you would help us as we continue to try to remain rooted firmly to your word, that your word would have its fruit in our community, here within the church as well as outside of the walls of this church, too.

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That your word would saturate this community in such a way that the gospel goes forward with power and with authority from the youngest to the oldest in our community.