Ecclesiology 4: Pastor Responsibilities

I want to ask you to take out your Bibles and turn with me tonight, not where the handout says. The handout is a little askew and I'll explain why in a moment. Turn to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1.

You'll notice under the section headings, this is ecclesiology, which is the doctrine of the church. And you'll notice under the section headings, our first lesson was what is the church. And our second lesson is church structure.

And then tonight is church leadership. And what happened was when I did church structure, I actually went a little into the leadership portion and I kind of covered some of the things that are part of this lesson, which is great because it's going to mean I'm going to have a little extra time tonight because I've already covered some things.

But it also means that part of your handout is a little bit, I don't want to say irrelevant, but your handout really has to do with something we talked about two weeks ago, the distinction between elders and deacons.

If you were here and you've been here this whole time, you'll remember a couple weeks ago what I said was the big distinction between elders and deacons is within their qualifications, the elders have to be able to teach God's Word and the deacons don't.

If you look at your handout, I've given you the qualifications, I've given you the language, the original language, I've shown you the terms that are used, and you'll notice that even though the same terms are not always used, like sober-minded is not used in the same way for elders and deacons, but under deacons it says dignified, and there's a certain sense in which there's a certain equality in words there.

So I would encourage you to take that, look at it, and apply it to what we learned a few weeks ago. That's what this handout for tonight is. But tonight what we're going to do is we're going to look particularly at the subject of church leadership and in that respect, the role of the elders.

And we're going to look at the book of Titus and we're going to also be looking at some other passages and other books, but we're going to start in Titus. And many of you know this, but I want to share something that you may or may not remember, maybe it's been a while since you've studied this, but your New Testament is broken up into different genres of literature.

You have what's known as the Gospels, that's the first four books of the New Testament, and then Acts, and all of that would fall under history slash biography. The Gospels are a biography of Christ, the Acts is sort of a biographical sketch of the early church, but it's all historical narrative.

And then you have the epistolary books, the books that are epistles or letters. They're not really books, they're actually letters, and they go all the way through until the very last book, and that is the book of the Apocalypse or the Revelation.

Within the epistles or the epistolary literature, you have two different types.

You have what are known as the, well, I won't use that one.

Here, let's not put it back in there, it's just a bit more, we'll throw it away. We have what are known as the Pauline epistles, and then we have what are known as the general epistles, sometimes those are referred to as the Catholic epistles, but that doesn't mean Catholic as in Catholic Church.

Catholic means universal. See, Paul's epistles were always to either a church or an individual, right? So Paul's epistles had a specific audience to the Church of Ephesus, to the Church of Colossae, to the Church of Thessalonica, right?

Or to Timothy, or to Titus, right? But the general epistles generally, they don't have that. They're to the broader church. They're to a broader audience, or to a specific subset, those who are in the dysphoria.

James talks about those who are in the dispersion. It's Christians, but it's general, and so we have Pauline epistles and general epistles. Under the Pauline epistles, we have a certain subset group. The first is what are typically known as the prison epistles.

The prison epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. That's four books within the larger, broader scope of Pauline literature, which refers to those that he wrote while he was in prison, and so we call those the prison epistles.

But then there's another subset of books within the Pauline literature, and they are called the pastorals. The pastorals. The pastoral epistles are 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Now, why are they called the pastoral epistles?

That was a legitimate question.

That's not rhetorical. Anybody know? The reason why they're called pastoral epistles is because they deal specifically with the role and function of the pastors within the church, particularly Timothy, who was a pastor, and Titus, who was a pastor.

So 1 and 2 Timothy are written to a young pastor at a church who is functioning and having some difficulty. Paul is writing to encourage him, give him instruction, telling people don't let them look down on your youth.

Remember that passage?

That's one of the things that Timothy had to deal with because he was a younger elder, which I know is an oxymoron to be a young elder, but he was functioning in the role of elder as a young man. And I remember being 25 years old when I became the pastor of this church, so I remember in that sense being a young elder.

So I've always kind of appreciated Paul writing, let them not despise thy youth. I appreciate that phrase. Now as I get older, it's become less relevant. At this point, they despise me for other reasons.

Nobody's like that.

I was kind of trying to be a joke.

But now I'm despised for other reasons, not just because I'm young. And Titus, of course, is an elder as well, and so what we're going to do tonight is we're going to look at what these books say to the elders as far as the function of the elders.

We've already looked at the qualifications. We've examined how the qualifications of deacons and elders are similar. And we have said this, and please don't forget this. When we talk about the structure of the church, the structure is Christ is the head, not the elders, not the deacons.

A lot of Baptist churches, the deacons are the head. I don't know if you've ever had any friends in Baptist churches. I'll tell you, the deacon board runs the church. And so you've got certain churches, they see that elders are the head or the deacons are the head or whatever.

Ultimately, Christ is the head. He governs the body through his word. And the role of the elders, as we will see tonight, is that the role of the elders is to be the primary teachers of the word and the overseers of the flock.

So let's read Titus chapter 1. And what we're going to see here is we're going to see two Greek words. Well, we're going to see them in English, but I'm going to explain to you the two Greek words that are in this text.

It says in Titus chapter 1, verse 5,. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife and his children are, I think the word there should be faithful.

I think the term believers is not the best way to translate that,.

Even though that's what the ESV says.

The elder can't force his children to believe, but he can, by discipline, have faithful children in the sense of keeping them from straying while they are young. So that's a conversation for another time.

I just wanted to point that out.

Let's say the children are believers. I don't think that's the best way to translate that word. And not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. And then finally, verse 7, For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach.

Now, we'll stop there. I know that's the middle of verse 7, but really that's what I wanted to get at. There are two Greek words, and I mentioned these in previous weeks. There are two Greek words that are important for us to know.

The first word is presbuteros, and the second word is episkopos. And you know those words because you know there are two denominations in Christianity, the Presbyterian Church and the Episcopalian Church.

Both of those names come from the Greek words that are used here in Titus. Presbuteroi, or presbuteros, referring to elder. That's how we would translate an elder. Episkopos translates to overseer. Episkopos means to oversee something.

And the reason why I point to Titus 1 is because what we see in Titus 1 is we see that they're one in the same office. A presbyter is an overseer. An overseer is a presbyter. As Paul says in verse 5, appoint elders, presbyteros, and then in verse 7 he says, for an overseer, episkopos, must be above a presbyter.

We know within the context he's talking about the same office. He doesn't change from verse 5 to verse 7.

To talk about a different office.

He's staying within the context of the office of elder. He just uses two different phrases. You say, well, why use two different words? And I think it's for this reason. Presbyteros speaks of what an elder is.

He is an elder. Episkopos speaks of what an elder does. He oversees. So one is in regard to what he is.

He's an elder.

Two is in regard to what he does. He oversees. And so therefore he can be called either an elder or an overseer. He can be called presbyteros or episkopos. And both of these words are important for us because they paint the picture of what we should be looking at when we consider the leadership of the church.

The leadership of the church, the leading office in the sense of the governing office or the managing office of the church is the office of elder. And something to note from this passage and many other passages, but since we're in this passage,.

I want to point it out.

Notice that the elders are plural. Verse 5, This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town. It wasn't as if Paul was going from town to town and creating single pastor churches.

Whereas, okay, Andy, you get to be the pastor of Callahan. Well, no, that would be Jack. Jack would be the pastor of Callahan.

You're going to be the pastor of Uly.

And, you know, as we go around the room, everybody gets to be the pastor of their town.

Right?

That's not how it worked. The eldership was a plurality. Now, we have come to the place in history where most people are not used to having a plurality of pastors in the church. Because remember, elder and overseer, that's all the same office, and it's pastor, it's the same thing.

It's all the same. So when you see most churches, and even ours, to an extent,.

People call me pastor,.

People call the other elders elder. And I understand in one sense because I am the only vocational elder.

I'm the only one who's paid.

And so I have a certain responsibility as far as my time, dedication, how much time I'm here and how much is devoted that is not required for those who have other jobs. Brother Mike, Brother Andy both have jobs.

And so there is an understanding there. But when I am in a group, I don't say I'm the pastor and they're the elders. We are the elders. And it's very important to me. And typically, in that sense, we're elders.

I'm just not used to being called Elder Keith. People tend to call me pastor. But if somebody called Pastor Andy or Pastor Jack or Pastor Mike, it wouldn't be wrong. It wouldn't be the tradition of how we do it, but it wouldn't be wrong.

Because the office, there is an equality within the office. Now there is a variety of gifts. I would say my gifts differ from Jack's.

Jack has gifts I don't have.

I have gifts Jack doesn't have. Even Andy and I, though we both love to preach, are gifted differently in how we do things. And so we come into this plurality with a diversity. And that's part of what makes it good.

Because when you only have the single model of the single leader, you don't have anyone who is in the position of calling them into question, in the position of having that expectation.

And this is why I say,.

And I don't mean this to be ugly, but a lot of pastors become miniature popes. It's sort of like the Baptist pope is the pastor of the church, and nobody ever questions him because he's the guy in charge.

And even if he has an associate pastor, that guy is always considered to be second tier, right? He's not the pastor. And so the eldership is a plurality with a diversity. And that's an important first thing to recognize.

And within that plurality of eldership, there are four expectations that every church member should have for their elders. Four things that every church member should say, I expect my elders to do these four things.

So that's what we're going to look at.

And I should have made you a new handout, but if you have a pen,.

You can write these down if you'd like.

Alright, I'm going to turn this over. Go to my clean side. Four things that the elders are expected, and every congregation member should expect. Number one, protecting the flock. If you think about the symbol of the elder or pastor, it's what?

Shepherd. We're not the shepherd because Christ is the shepherd, but Christ as the shepherd makes us his under-shepherds, and so we have a certain shepherding role, and within the shepherding role, we have the responsibility to protect the flock.

You're already there in Titus, in chapter 1.

Go down with me, if you will,.

To verse 9. Speaking of the elder pastor,.

It says this,.

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught,.

So that he may be able.

To give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. An elder cannot be ignorant of the word of God because he has a responsibility to protect the people of God from false teaching.

And the first person most apt for false teaching is himself. So, you all know me. Many of you have listened to me preach for years. What do I always pray before I preach? Keep me from error.

Why?

Because I'm the most dangerous person in this church in one regard.

I mean, think about it.

If I got on the hobby horse.

And went down an erroneous path, I could affect everyone. Again, that's the role of the other elders.

To keep me from doing that.

But it's a dangerous role.

Think about it honestly. You guys remember Jim Jones?

Jim Jones led thousands of people to their death. Did you know he was a Disciples of Christ pastor?

Did you know that? I recently found that out.

For those who have history. Interesting history there. I didn't realize that's where he'd come out of.

Now, disciples is a big denomination.

So, a lot of crazies everywhere. But it's interesting that he was not only able to convince people to follow him, but to follow him to their demise. What an amazing and terrible power that he was able to exercise over people.

So, the first thing an elder has to do, he has to know the truth so that he can hold that truth, that trustworthy word, and be able to give instruction, but also so that he can correct others. Notice it goes on to say, so that he's able to rebuke those who contradict the truth.

Sometimes it is the role of the elder to correct false teaching.

I mean, imagine.

I'll give you an example.

One Sunday morning, there was a couple that came into our church. I think Andy was teaching because I was in the sanctuary. And this couple came into our church and they were...

I can't...

They looked a little disheveled,.

Like maybe they were staying in their car. I could tell they were in a rough spot. And so, when they came in, I welcomed them. I brought them in the sanctuary.

How can we help you?

I'm glad you're here.

Would you like to worship with us?

Do you want to go to Sunday school?

I was trying to meet them and get to know them.

And immediately,.

The man started talking to me about the Bible, asking questions about what we believe.

And what we taught.

So I was answering his questions. And finally, he said, my wife has a prophetic word to give to your church. God has spoken to her and she is going to stand in front of your congregation this morning and speak to your people.

And I said, no, she's not.

What do you mean? She's speaking for God.

I said, no, she's not.

I said, I don't know you.

I said, and I don't know what nonsense she wants to get up and say, but she ain't going to say it here.

And you might think I was being...

There's no use in entertaining such nonsense.

Spurgeon one time had a similar situation. And that person said the Lord spoke to him and the Lord told him to speak. And Spurgeon said, well, I'm glad the Lord spoke to you, but until He speaks to me, you ain't speaking.

That's right.

That's it.

And that's the role, right?

That's the job.

Again, I wasn't ugly. Had a very similar situation with a man. He was actually a member here for a very short time. He was a single man. He joined the church and then he left kind of out of nowhere. He just kind of came and went quickly.

But this was very early in my ministry.

And he came to my office.

And he said, I want to preach.

Okay.

What do you want to preach about? I can't tell you. It's for the congregation. I said, you got to tell me what you want to say.

No, God gave it to me for the people.

It's not for you.

I said, it's not for them.

No.

It's not how it works.

And so if you think I'm being harsh or ugly,.

You can send me an email.

But honestly, just know this. That's not the way it works around here. The Word of God is too precious to turn someone loose.

Without any knowledge.

Of what they're going to say. And expect it to just be accepted and be okay.

And when I told that lady.

Who had a word from God, I said, if what you're going to say agrees with the Bible,.

I don't need it.

And if what you're saying doesn't agree with the Bible, I don't want it.

So either way,.

Just go on down the road. We have the Word of God.

It's right here.

So the first job of the pastor, the elders, is to protect the flock from false teaching.

But also, there's other protections.

That are out there, but I would say primarily false teaching. And how do you protect from false teaching? You teach what's right. That's what he said to Titus. Know the truth. Teach the truth.

And therefore,.

The best way to identify error is to know the truth.

It's like the old thing about.

Counterfeit money.

How do they train a counterfeit expert? They train him to look at the real thing.

To where he knows.

What the real thing looks like.

And if you know.

What the real thing looks like, you don't have to see what every different kind.

Of false money looks like.

If you know what the real looks like, then you'll be able to tell what's fake. So we train in what's true.

First.

And then you can identify.

The false.

So protecting the flock.

Is number one.

There's also another passage.

I would encourage you to read. We don't have time tonight,.

But Acts 20, verses 28 to 31 is an important passage for elders and it talks about the elders caring for the flock of God. So I would encourage you to read that later.

When you have time.

Acts 20, 28 to 31. Now the second thing,.

The first role is.

Protection of the flock.

The second role is.

Feeding the flock.

The longer I preach, the more I become cognizant of my job. The more I grow into it.

And learn about it.

And figure out what my job is. And I've become sort of,.

I've kind of,.

Don't laugh, I've kind of become.

Almost like I see my job as like a chef. Because every week my job is to feed the flock. And so I don't want.

To microwave something.

I don't want to pull out leftovers. But I want to prepare a meal every week that's nourishing, that is challenging, that makes you work your teeth.

A little bit, you know.

I don't want to just feed you pabulum and baby food.

I want to feed you some meat.

To have you chew on it. That's the feeding.

And I think some pastors.

See themselves as sort of like birds.

Where they've got to chew the food up.

And then, you know, get it so soft.

So that people don't have to.

Do anything to get it down, you know.

That's not the way,.

You know,.

I try to lift the bar.

A little high.

So that we have to think and have to challenge ourselves. Because you're all more intelligent.

Than you think you are.

A lot of people really put themselves down.

I can't understand that.

Yes, most of you can. And the challenge is to just get you to to just think.

About things you've never thought about before.

That's what I want to do.

I want to present you.

And I want to do that well.

This is why,.

This is one of the things, this is why I don't like it when somebody says, I'll just catch it on YouTube later.

I'm going to miss church.

And I'll catch it.

Because that's like your mom preparing you a really good meal.

And then you call and say,.

Mom, I'm not going to make it home.

Just put it in the microwave.

You know,.

All this, you know, there's a meal prepared and there's a time to eat.

And,.

I'll just put it in the microwave.

I'll eat it when I get home.

You know,.

I know some people can't make it. I am thankful for technology.

And the fact that we have YouTube.

And all those things.

But there is a, there's a certain sense in which Sunday morning is a special time. And we're here to worship and we're here to pray and we're here to, we're here to study.

And at that moment,.

It's feeding time.

It's feeding time.

Sometimes I've heard people tell me,.

I wish you wouldn't feed so much.

You know,.

A 55 minute sermon.

Maybe could have been a little,.

Could have saved a little bit of that.

For next week. It's like the guy who, there was a guy who, it was a snow storm in his town. And the pastor was living at the church and so he was already there and he didn't expect anyone to show up for church.

And 10 .30 on Sunday morning he hears,.

Knock on the door.

Oh, somebody's here.

He goes and he opens the door.

And the wind's blowing and howling.

And he says,.

Come in, come in.

And it's one guy. And the pastor says to him,.

He says,.

Well, nobody else is here. I guess we're not going to have church. And the guy says,.

Look.

He said,.

If you were a shepherd and only one sheep came,.

You'd feed the sheep.

So the pastor said,.

You're right.

So he went and got behind the pulpit and he preached his heart out. 50 minutes.

Boom, boom. And he came down and he says,.

How's that?

He says,.

Well, if one sheep came, you wouldn't feed him the whole trough. But there is a sense in which the role of the elders.

Is to feed the flock.

And if you want a passage for this, I would have you just turn over a couple pages in 2 Timothy 4. And this is what Paul says to Timothy. Chapter 4, verse 1.

2 Timothy,.

Remember this is still in the pastoral epistles.

He says,.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by His appearing in His kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to truth and wander off into myths.

As for you,.

Be super-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. So this is Paul's admonition. This is very close to the end of his last letter. 2 Timothy is the last thing Paul wrote that we know about.

And this is his going away, this is his swan song, if you will.

And he's saying,.

I'm challenging,.

I'm charging you,.

Preach the word.

Don't preach the Farmer's Almanac. Don't preach the Reader's Digest.

Don't preach the Florida Times Union.

Preach the word. When you come to church on Sunday morning,.

You should expect.

That whoever is preaching, whether it's me, or Andy, or Mike, or whoever we've got preaching that Sunday, you should expect us to open the word of God and exhort you from that word. I was at a church one time,.

Doing music,.

The guy got up to preach, he opened his Bible,.

He looked down,.

And he walked out from behind the pulpit,.

And he goes,.

I was going to preach a text, but God has spoken to me.

Always makes me shudder.

He says,.

God has spoken to me, and somebody in here needs a touch from the Lord, and who wants to come get a touch from the Lord? And some lady screamed, and he hit her in the head,.

And they had their moment.

But he abandoned his task.

Feed the flock! And how do you feed the flock?

Preach the word.

Whether you feel like it or not,.

In season or out of season, whether it's popular or not, preach the word. So that's the second thing.

The third thing,.