The Overseer as Christ's Undershepherd | Sermon 03/03/2024

The Grace of Overseership and the Church’s Need for Qualified Leaders

Which I can become an overseer but us as people as well. To have someone a leader over us sinful people that we are means of graces. It's something that we do not deserve but God in rich in mercy has given us this.

Hold on to that because the scripture we are going to go over today is a profound grace we find in Paul's pastoral epistles which are 1st Timothy 2nd Timothy and Titus qualifications. For those who seek the noble aspiration of overseer we must understand that each qualification is that of a grace a gift given from God to allow the Church of God to succeed within a world where the devil seeks to destroy the church.

But it is the devil who in effect will be plundered by the success of the Son of the Living God. That's why it's a means of grace through adherence to his word namely how the church ought to function.

Matthew 16 18 states this. Here's the Word of God on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The rock as in Christ right. Hence Paul tells Timothy you may wage the good warfare holding fast or holding faith and a good conscience.

It's in first Timothy chapter 1 for destruction of the church most often often happens from within. And the warnings we see in scripture point out the fact that we must not only be aware of false teachers in ravenous wolves who seek to undermine the work of Christ but we should expect to see them try to creep in to the church.

These are as Jude states hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear shepherds feeding themselves. Waterless clouds swept along by winds fruitless trees in late autumn twice dead uprooted wild waves of sea casting up the foam of their own shame wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Jude doesn't hold back on false teachers. He says these are grumblers malcontents following their own sinful desires. They are loudmouthed boasters showing favoritism to gain advantage. So these false teachers are unqualified men.

They look to devour the sheep to turn them away from the truth in order to seek out falsehood. They are the shepherds who like it says in Jude feed themselves. And as Paul puts it super Apostles those who seek to destroy God's church by ultimately leading the sheep after a different Jesus a different gospel in a different spirit than what we have been shown in God's Word.

Paul shows us that in 2nd Corinthians 11. Therefore the aging Paul we are told in 1st Timothy 1 3 wrote this letter to Timothy. That's why the name of the epistle is Timothy. He was a protege of Paul's who was most likely converted during Paul's first missionary journey in Lystra.

You can read Acts 14 if you want to know more about that who then joined Paul which were told in Acts 16 on his second third and fourth missionary journey all around the Mediterranean. After that Paul charged Timothy to stay at the church in Ephesus.

And I quote it states this in 1st Timothy 1 3 through 7. So that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart in a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

We can find that those who seek to be teachers yet do not fit within the qualifications listed in 1st Timothy 3 will in fact do the following we're told here in Timothy it says. They will teach different doctrines rather than the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints.

They'll promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. And they will speak about things without understanding wandering away from truth in vain discussions. So the charge of the overseer is to as 1st Timothy 1 5 states the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart in a good conscience in a sincere faith.

And this task when overseeing the house of God is not something that should be taken lightly for the heart of any overseer should be the heart of Christ which Paul beautifully explains in Colossians 1 24 through 29 Paul states this.

This is his heart as a minister. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body that is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the Word of God fully known.

The mystery hidden for ages in all generations but now revealed to his Saints to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you the hope of glory him we proclaim warning everyone in teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

For this I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. That is the duty and job of a minister of Christ that is the heart of the minister of Christ. So let the listener understand.

When we speak of the qualifications of overseer we are speaking of the qualifications for a leader who ought through suffering be able to wage the good war against the works of the devil in good conscience by making the Word of God known to the people of God.

To present the people to God mature in the faith the life of the under shepherd. The overseer is to point to Jesus Christ the good and perfect Shepherd not to point to themselves never should never be.

The overseer is no better than anyone in this room. His calling is just different than your calling. His calling is to a life of service and suffering with a good conscience that stems from love to present God's people mature in the faith again to wage the good war.

And that is why James states this in James 3 1. James states. Not many of you should become teachers my brothers. For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. And this is echoed in Hebrews 13 17.

Obey your leaders and submit to them. For they are keeping watch over your souls as those will have to give an account. The overseer has to give an account to God for your soul. And all of you know that in a little more than a month the pastors from Arizona in our own beloved Wade Orsini will be by God's grace laying hands on me for the pastorate so far be it for me to be a waterless cloud or a shepherd who feasts off the flock for the gloomy darkness of hell will be reserved for me forever.

Fittingly. That's true. This is the calling to which I have aspired and the judgment of which I have aspired. And as God's people we have been given the grace to have qualifications that protect the sheep from unqualified men.

From obtaining the title of overseer. To this end I submit myself to my pastors and to the people of God to a life of service and suffering to the glory of God's people in love with a good conscience to devout myself to waging the good war.

To present you maturing Christ by making the Good Shepherd known. It's my duty. So let's dig into now the beautiful grace of God which are the qualifications of the overseer laid out in 1st Timothy 3 1 through 7.

Go ahead and open your Bibles and go to 1st Timothy 3 1 through 7. Here are the words of the living and true God. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task.

Therefore in overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife sober-minded self-controlled respectable hospitable able to teach not a drunkard not violent but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household how will he care for God's Church. He must not be a recent convert.

Or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace into a snare of the devil. Let's pray Lord.

Thank you for your word. Thank you for giving us protections as a church body. I pray Lord that our hearts are prepared for the reality in fact that you love us so much father. Not only did you give your son to die for us to justify us declare us righteous before you but you gave us your spirit in which we can hear and understand your word.

But you also gave us your word Lord the soul infallible rule of faith in practice that will train us up rebuke us but equip us for every single good work. And this here Lord is a gift to the church so that we can operate and run in such a way that you want it to run Christ.

So help me Lord to speak clearly help your people to be edified. Please get me out of the way today Lord so that your word reigns supreme in Jesus name. Amen. So we find in this section of scripture a whole list of positive qualities for the overseer.

Right. We read some of them. Husband of one wife sober-minded self-controlled respectable hospitable. But I want you understand that these qualifications they're not a checklist right. They're not just a checklist.

You don't just do these things and you meet the qualifications. All men ought to seek to emulate these qualifications for their linked to our union with Christ in sanctification. Every Christian ought to want to emulate these.

For the overseer there must be more than just meeting these qualifications. We'll get into that. But I like to break up these qualities of character into three distinct categories just to help my mind wrap around the list.

So first every single one of these qualifications falls under being above reproach all right you must be above reproach in each one of these qualifications. I'd like to break it up with the positive qualifications husband of one wife hospitable right.

And then the protective qualifications like not a drunkard protective for the church for the individual. And then the exponential qualifications which are the qualifications that go out to the innumerable blessings to the church when these things are followed.

But again every single qualification is under the heading of above reproach. In the first group of positive qualifications we have the husband of one wife sober-minded self-controlled respectable and hospitable.

In the second group we have able to teach not a drunkard not violent but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money. And then in the third group for the exponential qualifications we have he must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive must not be a recent convert.

He must be thought of well by outsiders in each qualification here guys they're not suspended into thin air by themselves. They all have purpose. And they're linked to the exponential growth of God's people through the sufferings of a man in character.

And that character is exposed by God. I just want you to have a way to categorize these qualifications. Just hold on to that as we go through the text. So going into the first verse we have it here. It says the saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task. It's the first verse we find in the Greek that Paul is shaping that what he is about to say is reliable trustworthy reliable. The phrase here is pistos halagos.

In translated we say the saying the words are trustworthy pistos. You might hear that as familiar as faith with faith you can have faith in these words faith in the saying that is he's about to give us.

So it's not just reliable like that wouldn't even just give it the depth of character that we have. But in terms of the heaviness of these qualifications one can have faith in what is going to be said here trust in what is about to be said Timothy.

That's what Paul is saying. And this is for the success of the church in all reality. And just a quick side note there's five different times when Paul uses the phrase pistos halagos. Each one is in the pastoral epistles.

This is as trustworthy saying is used three times in first Timothy. It's in first Timothy 112 through 17 in first Timothy 3 1 1st Timothy 4 8 through 10 one time in second Timothy in chapter 2 11 through 13 and one time in Titus 3 1 through 8.

So five times total in the pastoral epistles. And I believe just being very candid that every time Paul uses this phrase it creates humility in the one who is reading the letter. It ought to create humility a reminder of what their duty is to the people of God.

Like remember this Timothy remember this Titus. Whoever's reading the epistle remember this. And here is the saying right. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task that's continuing on.

In verse 1 the word aspiring here in the Greek is a reggae tie. In its literal use it means the stretching of oneself. But in this text it's referring to aspiring toward a specific goal. And the goal in question is that of the overseer.

And in the Greek that would be the word Episcopal. But I want to sit on that word for a minute. There's another word used in the Bible that describes the type of leader in the church. And what word is that.

Well we in English can hear the word elder right or Bishop. And the word in the Greek would be presbyteros. We find that in Titus 1 5. But I want to talk about that just for a second because the the qualifications for presbyteros elder are the exact same qualifications for that as an overseer.

So the words are synonymous right. They're synonyms. They mean the same thing. So an elder is an overseer. An overseer is an elder right. They don't have two different functions. Their functions are one in the same in the Bible they're interchangeable titles.

And that's extremely important because there's a point in the early church where people actually got confused about that and they would have different roles. But according to the Bible they have the same function.

So we find that there's a specific office within the church that is being described and that there's an aspiration that must occur within an individual. Within the modern terms you'd hear it as the internal calling.

Someone would come up to say Pastor Wade or myself maybe like I have an internal calling I believe to be a pastor. We would say that that is an aspiration right. And Paul states that that aspiration is a noble task right.

Verse one. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task. Understand that in the Greek the word we translate to task is ergo which is the root form or which the root form of that word is air gone meaning work.

So it's a noble work. So the aspiration the desire to be an overseer is a work it consists of work but not only that it consists of noble work. And the word noble comes from the Greek word Kalu which connotates a good or morally excellent thing in terms of an ethical sense.

So this aspiration for the office of overseer is good but it's also a tremendous undertaking. I know when I was first reading this section of Scripture I'm like yeah that's a that's a noble task. That's a great thing to want to aspire to be an overseer.

Well what Paul is really saying is that the it's a extremely difficult task to do right. Very hard because the office of the overseer elder slash pastor is one who wages the good war right. A leader in battle who is called to suffer in love for the people of God to bring them to Christ mature in the faith who will have to give an account for how he shepherds God's people and he ought to do it with moral excellence.

That's why it is a noble task. And the work of the overseer ought to be exemplified by humility making Jesus Christ the focal point the rock on whom the success of the church thrives to be the point in which the faith of the flock he shepherds for Christ is pointed to Christ.

So understand these qualifications that we're looking at our qualifications of the character of Jesus. Right. This is something that the the typical person the sinful person the carnal person cannot do cannot do.

This is a grace from God. The internal calling that one has this aspiration is beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. It's noble but it's a great and morally excellent work. Therefore an excellent work requires extraordinary sacrifice.

That's the reality. That's what Paul is setting us up for it's a tremendous task. So paraphrasing the verse here let's think of it like this. The saying is trustworthy. The internal calling to the office of overseer is a tremendous task in the eyes of the Lord a good task but one of selflessness a life of hard work.

That's the reality right. Because there's no greater love than the one who lays his life down for his friends. And that must be the heart of a pastor which can only occur when the overseer meets the qualifications humbly submissive to Christ purely a work of the Spirit of God.

So what is that work. What's the air gone. Right. The air go. The task of a pastor. Here's some examples that the overseers to do for the Church of God. This is taken from Alexander Strauch's book biblical eldership.

I recommend that book to anyone who's wondering about it. And it's by no means this is by no means an exhaustive example of what a pastor does but one they protect the flock by being spiritually alert and courageous.

In Acts 20 Paul states that wolves will come in among you telling the leaders in Ephesus to be alert and on guard and to quell false teaching and to run the wolves out of the congregation. The overseer must be able as Titus states to be able to refute those who contradict sound doctrine.

Courage must be exemplified in the work of the overseer for it takes courage to stand up to predators of the flock but also to correct the sheep and to fix fighting between the sheep. Furthermore for the overseer to be courageous he must be spiritually alert in prayer and on the lookout for these things they must be watchful and the prayerful for the flock of God and in that they also must feed the flock.

Here we find one of the most important tasks for the overseer to teach the blood-bought people of Christ. This is the third listed gift to the church in Corinth after Apostle and prophet. This task is monumental and exists throughout the duration of the ministry of the overseer.

Remember Paul's heart from Colossians 1. What was it to make the Word of God fully known. To reveal the mystery hidden throughout the generations but now revealed to his saints teaching everyone with all wisdom that he will present them mature in Christ.

The Word of God is a fountain of living water and the people of God need the water of life contained in God's Word. This task to rightly divide the word of truth and teach God's people is a work of the utmost importance and that of a gift that God gives.

It's a grace to the church. It's exemplified in the work of the overseer. To feed the flock is to give them the Word of God. The first sign of a bad pastor is one that does not feed his flock. That's from Ezekiel 34 to you can look that up later.

That's God's condemnation of bad shepherds. We found that in Jude 12 right they feed themselves not the flock. The pastor also leads the flock with management skill and hard work. First Peter 5 states that elder shepherds elders shepherd the flock of God.

But what does that mean. Well he leads governs manages and cares for the flock. This requires hard work and management skill constantly solving problems and providing oversight to the household of God.

The man of God must commit himself to hard work to killing the sin of idleness by pursuing in love the kingdom of God. The life of a pastor is a life devoted to work. Noble air gone right. How loose air gone.

Morally excellent work. There can be so much more that could be said here with regards to management skill. But for time sake let's resume. One of the last things we'll look at for an example is care for the practical needs of the flock with a love for God's people.

Right. The overseer is called to care for the flock. They visit the sick and they pray over them. They counsel people couples. They strengthen the weak care for the widow and the poor pray for people.

These are day-to-day spiritual needs of the church body. But all this is done with a self sacrificial love for the church body. Right. A love for people to exemplify the traits of Jesus Christ's union with the church where he gave himself up for her to present her holy and blameless.

Like really think about that that's not an easy task. That's why the judgment is so strong. That's why James warns those who want to be teachers again. This is not an exhaustive list of the noble work of the pastor but really it's the ground work to really help us understand the qualifications that we're about to go over.

Why they are necessary and trustworthy for the moral qualities of the overseer. This is not a checklist again but a spirit wrought aspiration that is externally observable qualities. Right. So we're about to get into the meat of the potatoes of the lesson.

But let it be known that every single qualification here is hinged on the perfect obedience and nature of Christ. This means that Jesus Christ is our example of the perfect Good Shepherd. These qualifications can find their utmost perfection in the life of Jesus Christ and his ministry on earth.

Without Christ these qualifications would be meaningless. It's true. Now looking at verse 2 we see the famous words. Therefore the conjunction that helps us understand the following. Right. So verse 1 the saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task. Therefore since it's a morally excellent work therefore an overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife sober-minded self-controlled respectable hospitable able to teach.

Remember on this rock Christ has established his church. Would it not make sense that the qualifications of the overseer must mimic the morally excellent qualifications of Jesus Christ. They must. This is not to say that the overseer perfectly upholds each requirement.

Right. No one is sinless. No man is perfect. But God. However close evaluation of the one aspiring should show a track record of consistently meeting these requirements. It should be taken seriously and met consistently.

Herein lies the whole list. Okay above reproach blameless. That's the overarching qualification. It encompasses the meaning that the overseer is the one without spiritual blight of character. One who is without reproach does not take the name of the Lord in vain when they stand in the pulpit and preach to God's people and counsel to God's people.

Think of it kind of like this. Blameless does not equate to sinless. But what it does mean is the overseer is the example to the body of Christ of how to walk in the newness of life. In that profession of faith he must be blameless.

So think about it like this Colossians 122. He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. That's all of our calling.

Right. And Jesus Christ does that. In that sense we are blameless. However when we're walking in the newness of life none of us do that perfectly. But when you're above reproach as an example to the rest of the congregation the pastor ought to be that person who's above reproach so people can look to him for help on how to walk in the newness of life.

So the overseer he leads by example in his example of the Christian faith he must be above reproach. For Christ calls all believers to be above reproach. Therefore the leader in the church ought to live a life worthy of the example of Christ.

Understand that the world is watching. There are crit they are critical and always waiting for the failure of the pastor. Right. The world always is. The pastor must lead an irreproachable life by exhibiting the following Christly qualifications.

So let's get into the first one. They must be above reproach the husband of one wife. Now there's been wide debate about what exactly the husband of one wife means. Some have taken this to mean that the elder must be married like has to actually be married.

Some take it that the elder must not be in a polygamous marriage. Some believe that elders may only marry once and then. Some take it as elders must be maritally and sexually above reproach. So I'm gonna dive into each view quickly.

I don't want to get hung up here but I just want to give us an understanding. So to state that elders must be married is to neglect the fact that Paul in 1st Corinthians 7 states that a single man would be undivided in his efforts for the kingdom of God.

Also the phrase used in first first Timothy is one woman man mice one gynecos wife woman Andra husband man. That's what it states. It doesn't say an elder must be a man who has a wife. Quite simply so if they are married they must be a one woman man the man.

Here's the second thought the man must not be in a polygamous marriage. This is true. However this is not exactly what Paul is speaking about. And also during this time in history polygamy was not something that was popular even with the Greeks.

Believe it or not polygamy would have been something that is taboo. Now a one-wife husband would definitely not have multiple wives which would disqualify him from the pastorate. But that's not the interpretation that that Paul is trying to get out here.

There's a heart of what Paul is trying to truly show. Let's go into the third interpretation. It states that the elder can only be married once. However using this logic would disqualify an elder who is remarried after being a widower right after his own wife dies if he gets remarried.

Not only that it raises a bunch of issues when thinking about the biblical teaching of divorce and remarriage not to mention whether or not these divorces occurred prior to the conversion in the man's life every situation must be looked at and scrutinized through prayer.

But this black-and-white interpretation also misses the heart of the text which is the overlying emphasis to be above reproach in character walking in the newness of life. So this leads us to the most consistent biblical interpretation of the passage which is the elder must be in a committed monogamous relationship with his wife and through his marriage be an example to the Christian body of a marriage that is above reproach.

And we'll get into what that even looks like. So in terms of the mystery of Christ as the bridegroom to his bride which is the body of Christ. Let us look to Jesus as the perfect example of a faithful monogamous relationship.

If you want you can go here to Ephesians 5. If you want to turn there in your Bibles to verses 25 through 33. This is what it looks like to be above reproach as a husband. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Right. A faithful monogamous relationship with her wife with your wife to wash her with the word to love your wife as Christ loves the church he gave himself up. Right. He sacrificed himself for his people to live a life above reproach to your wife is to mimic Christ in his relationship to the church.

Wash her in the word present her holy and blameless before God to devote your life to such a thing. What it means not. Right there. That's the perfect example of a one-wife husband relationship. And an elder must be living a life in which this qualification is being exhibited.

Let's continue on to the next qualification sober-minded and self-controlled. And we're gonna kind of look at those two requirements together because they play off one another. But let's first look at sober-minded for this leads into self-controlled.

The Greek word used here for sober-minded is nephalios which can be referenced to a person who is clear-headed with balanced judgment. They're free from rash behavior. They're self-restrained. Right.

So a sober-minded individual is someone who is a self-governing individual number one. In order to be a truly self-governing individual you must be spiritually regenerated not enslaved to sin. You must be set free by the blood of Jesus Christ in order to even think straight.

But to continue to think straight you must be in the Word of God to renew your mind daily. Remember under the heading of above reproach in the life of a believer they're walking in the newness of life.

A person who is sober-minded is a person who despite all of life's curveballs stresses ups and downs is a heavenly minded individual whose eternal focus is that on God having the grace of Christ ultimately on our minds.

And Paul David Tripp he's a pastor. He states this. A sober mind is someone who lives with eternity in view. Someone who lives with eternity in view. And what it means to be sober-minded is this. It's to have a mind that is renewed by the Word of God in which we are told by God that all things happen for a purpose.

Right. God then states in that purpose it's for our good and for his glory. So we have a hope that is unseen. Here's some promises of God. We have a hope that's unseen in inheritance undefiled. A sober-minded individual will stay focused clear-headed and above reproach when living a life with a sober mind.

So no matter what is happening or going their way whatever life's curveballs are they say it's happening for my my good to the glory of God. I'm gonna look at this objectively through God's Word having a renewed mind and using that as my basis of judgment.

That's how you live a sober mind in a world full of confusion. Okay. It's to not be run amok with your own feelings but to be in submission to God and his Word. Hold on to that to be in submission to God and his Word.

So when looking at Christ Christ was the perfectly sober-minded man. He had eternity in focus with everything that he did. I'll give you an example when the devil tempted Christ in the wilderness Christ in his humanity without food or drink.

Right. What would seem to be a situation in which the flesh was without every form of security to withstand the schemes of the devil he was able to be sober-minded with eternity in focus in submission and trust to the will of the Father.

In that he rebuked the crafty serpent who offered him what the serpent offered him the world. A world in which he didn't have to do what suffer and die for God's people. But what did he do again. He rebuked the devil with the Word of God keeping a sober mind because he was in submission to the will of the Father.

Likewise the overseer must do the same. Let's think about Adam and Eve in the garden. Now Jesus many many days without food and water miracle. Right. Any mere man would been dead again. He had no protections from the flesh.

No protections. Adam and Eve in the garden not a desert beautiful garden had everything they need. They had full bellies. Adam was to lead into guide. But when the temptation came even with a full belly even with full security to try to make the right decision in the flesh he failed to the schemes of the devil.

Why. Because he was not in submission to the will of God which brings us now to being self-controlled. The word used in the Greek is Sophron which is similar to sober minded but it relates more to decision-making.

So can you understand how someone who is sober minded with eternity and focus in submission to God's Word would be more able to exert self-control. A man who lives within God's reality is able to exhibit more self-control in common sense within any situation because God's Word and trust in Christ gives the overseer or any individual for that matter an objective look to look at any situation free from emotional prejudice.

Right. Again let us look to Christ as the perfect example of being sober minded exhibiting self-control. So here we have Matthew 26 53. When Jesus is about to be well he's being arrested here. What does he say.

He says do you think that I cannot appeal to my father. And he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels. And then in first Peter 223 were told this about Jesus when he was reviled. He did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges rightly.