Most pastors would say that they aspire to be good pastors—that’s, good on the job to which they’ve been set, not merely common (a lot much less rotten!). Fortunately, the Scriptures don’t go away us with out steerage as to what being a “good pastor” means. When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, he informed him, “If you happen to put this stuff earlier than the brothers, you may be servant of Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 4:6).
By “this stuff,” Paul most likely meant all of the directions he had written to Timothy to this point. We are able to profit, although, from paying particular consideration to what he says within the speedy context, in 1 Timothy 4:6–16. These verses assist us to see, no less than partly, what Paul believed constituted a “good servant of Jesus Christ.” It means, on the one hand, “placing” sure issues earlier than others and, however, “being skilled” within the religion—geared up to discern between what’s price sharing and the “irrelevant, foolish myths” (v. 7) that aren’t price pastor’s time.
On this respect, Paul has one thing to say in regards to the good pastor’s private devotion, his public instance, and his major labors.
The Pastor’s Private Devotion
If you happen to put this stuff earlier than the brothers, you may be servant of Christ Jesus, being skilled within the phrases of the religion and of the great doctrine that you’ve adopted. Don’t have anything to do with irreverent, foolish myths. Somewhat prepare your self for godliness; for whereas bodily coaching is of some worth, godliness is of worth in each means, because it holds promise for the current life and in addition for the life to return. The saying is reliable and deserving of full acceptance. For to this finish we toil and try, as a result of we have now our hope set on the residing God, who’s the Savior of all individuals, particularly of those that imagine. (1 Tim. 4:6–10)
A very good pastor is one, Paul says, who’s “being skilled within the phrases of the religion and of the great doctrine.” He’s nourished by the reality of God, and his capacity to set the reality earlier than anybody is on that account. He’s the primary to eat of the meal he serves to God’s individuals, and that non-public nourishment sustains his public ministry.
And of what does this meal consist? The nice servant of Christ Jesus trains in “the phrases of the religion” and “the great doctrines”—that’s, he seeks to know the Bible and the Gospel it reveals. It is a coaching and a nourishing that by no means ends. Timothy, Paul says, is to be a lifelong pupil. For the great pastor, no diploma will mark a accomplished training previous to the day of Jesus Christ. Ours is an ongoing training within the Gospel.
The nice pastor is nourished by the reality of God, and his capacity to place the reality earlier than anybody is on that account.
Be aware that Paul shouldn’t be speaking in regards to the coaching of the classroom, helpful as which may be. He means principally the coaching of the closet. Ongoing private dedication to God’s Phrase and to prayer nourish and construct up a person for a lifetime of godliness. To say there’s nothing devotional a few pastor’s research of the Phrase can be to create a false dichotomy. The nice pastor all the time involves the Scripture on his knees, not wanting merely for tidbits to cross from one head to a different however filling his soul with God’s Phrase in order that it could overflow from him.
However pastor doesn’t merely eat proper. He additionally workouts, coaching himself in godliness. Calvin known as godliness “the start, center and finish of Christian residing.” Paul mentions this repeatedly, classically telling Titus, “The grace of God has appeared, … coaching us to surrender ungodliness and worldly passions, and to stay self-controlled, upright, and godly lives within the current age” (Titus 2:11–12). If we have now set our hope on the residing God, it is just applicable to goal ourselves at godliness.
The nice pastor thus pursues a godly life. And in doing so, he purposefully units an instance of godliness for his flock.
The Pastor’s Public Instance
Command and train this stuff. Let nobody despise you to your youth, however set the believers an instance in speech, in conduct, in love, in religion, in purity. (1 Tim. 4:11–12)
Timothy is to not let anybody look down on him for his youthfulness. Somewhat, he ought to set an instance in order that they could look as much as him for his religious maturity. He’s to show the godliness that he has skilled himself in in order that his individuals could comply with.
Paul mentions 5 areas by identify wherein the great pastor must set an instance.
First, there’s speech. The nice pastor’s phrases are to be true, sort, and useful. Phrases are the instruments of the commerce. Pastors ought, by vast studying and studying, to be properly geared up with good phrases to make use of. They ought, by prayerfulness and the pursuit of knowledge, to be ready to make use of them on the proper time and in the appropriate method. As Paul elsewhere writes, “Let no corrupting discuss come out of your mouths, however solely resembling is sweet for build up, as suits the event, that it could give grace to those that hear” (Eph. 4:29).
Second, there’s conduct. The way in which of false lecturers is to impose guidelines from the skin. The nice pastor as an alternative cherishes and stokes the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God inside his coronary heart, looking for to make his conduct more and more like that of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father’s want and the Spirit’s work is that those that love Jesus can be conformed to His picture from the within out. The nice pastor ought to have the ability to humbly say to his congregation, as Paul did, “Be imitators of me, as I’m of Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1).
The nice pastor’s phrases are to be true, sort, and useful.
Third, there’s love. The essence and eminence of Christian love might fill a lifetime of sermons with out rising stale, however merely put, the great pastor serves his congregation affectionately and selflessly, laying down his personal wants to be able to meet theirs and so imitating the self-giving love of the Lord Jesus. “By this we all know love,” wrote John,” that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to put down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16).
Fourth, there’s religion. The nice pastor locations his confidence not in himself, in his work, or in his sources however within the God who provides these issues and takes them away as He pleases (Job 1:21). For all his excellence in speech, conduct, and love, he however throws himself totally and brazenly on the mercies of God, the one one who can save and sanctify. He has a religion like Abraham’s, who “grew sturdy in his religion as he gave glory to God, totally satisfied that God was in a position to do what he had promised” (Rom. 4:20–21).
Lastly, there’s purity, to which Paul returns later in 5:1–2. Timothy is to deal with the “older girls as moms, youthful girls as sisters, in all purity.” What number of false and failing ministers have ignored this exhortation, to the shipwreck of their ministries and to the disgrace of the religion? The nice pastor doesn’t reap the benefits of his place to achieve worldly pleasures; reasonably, he delights himself within the Lord and, if he has one, within the spouse the Lord has given him, and so units an instance to the flock.
Setting such an instance, the pastor is ready to carry out with integrity the labors to which he has been known as.
The Pastor’s Major Labors
Till I come, dedicate your self to the general public studying of Scripture, to exhortation, to instructing. Don’t neglect the present you’ve got, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their fingers on you. (1 Tim. 4:13–14)
As Paul strikes on to the matter of the great pastor’s work, he urges Timothy to dedicate himself to a few duties.
He’s to dedicate himself, first, to the general public studying of Scripture. The nice pastor doesn’t deal with public studying as a marginal exercise, nor as an off-the-cuff exercise, nor merely as a prelude to a sermon. There is no such thing as a prescription within the textual content for the way and when and the way lengthy, however this a lot must be clear: the Scriptures are God’s Phrase to us, and God works by them. They’re worthwhile and adequate (2 Tim. 3:16–17); they’re residing, lively, and penetrating (Heb. 4:12). It’s important for the pastor to raise God’s phrases in public worship and to humble himself.
The nice pastor is devoted additionally to exhortation and to instructing. The Acts of the Apostles make a distinction between instructing and preaching, telling us that Paul and Barnabas each “taught and preached the phrase of the Lord” (Acts 15:35 NIV). In instructing, pastor helps his flock to know God’s fact as it’s given to us within the Scriptures. With God’s assist, he thus affords them the primary ideas of doctrine. In preaching, he then makes an attraction to individuals’s wills and feelings, urging them to reply to what they’ve understood. It’s irresponsible to name individuals to behave with out understanding, and it’s an empty gesture to clarify the reality with out urging anybody to behave on it.
Taking these truths collectively, we perceive that the primacy of the Bible is a defining mark of the gathering of God’s individuals and that the Bible is on the heart of pastoral duties. The flock gathers to the shepherd to listen to God’s phrases. The pastor is entrusted with the accountability to current the residing Phrase of God in its fullness (Col. 1:25) in order that it could turn into the driving pressure that shapes the lifetime of the congregation and introduces people to the residing God.
It’s irresponsible to name individuals to behave with out understanding, and it’s an empty gesture to clarify the reality with out urging anybody to behave on it.
That is maybe what is supposed by Timothy’s “present.” He had been publicly ordained to a privileged job. If he was to be pastor, it was his accountability—as it’s the accountability of all good servants of God—to not neglect this calling however to faithfully accomplish the work.
The Pastor’s Progress
Observe this stuff, immerse your self in them, so that each one may even see your progress. Maintain an in depth watch on your self and on the instructing. Persist on this, for by so doing you’ll save each your self and your hearers. (1 Tim. 4:15–16)
“What would you like me to do?” Timothy may need mentioned when Paul left him in Ephesus.
“Put this stuff earlier than the brothers,” Paul would have answered. “And just remember to are established in them your self. Put them into follow in order that they turn into second nature to you. Immerse your self in Gospel fact simply as your physique is immersed within the air you breathe. And don’t hand over!”
It is a excessive calling and on no account a simple one. But we could also be inspired by Paul’s intent that “all may even see your progress.” Paul points a problem to be exemplary, however he additionally reminds us that no pastor is ideal. Even Paul himself had not attained perfection. As a substitute, he informed Philippians, “I press on to make it my very own, as a result of Christ Jesus has made me his personal” (Phil. 3:12). The nice pastor, throwing himself on the grace of the God who known as him, strikes towards the picture of the right Lord Jesus—and in his progress, he leads God’s flock alongside.
This text was tailored from the sermons “A Good Servant of Christ Jesus (Private)” and “A Good Servant of Christ Jesus (Public)” by Alistair Begg.
