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Sam Emadi | ”Four Lessons on How to Prepare for Pastoral Ministry” · Chapel at Southern Seminary and Boyce College

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I would invite you to open your Bible
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to 1 Timothy chapter 3
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to 1 Timothy chapter 3 as you do that.
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You know, I have I have some comments
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here
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thinking Dr. Mohler thanking the
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faculty, but
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you know, to just speak from the heart
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for a second. Um,
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you know, it's it's hard to
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calculate you know, the debt of
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gratitude
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that I owe to all of the men here who
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taught me to Dr. Mohler for building a
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kind of institution like this so
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genuinely. Brothers, thank you for your
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investment in me. And for those of you
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here, thank you for being here. I hope
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this is helpful for you.
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As I as I thought about how to encourage
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you
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this morning,
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I couldn't help but reflect
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on my own time at Southern,
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my own time preparing for pastoral
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ministry specifically
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thinking about
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lessons, messages
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I wish I had heeded more carefully,
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more closely during that season of my
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life as
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wisdom cries from the streets
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as Proverbs says.
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I was reflecting on that season of my
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life and Paul's words in 1 Timothy
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chapter 3 is teaching on the
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qualifications for elders
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kept coming to mind.
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There are a number of reasons for that,
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but let me just give you one textually.
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Look at how Paul begins
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this section of his letter in 1 Timothy
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3 verse 1.
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If [snorts] anyone
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aspires
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to the office
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of overseer.
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If anyone
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aspires.
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In other words, Paul has
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a particular orientation, a particular
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audience
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in view in this passage. He has in his
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gaze
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the aspiring,
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the not yet pastors. Current pastors
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need this passage. I need this passage.
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I need it again and again. It's not
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exclusively for those who are aspiring,
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but it is particularly for those who are
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aspiring.
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Which means
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Paul has in his gaze
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many of you.
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He's speaking to you.
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If Paul were preaching at a seminary
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chapel,
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this is at least one thing
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we know he would say.
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So, let's read this passage together.
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I know it is
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Easter week. Tomorrow's Good Friday.
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Elder qualifications probably aren't the
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most like calendar sensitive sermon to
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preach on this day, but here we go. 1
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Timothy 3.
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This saying is trustworthy.
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If anyone aspires to the office of
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overseer,
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he desires a noble task.
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Therefore, an overseer must be above
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reproach,
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the husband of one wife,
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sober-minded,
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self-controlled,
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respectable,
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hospitable,
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able to teach,
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not a drunkard,
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not violent, but gentle,
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not quarrelsome,
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not a lover of money.
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He must manage his own household well
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with all dignity, keeping his children
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submissive.
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For if someone does not know how to
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manage his own household,
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how will he care for God's church?
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He must not be a recent convert or he
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may become puffed up with conceit and
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fall into the condemnation of the devil.
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Moreover, he must be well thought of by
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outsiders so that he may not fall into
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disgrace,
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into a snare
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of the devil.
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This isn't going to be a traditional
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exposition. We can't possibly talk about
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everything in this passage in the time
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that we have together. So, we're just
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going to consider four lessons from this
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paragraph on how to prepare for pastoral
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ministry. Four lessons on how to prepare
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for pastoral ministry. Before we do
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that, let me give you one disclaimer
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about this passage. Obviously, this
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passage is for a certain kind of person.
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It is for a brother who aspires to
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ministry.
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That may not be you.
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I I I If you don't aspire
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to pastoral ministry
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or for the sisters in the room
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for whom God has forbidden from holding
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that office,
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don't check out.
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This passage has something for you. You
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need this passage and let me tell you
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why.
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Give you at least two reasons. First,
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because saints, you belong to a church.
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You belong to a local church.
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Do you love
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your brothers and sisters
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in that church? Do you care for them?
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Then care for them enough that you want
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them to have good pastors.
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But saints, belonging to a church means
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caring just as much about your fellow
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members' spiritual health as you do your
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own.
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So, for your own sake
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and as an act of love for your brothers
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and sisters, you should be deeply
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invested in appointing and supporting
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and funding and encouraging elders like
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this.
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And second,
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even if you have no intention of
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becoming an elder or you cannot be an
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elder, you should care about what God
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says
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about elders and about pastors in this
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passage because this passage is in many
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ways a blueprint of the Christian life.
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I bet when we read the passage, a lot of
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you thought,
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"Well, that just kind of sounds like
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what every Christian is supposed to be."
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Exactly.
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That's the point.
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1 Peter 5:1, I exhort the elders among
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you, "Shepherd the flock of God that is
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among you, being examples to the flock,
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examples." The Greek word tupoi, types.
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Some of you like typology in the Bible?
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You got typology going on in your church
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every week
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because by obeying 1 Timothy 3, elders
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are modeling,
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setting an an example of the normal
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Christian life.
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Saints, when God saved you,
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he didn't just drop a Bible out of the
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sky onto your head and say, "What Just
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Just do your best."
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No No, he saves you and he puts you into
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a church with qualified men who model in
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front of you what it is that you're
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reading.
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So So, if this passage doesn't describe
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you directly,
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don't check out.
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There is plenty for you here.
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All right, disclaimer over.
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Brothers, those of you who see pastoral
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ministry on the horizon, four lessons
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from this passage on how to prepare for
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ministry. First lesson,
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aspire,
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don't assume.
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Aspire.
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Do not
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assume.
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Here, I just want to recommend to
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everyone
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Bobby Jamieson's excellent book The Path
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to Being a Pastor and the fingerprints
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of which are all over this point of my
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sermon. Look carefully at how Paul talks
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about those preparing for ministry. He
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says, "If anyone aspires."
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"If anyone aspires
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to the office of overseer."
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Brothers, I want to encourage you
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to think about yourself
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primarily not in the category of someone
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who is called,
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but someone who aspires
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to ministry.
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I'm I'm not trying to be the vocabulary
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police and I'm not trying to turn you
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into the vocabulary police and I'm not
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suggesting you can't ever use the word
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called for called to ministry.
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What I What I do want to do is attend to
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the language of scripture on this point
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and I'd suggest that of all people,
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pastors and those preparing to be
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pastors should imitate the idiom and the
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patterns of speech of Jesus and his
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apostles.
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Brothers, consider carefully what you
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mean if you use the phrase called to
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ministry. I know some of you use that
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term carefully. That's fine. You mean an
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interior calling in terms of desire that
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that's then confirmed later by an
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external calling of a church. That's
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fine. Not trying to police vocabulary.
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But brothers, what I do want to do is
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warn you against the idea that a calling
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to ministry is some kind of private
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infallible verdict over your life from
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God that he wants you to be a pastor.
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I want to warn you against identifying
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yourself as someone entitled
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to pastoral ministry
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because you've been
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quote called.
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That way of thinking is nowhere in the
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Bible.
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The Bible does, however, give us a
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better word
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for thinking about the pursuit of
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ministry. It's in this word aspiration.
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It It gives us the idea
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that
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we are looking forward to, aspiring,
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striving after the office of elder.
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You see, discerning a call
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directs your gaze inward at your
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desires.
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Aspiring directs your gaze outward
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at qualifications.
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Calling puts others in a place of having
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to submit to something you're suggesting
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comes from God.
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Aspiration puts you in the place of
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striving, growing, cultivating a life
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that looks like 1 Timothy 3, which we
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know comes from God.
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So, brothers, if if there's a desire to
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be a pastor rummaging around in your
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heart,
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I don't think the question to first ask
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is, am I called? But instead, how can I
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grow into the kind of man described in 1
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Timothy 3?
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Again, Bobby Jamieson writes, "Calling
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asks you to picture yourself at the end
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of the trail.
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Aspiration points out the path
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and tells you to take the first step."
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So, brothers, aspire.
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Aspire
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well.
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Don't view this season of your life as
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the necessary hoop that you got to jump
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through. Well, I know God has already
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called me to be a pastor, so now I just
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got to go through the motions.
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No, brothers, aspire.
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Aspire. You You hear the energy,
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the enthusiasm in that word?
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Right? Aspiration isn't a passive
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resignation to a verdict you think God
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has made over your life. It is an
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active, intentional pursuit of the kind
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of life that God demands of pastors. So,
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brothers, do you aspire? If so, then
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imprint these qualifications
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in your heart. Lean your life against
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them day by day. Let these
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qualifications expose and uproot and
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identify indwelling sin and then go to
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war.
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Employ them as preemptive strikes
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against sin in your heart. Ruthlessly,
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relentlessly target and eliminate
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anything Satan might employ
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to disqualify you from this
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noble task.
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Identify as one who aspires
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and then aspire well.
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Second lesson.
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Prioritize
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character.
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Prioritize character.
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Paul's list of qualifications just it it
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never ceases to amaze me.
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For all the things it doesn't say.
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An elder must be high capacity,
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highly intelligent, inspirational,
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dynamic, a highly skilled administrator,
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a capable people person, socially
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intelligent.
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He doesn't say any of that.
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He says, "You guys need shepherds? You
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need leaders? Okay.
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Any really good dads in the room?
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You got any guys that don't get drunk?
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Got any of those guys?
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Uh guys that love their wife?
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Don't overspend. People really like him
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at work. Get that guy."
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We tend to be like Israel, right?
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We want someone who's tall
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and someone who looks strong, someone
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with extraordinary gifts, and someone
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who can preach the lights out, and
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someone with a dynamic personality,
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someone who's funny and charming and
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magnetic.
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God wants the dad who's really good at
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teaching his 7-year-old how to have good
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character when he loses a baseball game.
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It's amazing.
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Gentle,
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hospitable,
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doesn't get into fights,
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not greedy, but generous.
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All these
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qualifications are utterly
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ordinary.
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And again, saints, that's the point.
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Because the Christian life is not an
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endless sequence of extraordinary
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ministry activity. It is ordinary,
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utterly ordinary, and pastors model for
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the saints the ordinary Christian life.
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And you want to know another reason why
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the qualifications are also ordinary?
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Because the hardest place to be godly
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is in ordinary life.
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You know, it's easy to be godly or at
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least appear godly
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in corporate worship.
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It's much harder to be godly in the
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corporate world.
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It's easy to be godly or at least appear
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godly on a short-term mission trip.
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It's much harder to be godly at the
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dinner table.
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It's easy to be godly or at least
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appear godly
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when you're diagramming Ephesians 6 in
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Greek.
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But when your 12-year-old,
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who knows nothing about the world,
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rolls his eyes at you,
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oh, let's see if you're gentle there.
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Let's see if you're sober-minded and
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self-controlled
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there.
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It's hard to be godly when you're
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disciplining your kids.
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And it's hard to be be godly when you're
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in a conflict with your wife
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and nobody's around to hear what you
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say.
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And Paul says
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that pastors are the men who have
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learned to be godly there.
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There in the ordinary stuff of life.
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It's It's those places where you show
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whether you're gentle,
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whether you trust God's sovereignty,
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whether you're quarrelsome,
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whether you can apply God's word to
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people.
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Brothers, notice Notice that this
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ordinary godliness is the dominant
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the dominant characteristic of the
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elder.
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Paul spills more ink on matters of
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character than he does on gifting. One
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qualification on gifting, able to teach.
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Every other qualification, not about
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gifting, but godliness.
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If you are aspiring to be a pastor, does
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your life and do your ambitions properly
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weight what Paul weights in 1 Timothy 3?
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Is the pursuit of godliness in all of
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your ordinary life your dominant
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concern?
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Or is learning Greek?
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Or writing a good paper?
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Brothers, if if you can diagram Romans
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in Greek by heart,
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but you've never worked a day in your
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life,
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you don't provide for the people who
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depend on you,
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well, you might be able to teach God's
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word, but you're not verse 2,
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respectable.
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Brothers, if you can explain
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Bavinck's distinctive contributions to
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theological anthropology,
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but you are never sharing your home,
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serving a meal,
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being hospitable,
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I don't know what you're doing, but it
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is not preparing for pastoral ministry.
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Brothers, listen. Pastoring is an
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intensely theological task. You will not
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do it faithfully if you do not know the
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Bible.
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But also, brothers, let's not lie to
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ourselves and think we are preparing for
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ministry rightly
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simply because we're studying Greek and
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Hebrew.
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Able to teach is a distinctive
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qualification of the elder. It is a
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necessary qualification. It is not the
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only qualification.
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And our lives should represent the same
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preoccupation with character that Paul
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has in this text. Brothers,
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some of you go through seminary like
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those guys at the gym
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who only work on chest and biceps.
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Don't skip leg day.
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Well, I got my nose in these books. I I
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don't have time to have people over for
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dinner.
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So, you think being a bad church member
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is the path to becoming a good pastor?
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Brothers, able to teach matters, but
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it's not the only thing that matters.
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And many of you would be greatly helped
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by considering whether you are applying
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the same degree of of intentionality and
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enthusiasm to growing in all the other
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qualifications
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as you may be in growing in becoming
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able to teach.
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Third lesson.
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Develop
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theologically.
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Develop
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theologically.
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Now, for all the cautions just gave you
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about exclusively fixating on able to
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teach and ignoring the other
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qualifications, this is the point where
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I want to make plain.
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Do not neglect that qualification.
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Because it is special.
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Able to teach.
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This is the qualification that separates
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pastors from deacons.
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That this is the one gifting, the one
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skill
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necessary for the pastor office. It may
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be mentioned only once here, but it is
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the most frequently recurring commission
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to pastors in the New Testament. Pastors
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teach. They are able to teach. Not able
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to entertain or attract a crowd, that's
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not the idea. Paul explains what able to
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teach means in other parts of 1 Timothy.
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Able to teach means 1 Timothy 4, you are
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someone who with your life and your
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doctrine, your teaching, is able to save
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those who hear you.
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1 Timothy 1:5, your teaching cultivates
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love from a pure heart and a good
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conscience and a sincere faith. In other
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words, you can open the Bible in front
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of people in a way that produces
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spiritual fruit. You can think carefully
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about and explain plainly God's word in
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a way that cultivates faith and hope and
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love.
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And that work, brothers, that work in
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the midst of ordinary life takes
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extraordinary
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labor
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and diligence.
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And And I just want to plead with you
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to cultivate
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that skill
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aggressively
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now.
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Do not
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just get a degree.
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Learn.
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Take all the hardest classes.
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If it takes you 8 years to graduate,
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fine.
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Cultivate a happy obsession with the
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Bible.
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Cultivate a happy obsession with
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learning how to clarify and communicate
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the content of the Bible.
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And that's not a sam-a-body idea, that's
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a Apostle Paul idea. 1 Timothy 4:15,
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"Until I come, devote yourself to the
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public reading of scripture, to
22:13
exhortation, to teaching. Practice these
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things. Immerse Immerse, plunge, drown
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yourself in them so that you all may so
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that all may see your progress."
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You know, you always see these books.
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They have titles like
22:33
"Five ways seminary didn't prepare me
22:35
for ministry."
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I hate those books.
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Obviously, I get what they You know,
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there's something to that. You can't
22:44
learn everything in seminary. You need a
22:45
local church, obviously, first and
22:47
foremost. You need pastors, mentors. You
22:49
need experience, opportunity. You can't
22:51
learn everything in a classroom. But
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sometimes those books are all down on
22:55
seminary
22:57
because the authors don't like theology.
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"Well, in seminary, all you learn is
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Greek and Hebrew and systematics and
23:04
this stuff doesn't matter in ministry."
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What planet are you living on?
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I use Greek and Hebrew every day.
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I need historical theology
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every day. In every conceivable context,
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it comes out.
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I I would be lost,
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utterly lost in pastoral ministry, in
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working with deacons, in doing marriage
23:31
counseling, if Steve Wellum hadn't
23:34
taught me how to think about theological
23:36
method.
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Everything in ministry is theological.
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So, brothers, you must be
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able to teach.
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You know, an MDiv is no excuse
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to ignore cultivating character.
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But But cultivating character doesn't
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mean becoming indifferent
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to cultivating skill in the word.
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Prioritizing character doesn't mean
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tolerating theological sloppiness.
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Of all the people God could have
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appointed to lead the church, he didn't
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appoint administrators or creatives or
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people who can marshal volunteers, he
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appointed teachers.
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And that's because the success of the
24:23
church doesn't depend on creativity or
24:24
organizational ability or volunteer
24:26
marshaling. Pastors are teachers because
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what God ultimately wants of his people
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is for them to know him.
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And that's what teachers do.
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We uphold the gospel.
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We explain that the Christian life is
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not about what we accomplish for God,
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it's about trusting what God has
24:47
accomplished for us. Let me teach you
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about it.
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So, by putting the leadership of the
24:54
church in the hands of teachers, God
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keeps the focus of his people
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exclusively on him and on his
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achievements and not our pitiful to-do
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list of ministry.
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So, brothers, aspiring to ministry,
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labor intensely
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over the word. Labor to know the
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character of God and the work of Christ
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at every possible angle because at the
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end of the day, teaching the gospel is
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the only thing that changes hearts. It's
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the only thing that rewires the human
25:23
heart from the inside out. Study the
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work of God in the word of God so well
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that you can surgically apply it in
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every conceivable
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situation.
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Fourth lesson.
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Prepare for war.
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Prepare
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for war.
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I just want you to look one more time at
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verses 6 and 7.
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"He must not be a recent convert, or he
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may become puffed up with conceit and
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fall into the condemnation of the devil.
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Moreover, he must be well thought of by
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outsiders,
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so that he may not fall into disgrace,
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into a snare of the devil." You see
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that?
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Satan is mentioned twice.
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Twice in the elder qualifications.
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Why?
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Because pastors are a strategic target
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for demonic temptation because pastors
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are public and visible and their
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disqualifying failures shake the faith
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of the weak and belittle the name of
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Christ and very often destroy churches.
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Brothers, aspiring to pastoral ministry,
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pastoral ministry is war. Being an elder
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is war.
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You know, and it's not because deacon
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boards can be ungodly
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or because not meeting the budget is
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stressful
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or because
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people are mean to your kids when you
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say stuff in sermons that they don't
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like and and all that's true and that
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could be hard, it stinks.
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No, pastoral ministry is hard
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because all hell
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is at war against your devotion to
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Christ.
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Years ago, I remember meeting with a
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mentor of mine. He handed me a Bible. He
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had me read 1 Timothy 3.
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And then he asked me, "If Screwtape
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were writing a letter to Wormwood
27:17
on how to disqualify you,
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what qualification would he go after?"
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That's not just a useful thought
27:26
exercise.
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That's happening.
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Satan is at work
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against elders with disqualifying
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snares.
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Brothers, all the pastoral gifts and the
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charisma and theological ability in the
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world,
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divorced from character,
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will only destroy churches.
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You know, no church will implode cuz you
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preach a B- minus sermon.
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But indifference to qualifications,
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passivity in resisting Satan,
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that will destroy a congregation.
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So, finally,
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the question is,
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how do we get the spiritual resources
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for this kind of life?
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Obviously, no one can be these things
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perfectly, but we can be these things
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genuinely and truly. So, the question
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is, how?
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Because all of your best resolutions and
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all of your best intentions and all the
28:29
little rules that we make for ourselves
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and all the willpower in the world won't
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make you this kind of person.
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So, what will?
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And the answer lies in considering one
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glorious truth in this text.
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That Christ designs his church
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to reflect, even in its authority
28:51
structures, the very gospel we proclaim.
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Embedded into the authority structures
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of the church, into the office of elder,
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is a reminder of the gospel itself. Why
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does God require
29:02
these qualifications of pastors?
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Why Why does he expect his shepherds to
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look like this, to have this kind of
29:09
character, to be gentle and hospitable
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and generous?
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Because this is what the good shepherd
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is like.
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Everything that is good
29:21
and beautiful
29:23
and delightful in these qualifications
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is just a dim reflection
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of all that is good and beautiful and
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delightful
29:33
in Jesus of Nazareth.
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Elders must be these things. Even more,
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brothers, elders
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can be these things
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because this kind of authority, this
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good, self-giving, humble, seeking the
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interest of others, gentle, hospitable
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authority is how Jesus shepherds us.
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He is never violent
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or unhinged.
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He doesn't scold the sheep.
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He was gentle
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and lowly.
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He was not greedy
30:13
or a lover of money.
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But he who is rich for our sake became
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poor.
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He was not conceited
30:23
but refused to count equality with God a
30:25
thing to be grasped.
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And Satan's snares
30:30
had no purchase
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in his heart.
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Brothers, how do we become faithful,
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gentle, hospitable, selfless, humble,
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qualified pastors? Not by willpower, not
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by better resolutions.
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No, you will be gentle only when you
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experience the gentleness of Christ
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toward you.
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You will be faithful to your wife only
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when you see just how faithful Christ
30:55
has been toward faithless you.
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You'll escape the tyranny
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of the love of money only when you're
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confident that the one who gave you his
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own life surely
31:10
surely can be trusted with your
31:11
finances.
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Saints, that's what rewires our hearts.
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That's what changes all the motivation
31:19
structures inside of us.
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Beloved,
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behold
31:26
the extraordinary work of God
31:30
in this passage.
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Elders, pastors
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are sheep
31:37
who have been made into shepherds
31:40
because Jesus is the true shepherd
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who became a sheep,
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the lamb of God
31:47
who takes away our sins.
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So, maybe this passage isn't as far from
31:53
Good Friday after all.
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Brothers, we can become the kind of man
31:59
described in 1 Timothy 3, but only as we
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behold with ever-increasing clarity how
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Jesus was faithful and gentle and
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hospitable and selfless and humble in
32:10
our place and as we see every good
32:12
quality in him shine most gloriously in
32:16
his self-sacrifice
32:18
at the cross.
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There, supremely,
32:23
at the cross,
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we find the pattern
32:27
of faithful shepherding.
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And there,
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trusting in the cross,
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you find the power
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for faithful shepherding.
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Let's pray.
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Our God, we pray
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that you would increase our faith
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in the goodness
32:55
of the great shepherd,
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Jesus of Nazareth.
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It's in his name we pray.
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Amen.